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Anita Sarkeesina feminist the gender lens perspective and video games

geralt12

October 3, 2013

0 upvotes

/r/MensRights

http://www.youtube.com/attribution_link?u=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DUfoNLRDBJoI%26feature%3Dshare&a=k30uZY9vKTQU8fin7_ggBQ

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Post Information

Title	Anita Sarkeesina feminist the gender lens perspective and video games
Author	geralt12
Upvotes	0
Comments	2
Date	October 3, 2013 12:22 PM UTC (12 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/1nndv4/anita_sarkeesina_feminist_the_gender_lens/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/anita-sarkeesina-feminist-the-gender-lens.1162232 https://theredarchive.com/post/1162232

Comments

[–]geralt12[S] 0 points1 point2 points 12 years ago (1 child) | Copy Link

[+]FallingSnowAngel 0 points1 point2 points 12 years ago (0 children) | Copy Link

I notice a bit of a problem.

Be the hero. Be the knight. Be the guy.

You're looking at this through a gendered lens, assuming the player is a guy, who wants to be a guy. Super Mario 2 and Metroid demonstrated that female protagonists could work in 8-bit without losing a male audience.

But if you go through the entire 8/16bit console libraries, not only were women usually cast as damsels in distress or attractive enemies (men had a wide range of body types), but games that were considered too girly were almost always left in Japan. Notable exceptions include Chun-Li's underwear, Cammy's body paint, and Mai's bouncing breasts. Plus Dixie Kong, who proudly represents the Barbie blonde and pink loving set, because we need to know she's an animal who is a girl every single moment of play, even if she's the only one wearing a human scalp.

You know things are bad when a general gets kidnapped by another woman's lovesick stalker in FFVI, and he joins your party without any consequences. What a dashing rogue!

You also dismiss concerns about Resident Evil V, because "You", meaning the player as a white guy, will of course be shooting black people in Africa. Isn't the usual videogame narrative one where the hero is just an everyman? What does an everyman in Africa look like? Also, why the huts? Did any Resident Evil ever take place in an Amish village? Wouldn't everyone have laughed their asses off if it did?