Gender Disparity In Video Games

Video games have been rising in popularity and today has become a very profitable industry, beginning with the 1980s, from arcade classics like Asteroids, pinball, and Pac-Man to the postmodern console and computer gaming. (Sherman 243) With the rise of video games came the perpetuation of a gender disparity as a result of the emerged gaming culture and from the video games themselves. (Sherman 245) This gender disparity is evident from looking at the female gamers, who often experience sexism from male gamers and apparent in the production of video game characters and how female characters can be subjected to over-sexualization and objectification by the developers. Video games have often been considered something “men/boys do” and it is
Sexism is the stereotyping and prejudice based on an individual’s gender; primarily sexism is directed towards women. () The idea of women not being allowed to play or getting harassed if they do involve themselves is especially an issue, because then it genders one’s ability to have a hobby or occupation in this industry. Over-sexualization is to make a person, object, or idea excessively sexual. () The attribution of female characters in video games as “being sexual” is not an issue until it becomes their only purpose in the game itself. Objectification is reducing a person to an object. () This commonly goes hand-and-hand with over-sexualization in the context of video games, because women are often over-sexualized and then used as plot devices by being killed or not characterized outside the idea of being a sexual object. The “male gaze,” refers to how the majority of visual art and media are constructed around the male viewer and how women are often structured through the eyes of men. () This applies heavily to the video game industry, because the video game industry is male dominated (Prescott 123). Although the issues I have defined are not new issues (Prescott 123-130), the rationale of Marxist and Freudian principles all while projecting them through a new medium and displays how the
It lies behind who the developers are, the male audience, and the pervasiveness of over-sexualization and objectification towards female characters. (Henning) The majority of those involved in the developing process, from the producers and artists to the marketers, are male. () As a result, their collective interpretation of women in particular are not always representative. () This means their decisions for characters are geared towards their own understandings of society, leaving out representation or proper representation minorities. Yet, this is not solely the fault of the developers, but also the male audience. () The audiences is the reason video games are as popular as they are, ultimately if the male audience is fine with how female characters or minorities are represented, then the developers will continue with the stereotyping. This creates an endless gender paradox (), if the male audience is complacent with female characters becoming objects to progress the plot of a game (e.g. killing them to empower a male character), having underdeveloped or tropic characteristics, or being sexually exploited, then the developers will be complacent as