0:00:00.103,0:00:03.256
“Amazing.”[br]“My god, look at that.”

0:00:03.733,0:00:05.744
“Good night nurse!”

0:00:05.431,0:00:08.466
“Ooh! That’s definitely stimulating my economy.”

0:00:28.066,0:00:30.815
In the late 90s, developer Rare wanted to replicate

0:00:30.815,0:00:33.264
the success of their landmark 1997 shooter GoldenEye,

0:00:33.264,0:00:36.305
but didn’t want to make another James Bond game.

0:00:36.305,0:00:39.625
Instead they began work on a science fiction spy thriller

0:00:39.625,0:00:40.970
called Perfect Dark.

0:00:40.970,0:00:41.305
For the game’s star,

0:00:41.305,0:00:43.772
they wanted to create a striking new type of special agent

0:00:43.772,0:00:45.835
who wouldn’t just live in James Bond’s shadow,

0:00:45.835,0:00:47.128
so they drew inspiration from figures

0:00:47.128,0:00:50.054
ranging from Joan of Arc to The X-Files’ Dana Scully.

0:00:50.054,0:00:52.334
Her name was Joanna Dark.

0:00:52.334,0:00:55.172
A few years earlier, Eidos Interactive’s Lara Croft

0:00:55.172,0:00:57.090
had rapidly become one of the most famous

0:00:57.090,0:00:58.877
and recognizable game characters of all time,

0:00:58.877,0:01:01.515
so it was reasonable to think that an action game

0:01:01.515,0:01:03.313
with a female protagonist could be a smash hit.

0:01:03.313,0:01:06.530
Alas, Joanna Dark never reached quite the levels

0:01:06.530,0:01:08.285
of fame occupied by Lara Croft,

0:01:08.285,0:01:10.533
but Perfect Dark was still a big success.

0:01:10.533,0:01:12.586
Let’s take a look at a commercial for the game:[br]

0:01:12.586,0:01:15.821
"Welcome to 2023.

0:01:15.821,0:01:21.118
Big businesses now merge with alien nations.

0:01:21.118,0:01:27.631
An ancient war is being fought under the sea.

0:01:27.631,0:01:32.049
The president is about to be cloned

0:01:32.049,0:01:37.519
And it’s your job to try and save the world.

0:01:37.519,0:01:42.011
So you’ve got an important decision to make:

0:01:42.011,0:01:47.010
What are you going to wear to work?

0:01:47.010,0:01:51.071
From the team you brought you GoldenEye for N64,

0:01:51.071,0:01:55.780
meet special agent Joanna Dark in Perfect Dark,

0:01:55.780,0:01:59.971
where you’ll find out that the only person man enough

0:01:59.971,0:02:01.487
to handle a job like this

0:02:01.487,0:02:05.056
is a woman.”[br]

0:02:05.056,0:02:08.516
Can you imagine an ad exactly like this,

0:02:08.516,0:02:10.554
only with Marcus Fenix or Master Chief,

0:02:10.554,0:02:12.142
getting out of bed naked,

0:02:12.142,0:02:14.048
taking a sexy slow-motion shower,

0:02:14.048,0:02:15.364
putting on his sexy underwear,

0:02:15.364,0:02:16.391
and the narrator saying

0:02:16.391,0:02:18.098
that he has an important decision to make:

0:02:18.098,0:02:19.619
what is he going to wear to work? [br]

0:02:19.619,0:02:22.775
"Welcome to 2016.

0:02:22.775,0:02:26.807
There’s a war out there...somewhere.

0:02:26.807,0:02:29.117
You’re not sure where, exactly.

0:02:29.117,0:02:31.081
Anyway, the important thing is,

0:02:31.081,0:02:33.662
you’re Special Agent Jake Grimshadow.

0:02:33.662,0:02:37.089
It’s your job to save the world.

0:02:37.364,0:02:41.697
The only question is: What are you going to wear?

0:02:41.697,0:02:43.690
…. WAIT... WHAT??

0:02:43.690,0:02:47.015
A commercial like that would never happen,

0:02:47.015,0:02:48.219
nor should it.

0:02:48.219,0:02:49.846
But Joanna is treated differently

0:02:49.846,0:02:51.127
than her male counterparts.

