0:00:08.436,0:00:11.743
“Amazing.”[br]“My god, look at that.”

0:00:11.743,0:00:15.743
“Good night nurse!”

0:00:16.223,0:00:16.222
“Ooh! That’s definitely stimulating my economy.”

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
In the late 90s, developer Rare wanted to replicate

0:00:12.540,0:00:16.540
the success of their landmark 1997 shooter GoldenEye,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but didn’t want to make another James Bond game.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Instead, they began work on a science fiction spy thriller

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
called Perfect Dark.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
For the game’s star,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
they wanted to create a striking new type of special agent

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
who wouldn’t just live in James Bond’s shadow,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
so they drew inspiration from figures

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
ranging from Joan of Arc to The X-Files’ Dana Scully.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Her name was Joanna Dark.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
A few years earlier, Eidos Interactive’s Lara Croft

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
had rapidly become one of the most famous

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and recognizable game characters of all time,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
so it was reasonable to think that an action game

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
with a female protagonist could be a smash hit.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Alas, Joanna Dark never reached quite the levels

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of fame occupied by Lara Croft,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but Perfect Dark was still a big success.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Let’s take a look at a commercial for the game:[br]

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
"Welcome to 2023.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Big businesses now merge with alien nations.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
An ancient war is being fought under the sea.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The president is about to be cloned

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And it’s your job to try and save the world.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So you’ve got an important decision to make:

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
What are you going to wear to work?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
From the team you brought you GoldenEye for N64,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
meet special agent Joanna Dark in Perfect Dark,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
where you’ll find out that the only person man enough

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to handle a job like this

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
is a woman.”[br]

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Can you imagine an ad exactly like this,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
only with Marcus Fenix or Master Chief,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
getting out of bed naked,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
taking a sexy slow-motion shower,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
putting on his sexy underwear,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and the narrator saying

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that he has an important decision to make:

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
what is he going to wear to work? [br]

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
"Welcome to 2016.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
There’s a war out there...somewhere.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
You’re not sure where, exactly.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Anyway, the important thing is,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
you’re Special Agent Jake Grimshadow.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It’s your job to save the world.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The only question is: What are you going to wear?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
…. WAIT... WHAT??

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
A commercial like that would never happen,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
nor should it.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But Joanna is treated differently

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
than her male counterparts.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Even though Perfect Dark is a first-person shooter

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and, as a result, you rarely see her in the game itself,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
by focusing on her getting dressed,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
this ad encouraged players to think of Joanna’s appeal

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
as being rooted in her sexual desirability

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
rather than her skill as a special agent. [br]

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
A character’s clothing is one of the first things we notice.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It’s an important part of our first impression

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of who that character is, and as such,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it’s a way for designers

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to immediately communicate to players

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
what is most important and noteworthy about them. [br]

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Female heroes in video games might be special agents

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
or soldiers or treasure hunters by trade.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
They often find themselves in dangerous,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
physically demanding situations,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
fighting off bad guys and saving the world.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
They are typically performing activities that call for

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
practical or protective clothing.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But when we look at the types of outfits

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that female characters are made to wear,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
we can see that they are often

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
both sexualized and completely absurd. [br]

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Ivy from the Soulcalibur games is a bold warrior

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
who finds herself in battles

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
where sharp, deadly weapons are being used

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and protective armor would be a must,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but the clothing she wears--or lack thereof-

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
-is not exactly intended to keep her safe.[br]

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Cammy from the Street Fighter series

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
is a British special forces operative

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
whose thong leotard does a better job

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of calling attention to her butt

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
than of offering any kind of protection. [br]

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Jessica Sherawat from Resident Evil: Revelations

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
is a member of the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and regularly faces deadly infected mutants in combat,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but her outfits appear to be designed for...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
yeah, I don’t even know.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And this is just a small fraction of the vast number

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of female characters who are forced into

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
impractical and objectifying clothing while in dangerous situations.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
“You’ll learn respect!”

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
“You’re a fool to come back here.”

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
“All right, let’s begin!

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
“And instead of donning a shirt plate,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
you dash into battle, shirt open, navel and…

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
whatnot exposed!”

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Because clothing can shape our first impressions of a character

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and has a tremendous influence

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
on our sense of who they are

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
every time they are on screen,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
sexualized outfits can contribute to what’s called

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the hyper-sexualization of female characters.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Hyper-sexualization in the media occurs

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
when a character is designed to be valued primarily

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
for their sexual characteristics or behaviors.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
In hypersexualized characters, these attributes

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
are highlighted above all else

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and made the center of attention,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
while everything else about the character is made secondary. [br]

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Games and other media often work

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to frame this sexualization as a positive thing for women.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
They blur the distinction between female sexualization

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and female power, and as a result,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
sexualized female characters are sometimes celebrated

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
for being perceived as “owning” their sexuality

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in a way that is empowering.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But it isn’t actually empowering

