Misogyny, Sexism, And Why RPS Isn’t Shutting Up

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/04/06/misogyny-sexism-and-why-rps-isnt-shutting-up/

by jonbro • 13 years ago

5 2 13 years ago

rockpapershotgun.com

mariuolo• 13 years ago

Halfway through it and I couldn't get the point they're trying to make. Does anyone have a more succinct explanation?

johnbm• 13 years ago

Games with shallow gender roles sell. And it's not just for guys.

Just look at the new Tomb Raider: Lara is an emotionally unstable idiot who gets unconditional support from her friends. For example, she screams into a walkie talkie to someone who is hiding from killers... on at least two separate occasions. She needs constant reinforcement that "You can do this!" as Zero Punctuation observed, despite the fact that she already learnt how to do parkour in a previous life. The entire game consists of her being strung along passively, falling from one situation into the next and just going along with it. And of course the men are all brutish thugs, ineffectual ninnies or too old to be threatening, and practically all of them die so that she may live and survive increasingly ridiculous action sequences wearing nothing but a sports top.

What do the feminists say? Apparently Lara is one of "the most real characters", and the most important issue was "does she get raped or not?" based on the concerns of one scene in one trailer.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/carolpinchefsky/2013/03/12/a-fem...

As for Sarkeesian, she's milked her story at TEDx and GDC and now has a giant pile of money to make video after video with. Which more than a few people have pointed out are overly simplified, badly researched, and self-contradictory, despite pushing back her own schedule.

There is real sexism in gaming, but these are not the people you should be listening to to figure out why it happens, nor the ones to fix it. Your best bet is to find a Kickstarter for a game that won't be reduced to whatever's bland enough to be a popular hit, rather than giving money to people who just whine about it so they get more traffic.

Also, hope that Beyond Good & Evil 2 will still see the light of day.

Misogyny, Sexism, And Why RPS Isn’t Shutting Up

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