0:02:51.127,0:02:53.592
Even though Perfect Dark is a first-person shooter

0:02:53.592,0:02:56.498
and, as a result, you rarely see her in the game itself,

0:02:56.498,0:02:58.597
by focusing on her getting dressed,

0:02:58.597,0:03:00.809
this ad encouraged players to think of Joanna’s appeal

0:03:00.809,0:03:02.850
as being rooted in her sexual desirability

0:03:02.850,0:03:04.979
rather than her skill as a special agent. [br]

0:03:04.979,0:03:07.860
A character’s clothing is one of the first things we notice.

0:03:07.860,0:03:09.998
It’s an important part of our first impression

0:03:09.998,0:03:12.189
of who that character is, and as such,

0:03:12.189,0:03:13.768
it’s a way for designers

0:03:13.768,0:03:15.337
to immediately communicate to players

0:03:15.337,0:03:17.478
what is most important and noteworthy about them. [br]

0:03:17.478,0:03:20.236
Female heroes in video games might be special agents

0:03:20.236,0:03:22.480
or soldiers or treasure hunters by trade.

0:03:22.480,0:03:24.520
They often find themselves in dangerous,

0:03:24.520,0:03:26.225
physically demanding situations,

0:03:26.225,0:03:28.046
fighting off bad guys and saving the world.

0:03:28.046,0:03:30.376
They are typically performing activities that call for

0:03:30.376,0:03:32.531
practical or protective clothing.

0:03:32.531,0:03:34.064
But when we look at the types of outfits

0:03:34.064,0:03:36.212
that female characters are made to wear,

0:03:36.212,0:03:37.923
we can see that they are often

0:03:37.923,0:03:39.831
both sexualized and completely absurd. [br]

0:03:39.831,0:03:42.692
Ivy from the Soulcalibur games is a bold warrior

0:03:42.692,0:03:44.142
who finds herself in battles

0:03:44.142,0:03:46.055
where sharp, deadly weapons are being used

0:03:46.055,0:03:47.616
and protective armor would be a must,

0:03:47.616,0:03:50.502
but the clothing she wears--or lack thereof-

0:03:50.502,0:03:52.285
-is not exactly intended to keep her safe.[br]

0:03:52.285,0:03:54.443
Cammy from the Street Fighter series

0:03:54.443,0:03:56.639
is a British special forces operative

0:03:56.639,0:03:58.479
whose thong leotard does a better job

0:03:58.479,0:03:59.751
of calling attention to her butt

0:03:59.751,0:04:01.905
than of offering any kind of protection. [br]

0:04:01.905,0:04:06.158
Jessica Sherawat from Resident Evil: Revelations

0:04:06.158,0:04:09.559
is a member of the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance

0:04:09.559,0:04:12.621
and regularly faces deadly infected mutants in combat,

0:04:12.621,0:04:14.637
but her outfits appear to be designed for...

0:04:14.637,0:04:16.938
yeah, I don’t even know.

0:04:16.938,0:04:20.115
And this is just a small fraction of the vast number

0:04:20.115,0:04:21.634
of female characters who are forced into

0:04:21.634,0:04:25.168
impractical and objectifying clothing while in dangerous situations.

0:04:25.168,0:04:27.386
“You’ll learn respect!”

0:04:27.386,0:04:33.580
“You’re a fool to come back here.”

0:04:33.580,0:04:39.151
“All right, let’s begin!

0:04:39.151,0:04:42.110
“And instead of donning a shirt plate,

0:04:42.110,0:04:42.912
you dash into battle, shirt open, navel and…

0:04:44.752,0:04:45.002
whatnot exposed!”

0:04:46.475,0:04:49.450
Because clothing can shape our first impressions of a character

0:04:49.450,0:04:51.438
and has a tremendous influence

0:04:51.438,0:04:52.194
on our sense of who they are

0:04:52.194,0:04:53.240
every time they are on screen,

0:04:53.240,0:04:55.179
sexualized outfits can contribute to what’s called

0:04:55.179,0:04:58.079
the hyper-sexualization of female characters.

0:04:58.079,0:04:59.611
Hyper-sexualization in the media occurs

0:04:59.611,0:05:02.342
when a character is designed to be valued primarily

0:05:02.342,0:05:04.400
for their sexual characteristics or behaviors.