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
because the sexuality these characters exude

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
is manufactured for, and presented as existing for,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the presumed straight male player.[br]

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Bayonetta is a quintessential example of such a character.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
When the camera caresses her body

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
as it does in the opening scene of Bayonetta 2,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
establishing the player’s relationship with the character,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
she is frozen in time,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the passive object of the male gaze.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The camera is putting her and Jeanne

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
on display for the player,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
breaking them down into what the game

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
is communicating is most important about them:

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
their sexualized parts.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And when Bayonetta starts moving,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it’s the player who has the power

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to control her sexuality as a weapon throughout the game,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
both literally and figuratively.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
She has an assortment of special moves

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
called “torture attacks” which involve devices

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
meant to suggest BDSM and that look like something

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
you might expect to see

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in an exaggerated stereotype of a sex dungeon.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But these sexualized moves

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
have nothing to do with sex:

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
they just obliterate her enemies.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And a number of her attacks literally leave her naked,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
because, you see, she’s attacking the enemies

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
with her hair and her hair is also her clothing

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
so when she’s using her hair to attack her enemies

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it can’t be covering her body and…

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
In these ways, the game deliberately links

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Bayonetta’s sexuality to power,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
selling a version of sexual objectification

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that we’re all supposed to feel good about

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and find “empowering.”

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Every aspect of Bayonetta’s existence,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
from the way the camera is magnetically drawn

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to her sexualized body parts

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to the pole dance reward for completing the game,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
is expertly designed to be sexually affirming

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and satisfying for a presumed straight male audience.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
If it seems like I’m frequently repeating the fact

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that the player is presumed to be a straight male,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that’s because it’s vital to remember.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
This presumption influences and shapes

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
so many creative decisions that are made

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in the development of many games.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
“Let’s see, target market - mostly male,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
18-24 years old, interests - senseless violence,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
high tech weaponry, pain, humiliation…

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
hey! Maybe this’ll do the trick.”

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
In fact, this connection between objectification

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and empowerment is extremely damaging.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It’s harmful to women because rather than

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
asserting that women have intrinsic value as people,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it communicates that the kind of power available

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to women comes from men finding them desirable.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And it’s damaging to men because it suggests

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that women who are liberated and empowered

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
are also women whose sexuality is always available to men.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
When we conflate the sexualization of women

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
with power for women,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
we internalize this harmful myth

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and begin to think sexualization is the only way

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to achieve gender equality.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But the truth is that sexualization doesn’t actually

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
bring us any closer to equality.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
In her book Enlightened Sexism,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Susan J. Douglas sums up the issue.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
”Under the guise of escapism and pleasure,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
we are getting images of imagined power that mask,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and even erase, how much still remains to be done

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
for girls and women,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
images that make sexism seem fine, even fun,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and insist that feminism is now utterly pointless--

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
even bad for you.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
True power here has nothing to do with

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
economic independence or professional achievement:

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it has to do with getting men to lust after you

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and other women to envy you.”

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Some gaming fans have come up with all sorts of

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
ridiculous defenses for the sexualized costumes

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
female characters are often made to wear,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
like the idea that they dress in these outfits as a tactic

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to help them distract their male opponents.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It’s not unheard of for developers

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to sometimes rely on this harmful logic, too.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The superintelligent AI companion Cortana

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
from the Halo franchise

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
has always been depicted as naked,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and when asked about why this is,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
franchise director Frank O’Connor said,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
"One of the reasons she does it is to attract and demand attention.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And she does it to put people off so they’re on their guard

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
when they’re talking to her

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and that she has the upper hand in those conversations.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It’s kind of almost like the opposite of that nightmare

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
you have where you go to school in the nude,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and you’re terrified and embarrassed.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
She’s kind of projecting that back out to her audience

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and winning intellectual points as a result." [br]

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
[br]Meanwhile, male AIs in the Halo universe do wear clothing;

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the idea of them trying to “win intellectual points”

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
by walking around naked is ridiculous.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But we rarely question

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the extremely widespread association

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of sexualization and power[br]

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
when it’s applied to female characters.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Usually, the games themselves don’t go into much detail

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to explain or justify why

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
female characters are sexualized.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Players are simply meant to unquestioningly accept

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the impractical outfits these characters are wearing.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Sometimes, however, as in the case of Quiet

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
developers build convoluted and absurd tales

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
about a character’s past into the game

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in an attempt to justify their blatant sexualization.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
“She, uh, refuses to wear clothes.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The last staff member who tried to dress her -

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
breathing through tubes.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Other than that, she’s completely cooperative.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
She understands English, she never speaks, sweats, or breathes.” [br]

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
“What?”

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
“Well, not with lungs at least.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
She breathes through her skin.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Clothing would suffocate her.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Showers are okay, but she can’t be submerged.”

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
“What’s wrong with her?”

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
“She’s drinking. Through her skin.”