0:05:04.400,0:05:06.762
In hypersexualized characters, these attributes

0:05:06.762,0:05:08.415
are highlighted above all else

0:05:08.415,0:05:10.219
and made the center of attention,

0:05:10.219,0:05:12.260
while everything else about the character is made secondary. [br]

0:05:12.260,0:05:20.548
Games and other media often work

0:05:20.548,0:05:22.803
to frame this sexualization as a positive thing for women.

0:05:22.803,0:05:25.316
They blur the distinction between female sexualization

0:05:25.316,0:05:27.913
and female power, and as a result,

0:05:27.913,0:05:30.385
sexualized female characters are sometimes celebrated

0:05:30.385,0:05:32.394
for being perceived as “owning” their sexuality

0:05:32.394,0:05:33.981
in a way that is empowering.

0:05:33.981,0:05:36.098
But it isn’t actually empowering

0:05:36.098,0:05:38.138
because the sexuality these characters exude

0:05:38.138,0:05:41.867
is manufactured for, and presented as existing for,

0:05:41.867,0:05:43.878
the presumed straight male player.[br]

0:05:43.878,0:05:46.770
Bayonetta is a quintessential example of such a character.

0:05:46.770,0:05:48.846
When the camera caresses her body

0:05:48.846,0:05:50.890
as it does in the opening scene of Bayonetta 2,

0:05:50.890,0:05:53.535
establishing the player’s relationship with the character,

0:05:53.535,0:05:55.076
she is frozen in time,

0:05:55.076,0:05:56.869
the passive object of the male gaze.

0:05:56.869,0:05:59.070
The camera is putting her and Jeanne

0:05:59.070,0:06:00.536
on display for the player,

0:06:00.536,0:06:02.032
breaking them down into what the game

0:06:02.032,0:06:03.768
is communicating is most important about them:

0:06:03.768,0:06:04.788
their sexualized parts.

0:06:04.788,0:06:07.033
And when Bayonetta starts moving,

0:06:07.033,0:06:08.310
it’s the player who has the power

0:06:08.310,0:06:10.623
to control her sexuality as a weapon throughout the game,

0:06:10.623,0:06:12.678
both literally and figuratively.

0:06:12.678,0:06:15.489
She has an assortment of special moves

0:06:15.489,0:06:17.641
called “torture attacks” which involve devices

0:06:17.641,0:06:20.118
meant to suggest BDSM and that look like something

0:06:20.118,0:06:21.215
you might expect to see

0:06:21.215,0:06:23.578
in an exaggerated stereotype of a sex dungeon.

0:06:23.578,0:06:25.331
But these sexualized moves

0:06:25.331,0:06:26.897
have nothing to do with sex:

0:06:26.897,0:06:28.714
they just obliterate her enemies.

0:06:28.714,0:06:31.020
And a number of her attacks literally leave her naked,

0:06:31.020,0:06:33.553
because, you see, she’s attacking the enemies

0:06:33.553,0:06:35.820
with her hair and her hair is also her clothing

0:06:35.820,0:06:37.828
so when she’s using her hair to attack her enemies

0:06:37.828,0:06:40.645
it can’t be covering her body and…

0:06:45.442,0:06:46.262
In these ways, the game deliberately links

0:06:46.262,0:06:48.381
Bayonetta’s sexuality to power,

0:06:48.381,0:06:50.151
selling a version of sexual objectification

0:06:50.151,0:06:51.560
that we’re all supposed to feel good about

0:06:51.560,0:06:53.235
and find “empowering.”

0:06:53.235,0:06:55.053
Every aspect of Bayonetta’s existence,

0:06:55.053,0:06:57.368
from the way the camera is magnetically drawn

0:06:57.368,0:06:58.419
to her sexualized body parts

0:06:58.419,0:07:01.092
to the pole dance reward for completing the game,

0:07:01.092,0:07:03.781
is expertly designed to be sexually affirming

0:07:03.781,0:07:06.436
and satisfying for a presumed straight male audience.

0:07:06.436,0:07:09.426
If it seems like I’m frequently repeating the fact

0:07:09.426,0:07:10.950
that the player is presumed to be a straight male,

0:07:10.950,0:07:13.292
that’s because it’s vital to remember.

0:07:13.292,0:07:15.314
This presumption influences and shapes

0:07:15.314,0:07:17.082
so many creative decisions that are made

0:07:17.082,0:07:18.938
in the development of many games.

0:07:18.938,0:07:20.491
“Let’s see, target market - mostly male,

0:07:20.491,0:07:24.219
18-24 years old, interests - senseless violence,

0:07:24.219,0:07:26.019
high tech weaponry, pain, humiliation…

0:07:26.019,0:07:28.909
hey! Maybe this’ll do the trick.”

0:07:29.161,0:07:31.820
Of course, characters like Bayonetta are a fictional fantasy

0:07:31.820,0:07:35.283
But in reality, we exist in a culture where women are often valued

0:07:35.283,0:07:37.319
primarily for their sexual desirability to men.

0:07:37.319,0:07:40.796
So while characters like these are incredibly powerful in the physical sense

0:07:40.796,0:07:43.707
able to slay entire armies and bring down gods,

0:07:43.707,0:07:47.591
there’s nothing empowering about the fact that they are sexually objectified.

0:07:47.591,0:07:50.458
In fact, this connection between objectification

0:07:50.458,0:07:52.502
and empowerment is extremely damaging.

0:07:52.502,0:07:55.266
It’s harmful to women because rather than

0:07:55.266,0:07:57.392
asserting that women have intrinsic value as people,

0:07:57.392,0:07:59.642
it communicates that the kind of power available

0:07:59.642,0:08:01.666
to women comes from men finding them desirable.

0:08:01.666,0:08:04.320
And it’s damaging to men because it suggests

0:08:04.320,0:08:06.439
that women who are liberated and empowered

0:08:06.439,0:08:09.648
are also women whose sexuality is always available to men.

0:08:09.648,0:08:12.294
When we conflate the sexualization of women

0:08:12.294,0:08:13.085
with power for women,

0:08:13.085,0:08:15.096
we internalize this harmful myth

0:08:15.096,0:08:17.940
and begin to think sexualization is the only way

0:08:17.940,0:08:19.736
to achieve gender equality.

0:08:19.736,0:08:22.668
But the truth is that sexualization doesn’t actually

0:08:22.668,0:08:24.615
bring us any closer to equality.

0:08:24.615,0:08:26.596
In her book Enlightened Sexism,

0:08:26.596,0:08:28.147
Susan J. Douglas sums up the issue.

0:08:28.147,0:08:30.606
”Under the guise of escapism and pleasure,

0:08:30.606,0:08:33.353
we are getting images of imagined power that mask,

0:08:33.353,0:08:35.625
and even erase, how much still remains to be done

0:08:35.625,0:08:36.689
for girls and women,

0:08:36.689,0:08:39.713
images that make sexism seem fine, even fun,

0:08:39.713,0:08:42.519
and insist that feminism is now utterly pointless--

0:08:42.519,0:08:44.003
even bad for you.

0:08:44.003,0:08:46.216
True power here has nothing to do with

0:08:46.216,0:08:48.270
economic independence or professional achievement:

0:08:48.270,0:08:50.649
it has to do with getting men to lust after you

0:08:50.649,0:08:52.166
and other women to envy you.”

0:08:52.166,0:08:55.140
Some gaming fans have come up with all sorts of

0:08:55.140,0:08:57.203
ridiculous defenses for the sexualized costumes

0:08:57.203,0:08:59.214
female characters are often made to wear,

0:08:59.214,0:09:01.692
like the idea that they dress in these outfits as a tactic

0:09:01.692,0:09:03.730
to help them distract their male opponents.

0:09:03.730,0:09:05.495
It’s not unheard of for developers

0:09:05.495,0:09:07.836
to sometimes rely on this harmful logic, too.

0:09:07.836,0:09:10.226
The superintelligent AI companion Cortana

0:09:10.226,0:09:11.280
from the Halo franchise

0:09:11.280,0:09:13.372
has always been depicted as naked,

0:09:13.372,0:09:14.890
and when asked about why this is,

0:09:14.890,0:09:17.068
franchise director Frank O’Connor said,

0:09:17.068,0:09:20.328
"One of the reasons she does it is to attract and demand attention.