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So you see, she can’t wear clothing

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
because she breathes through her skin!

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
These ludicrous narrative justifications don’t “make it okay.”

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Regardless of whatever absurd explanation

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
a game might provide,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it should go without saying that

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the only real functionality of outfits like this is to

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
titillate the presumed young straight male player base.[br]

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Out of all the arguments that are tossed out

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to defend the impractical and objectifying

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
clothing that women are made to wear in games,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
there is one in particular that I hear the most often

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and that is perhaps the most pernicious.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
That argument is:

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
“Maybe that’s what she wants to wear!”

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Which is ridiculous.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
These women are fictional constructs.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
That means that they don’t dress themselves

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
or pick out their own clothing.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I can’t believe I have to say this.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
All these visual designs are deliberate choices

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
made by the developers,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and they serve a specific purpose:

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
they communicate to straight male players

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that these characters exist primarily as sex objects

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to be consumed.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
In doing so, they also reinforce the larger notion

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in our culture that the value of real human women

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
is determined largely by their sexual desirability to men.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It’s not hard to imagine

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
what more practical clothing options

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
might look like for some of these characters.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But if you’re having a hard time envisioning that,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I will let you in on a little secret:

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
For those of you who aren’t familiar,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
there is this thing called a sports bra.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Sports bras are designed to keep breasts held in place

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to better facilitate athletic activities.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
In other words, they are used

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to prevent “jiggle physics” in real life.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
In the real world, there are many female

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
martial artists, athletes, and women in combat roles

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that developers could use as inspiration

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
when designing and dressing their female characters.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It’s important to note that the amount of skin shown

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
is not the crux of the problem.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Many female athletes wear minimal form-fitting clothing

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
because it’s more conducive to their activities.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
However, their outfits are not designed

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
with the primary goal of sexualizing the athletes

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
for the benefit of spectators.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The problem of female characters wearing impractical,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
sexualized and objectifying attire and being

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
put on display for players is not a difficult one to solve,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and developers already know how to do it.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Even many fighting games that have

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
several sexualized female characters on the roster

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
often have one female option who is in more practical attire.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The Dark Souls games are generally pretty good

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
about not making armor appear significantly different

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
on female characters than it does on male characters.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Natural Selection 2 and XCOM also have

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
examples of women in practical armor.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And Assassin’s Creed Syndicate put female

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
gang members in outfits very similar

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to those worn by the male gang members.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
None of this is to say that characters in games

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
should never be sexual; far from it.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Sexuality and sexualization are very different things. [br]

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The sexualization of female characters is about

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
designing them, dressing them or framing them

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in ways that are specifically intended to be

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
sexually appealing to presumed male viewers or players.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Women’s sexuality, on the other hand,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
exists for themselves, and for those

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
they care to consensually share it with.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And sexuality can be expressed or experienced

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in any kind of attire.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
“Come here lover boy!”

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Unfortunately, examples in games of female characters

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
expressing sexual desire in ways that aren’t sexualized

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
are exceedingly rare.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
These next few examples aren’t great depictions

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of what we’re talking about.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
They’re just some of the only examples that exist at all,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
which serves to illustrate how rare it is

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
for female sexuality in games to be presented in ways

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that are humanizing rather than sexualizing.[br]

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The Last of Us: Left Behind features female characters

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
who express romantic feelings for each other,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
rather than exuding a sexualized energy

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that is directed outward at the player.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
“What do we do now?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
“We’ll figure it out.”

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And in Firewatch, though it’s only heard and not seen

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Delilah expresses sexual desire for the player character, Henry. [br][br]

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
“I wish I was over there.”

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
“I wish you were too.”

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
“We could sit outside, we could talk,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
without these radios. We could, um, you know.”

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
These moments aren’t presented

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
as titillating morsels of sexuality for players.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Rather, they function as expressions

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of the characters’ sexuality that deepen our investment

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in the characters and their relationships to each other. [br]

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
To clarify, the act of sex isn’t the problem,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but rather how its presented.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I’d love to see great representations

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of healthy, consensual sex in games.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But sadly, when consensual sex does occur,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it’s often presented as a transaction

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
or as a reward for player accomplishment.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Whether that accomplishment is completing quests

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
or just choosing all the right dialogue options

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to get the sex cutscene to play.[br]

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
When fictional female characters in games are dressed

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in impractical armor or clothing,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it encourages players to view them as sex objects,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and reinforces the already pervasive and harmful notion

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in our culture that sexualization is the most viable

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
or only real route to power for women.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
By contrast, when those characters are dressed

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in clothing that is truly practical and functional

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
for the work that they are doing,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and when they express sexuality and sexual desire

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in ways that aren’t served up as sexualized treats

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
designed primarily for straight male players

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to consume and enjoy,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it encourages players of all genders

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
not to view those characters as sexual objects

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but to be invested in them as people.