0:09:20.328,0:09:23.597
And she does it to put people off so they’re on their guard

0:09:23.597,0:09:24.654
when they’re talking to her

0:09:24.654,0:09:26.941
and that she has the upper hand in those conversations.

0:09:26.941,0:09:29.674
It’s kind of almost like the opposite of that nightmare

0:09:29.674,0:09:31.433
you have where you go to school in the nude,

0:09:31.433,0:09:33.065
and you’re terrified and embarrassed.

0:09:33.065,0:09:35.107
She’s kind of projecting that back out to her audience

0:09:35.107,0:09:37.570
and winning intellectual points as a result." [br]

0:09:37.570,0:09:41.481
[br]Meanwhile, male AIs in the Halo universe do wear clothing;

0:09:41.481,0:09:43.964
the idea of them trying to “win intellectual points”

0:09:43.964,0:09:46.365
by walking around naked is ridiculous.

0:09:46.365,0:09:47.123
But we rarely question

0:09:47.123,0:09:49.503
the extremely widespread association

0:09:49.503,0:09:50.564
of sexualization and power[br]

0:09:50.564,0:09:52.798
when it’s applied to female characters.

0:09:52.798,0:09:55.068
Usually, the games themselves don’t go into much detail

0:09:55.068,0:09:56.498
to explain or justify why

0:09:56.498,0:09:58.187
female characters are sexualized.

0:09:58.187,0:10:00.713
Players are simply meant to unquestioningly accept

0:10:00.713,0:10:02.536
the impractical outfits these characters are wearing.

0:10:02.536,0:10:05.543
Sometimes, however, as in the case of Quiet

0:10:05.543,0:10:07.669
from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain,

0:10:07.669,0:10:10.414
developers build convoluted and absurd tales

0:10:10.414,0:10:12.272
about a character’s past into the game

0:10:12.272,0:10:15.286
in an attempt to justify their blatant sexualization.

0:10:15.286,0:10:18.614
“She, uh, refuses to wear clothes.

0:10:20.169,0:10:23.612
The last staff member who tried to dress her -

0:10:23.612,0:10:26.407
breathing through tubes.

0:10:26.407,0:10:30.027
Other than that, she’s completely cooperative.

0:10:30.027,0:10:35.727
She understands English, she never speaks, sweats, or breathes.” [br]

0:10:35.727,0:10:37.374
“What?”

0:10:37.374,0:10:40.799
“Well, not with lungs at least.

0:10:40.799,0:10:42.555
She breathes through her skin.

0:10:42.555,0:10:45.742
Clothing would suffocate her.

0:10:45.742,0:11:00.015
Showers are okay, but she can’t be submerged.”

0:11:00.015,0:11:08.123
“What’s wrong with her?”

0:11:08.123,0:11:11.270
“She’s drinking. Through her skin.”

0:11:11.270,0:11:17.027
So you see, she can’t wear clothing

0:11:17.027,0:11:18.790
because she breathes through her skin!

0:11:18.790,0:11:24.607
These ludicrous narrative justifications don’t “make it okay.”

0:11:24.607,0:11:26.388
Regardless of whatever absurd explanation

0:11:26.388,0:11:27.972
a game might provide,

0:11:27.972,0:11:29.377
it should go without saying that

0:11:29.377,0:11:31.710
the only real functionality of outfits like this is to

0:11:31.710,0:11:34.835
titillate the presumed young straight male player base.[br]

0:11:34.835,0:11:36.898
Out of all the arguments that are tossed out

0:11:36.898,0:11:38.710
to defend the impractical and objectifying

0:11:38.710,0:11:40.866
clothing that women are made to wear in games,

0:11:40.866,0:11:42.915
there is one in particular that I hear the most often

0:11:42.915,0:11:45.041
and that is perhaps the most pernicious.

0:11:45.041,0:11:45.852
That argument is:

0:11:45.852,0:11:48.325
“Maybe that’s what she wants to wear!”

0:11:48.325,0:11:49.613
Which is ridiculous.

0:11:49.613,0:11:51.425
These women are fictional constructs.

0:11:51.425,0:11:53.715
That means that they don’t dress themselves

0:11:53.715,0:11:55.307
or pick out their own clothing.

0:11:55.307,0:11:57.321
I can’t believe I have to say this.

0:11:57.321,0:11:59.779
All these visual designs are deliberate choices

0:11:59.779,0:12:01.111
made by the developers,

0:12:01.111,0:12:02.869
and they serve a specific purpose:

0:12:02.869,0:12:04.919
they communicate to straight male players

0:12:04.919,0:12:07.149
that these characters exist primarily as sex objects

0:12:07.149,0:12:08.675
to be consumed.

0:12:08.675,0:12:11.698
In doing so, they also reinforce the larger notion

0:12:11.698,0:12:13.741
in our culture that the value of real human women

0:12:13.741,0:12:17.191
is determined largely by their sexual desirability to men.

0:12:17.191,0:12:18.941
It’s not hard to imagine

0:12:18.941,0:12:20.224
what more practical clothing options

0:12:20.224,0:12:22.210
might look like for some of these characters.

0:12:22.210,0:12:24.403
But if you’re having a hard time envisioning that,

0:12:24.403,0:12:25.661
I will let you in on a little secret:

0:12:25.661,0:12:27.668
For those of you who aren’t familiar,

0:12:27.668,0:12:29.618
there is this thing called a sports bra.

0:12:29.618,0:12:31.914
Sports bras are designed to keep breasts held in place

0:12:31.914,0:12:34.459
to better facilitate athletic activities.

0:12:34.459,0:12:36.219
In other words, they are used

0:12:36.219,0:12:38.433
to prevent “jiggle physics” in real life.

0:12:38.433,0:12:43.186
In the real world, there are many female

0:12:43.186,0:12:45.673
martial artists, athletes, and women in combat roles

0:12:45.673,0:12:47.247
that developers could use as inspiration

0:12:47.247,0:12:50.154
when designing and dressing their female characters.

0:12:50.154,0:12:52.444
It’s important to note that the amount of skin shown

0:12:52.444,0:12:54.162
is not the crux of the problem.

0:12:54.162,0:12:56.694
Many female athletes wear minimal form-fitting clothing

0:12:56.694,0:12:58.743
because it’s more conducive to their activities.

0:12:58.743,0:13:00.516
However, their outfits are not designed

0:13:00.516,0:13:02.858
with the primary goal of sexualizing the athletes

0:13:02.858,0:13:04.650
for the benefit of spectators.

0:13:04.650,0:13:07.017
The problem of female characters wearing impractical,

0:13:07.017,0:13:09.515
sexualized and objectifying attire and being

0:13:09.515,0:13:12.073
put on display for players is not a difficult one to solve,

0:13:12.325,0:13:14.010
and developers already know how to do it.

0:13:14.010,0:13:15.941
Even many fighting games that have

0:13:15.941,0:13:18.089
several sexualized female characters on the roster

0:13:18.089,0:13:21.387
often have one female option who is in more practical attire.

0:13:21.387,0:13:26.146
The Dark Souls games are generally pretty good

0:13:26.146,0:13:28.812
about not making armor appear significantly different

0:13:28.812,0:13:30.622
on female characters than it does on male characters.

0:13:30.622,0:13:34.852
Natural Selection 2 and XCOM also have

0:13:34.852,0:13:37.481
examples of women in practical armor.

0:13:37.481,0:13:39.010
And Assassin’s Creed Syndicate put female

0:13:39.010,0:13:41.921
gang members in outfits very similar

0:13:41.921,0:13:43.493
to those worn by the male gang members.

0:13:43.493,0:13:45.942
None of this is to say that characters in games

0:13:45.942,0:13:48.209
should never be sexual; far from it.

0:13:48.209,0:13:51.481
Sexuality and sexualization are very different things. [br]

0:13:51.481,0:13:54.314
The sexualization of female characters is about

0:13:54.314,0:13:56.636
designing them, dressing them or framing them

0:13:56.636,0:13:59.020
in ways that are specifically intended to be

0:13:59.020,0:14:01.547
sexually appealing to presumed male viewers or players.

0:14:01.547,0:14:04.232
Women’s sexuality, on the other hand,

0:14:04.232,0:14:06.014
exists for themselves, and for those

0:14:06.014,0:14:08.106
they care to consensually share it with.

0:14:08.106,0:14:10.721
And sexuality can be expressed or experienced

0:14:10.721,0:14:12.510
in any kind of attire.

0:14:12.510,0:14:13.502
“Come here lover boy!”

0:14:14.709,0:14:17.159
Unfortunately, examples in games of female characters

0:14:17.360,0:14:20.098
expressing sexual desire in ways that aren’t sexualized

0:14:20.098,0:14:21.625
are exceedingly rare.

0:14:21.625,0:14:23.139
These next few examples aren’t great depictions

0:14:23.139,0:14:24.670
of what we’re talking about.

0:14:24.670,0:14:27.362
They’re just some of the only examples that exist at all,

0:14:27.362,0:14:28.896
which serves to illustrate how rare it is

0:14:28.896,0:14:31.589
for female sexuality in games to be presented in ways

0:14:31.589,0:14:34.182
that are humanizing rather than sexualizing.[br]

0:14:34.182,0:14:37.399
The Last of Us: Left Behind features female characters

0:14:37.399,0:14:38.926
who express romantic feelings for each other,

0:14:38.926,0:14:41.035
rather than exuding a sexualized energy

0:14:41.035,0:14:43.244
that is directed outward at the player.

0:14:43.244,0:14:49.782
“What do we do now?

0:14:49.782,0:14:53.465
“We’ll figure it out.”

0:14:53.465,0:14:56.697
And in Firewatch, though it’s only heard and not seen

0:14:56.697,0:14:59.789
Delilah expresses sexual desire for the player character, Henry. [br][br]

0:14:59.789,0:15:00.828
“I wish I was over there.”

0:15:00.828,0:15:04.841
“I wish you were too.”

0:15:04.841,0:15:09.147
“We could sit outside, we could talk,

0:15:09.147,0:15:14.819
without these radios. We could, um, you know.”

0:15:14.819,0:15:16.390
These moments aren’t presented

0:15:16.390,0:15:18.933
as titillating morsels of sexuality for players.

0:15:18.933,0:15:20.495
Rather, they function as expressions

0:15:20.495,0:15:23.208
of the characters’ sexuality that deepen our investment

0:15:23.208,0:15:25.266
in the characters and their relationships to each other. [br]

0:15:25.266,0:15:27.842
To clarify, the act of sex isn’t the problem,

0:15:27.842,0:15:29.529
but rather how its presented.

0:15:29.529,0:15:31.658
I’d love to see great representations

0:15:31.658,0:15:33.446
of healthy, consensual sex in games.

0:15:33.446,0:15:36.364
But sadly, when consensual sex does occur,

0:15:36.364,0:15:38.660
it’s often presented as a transaction

0:15:38.660,0:15:40.660
or as a reward for player accomplishment.

0:15:40.660,0:15:43.138
Whether that accomplishment is completing quests

0:15:43.138,0:15:44.932
or just choosing all the right dialogue options

0:15:44.932,0:15:46.776
to get the sex cutscene to play.[br]

0:15:46.776,0:15:51.195
When fictional female characters in games are dressed

0:15:51.195,0:15:52.762
in impractical armor or clothing,

0:15:52.762,0:15:55.494
it encourages players to view them as sex objects,

0:15:55.494,0:15:58.566
and reinforces the already pervasive and harmful notion

0:15:58.566,0:16:01.053
in our culture that sexualization is the most viable

0:16:01.053,0:16:03.094
or only real route to power for women.

0:16:03.094,0:16:05.535
By contrast, when those characters are dressed

0:16:05.535,0:16:08.250
in clothing that is truly practical and functional

0:16:08.250,0:16:09.786
for the work that they are doing,

0:16:09.786,0:16:12.091
and when they express sexuality and sexual desire

0:16:12.091,0:16:14.387
in ways that aren’t served up as sexualized treats

0:16:14.387,0:16:16.511
designed primarily for straight male players

0:16:16.511,0:16:17.881
to consume and enjoy,

0:16:17.881,0:16:19.978
it encourages players of all genders

0:16:19.978,0:16:22.356
not to view those characters as sexual objects

0:16:22.356,0:16:24.632
but to be invested in them as people.