I'll go ahead and start with this; This is going to get offensive. I'm not holding back on any genders or races, even my own. I'm not doing this to
BE racist or sexist. I'm merely going to interpret all of the stereotypes and why this kickstarter project is short sighted and pathetic.
To start
Women shouldn't be mad because of how men portray them. They should be mad at how other women portray themselves.
The Kickstarter project wants to call out stuff like the Big Breasted Female who's sexual appeal is higher than any real life person out there. Okay, it's kind of true. Games like Bayonetta really show that women are just over-sexualized dolls. But is this the men's fault?
Yes and no.
If women, in general, didn't treat themselves as sex dolls, they probably wouldn't get this kind of representation. Any time a woman applies for a job at a strip club, Hooters, E3 booth babe, or anything that's meant to keep her there as an “Accessory”, she's portraying the women in a negative light. Hooters is probably one of the places I hate the most because any time I enter there, it's nothing but women condemning their own species. They're saying “We're just here to look good.” And when SOOO many women do this in real life, how do you expect them to be portrayed in video games? When you want to make anything in a game based off of anything in real life, you have to draw out how it acts.
I'm not saying all women demean themselves either, or they should purposefully make themselves ugly. But when teenage pregnancies get so high that 16 YEAR OLDS GET THEIR OWN TV SHOW ABOUT IT, I'm pretty
sure women are setting their own low standard.
These representations don't apply only to women. It applies to EVERYONE
Deus Ex HR got a lot of crap thrown at it for the black woman digging in the trash can and saying “Welll shiiiieeeet, Captain!”. And I'll admit, it's a bit over the line. But racism is direct and narrow-minded. People seem to forget that the woman to give you a sidequest and talk to you as a regular person was ALSO black. But as for the first woman, here comes the offensive.
I know there are good black people. I'm not racist. But honestly, black people tend to portray themselves poorly as well. People will tell me I'm stereotyping, and OH YEAH, I am! But stereotypes aren't drawn out of a hat. Asian kids are picked on for being good at math.
But look who's the top of the mathematics leaderboard! China! And honestly, black people portray themselves poorly when they tend to sag, blast rap music, or get in trouble.
Here's an example:
Lemme pick on my own race to even the table; I'm a white Caucasian male. I'm an IT guy. But every time there's an IT guy in a video game, he's either an egotistic asshole (Pritchard) or a nerdy guy with shirtpockets and glasses (JC Denton's radio guy). And then when you just look at the fact that I'm white, the only other white guys in video games these days are either spiky haired rascals or people the size of refrigerators.
If it's a problem for women to be portrayed as big breasted whores, then it should also be a problem for men to be portrayed as incredibly buff guys.
Women feel pressure when they see a beautiful woman because they feel like that's what society wants them to become. But men have the same thing! I guarantee you! Turn on a movie like Sex in the City. I guarantee you that there's gonna be a scene with three women or so tanning by a pool where a Brad Pitt kind of guy walks buy, and all the women turn and stare at his butt. Is that fair? Hell no. I want $160,000 to call that out for what it's worth.
Bayonetta makes stereotypes women as big breasted pole dancers. This guy stereotypes men as big buff jocks who look like Brad Pitt.
$160,000? This blog is FREE.
Basically, to summarize:
- When developers try to create a world, they try to make things somewhat realistic. All races and genders lower their own standards by their own race/gender. Black people listen to rap, white people are goody two-shoes, women whore themselves out to Hooters, etc.
- Women aren't the only ones with poor portrayals. You all get big boobs and have no real role in a game? Men are portrayed as giant weapons of destruction, geeks are portrayed as huge nerds, and black people are portrayed as garbage-diggers.
- $160,000 is for a youtube series is ridiculous. Wikipedia is always looking for donations, and they actually don't bullshit you with biased opinions (At least not as much as Anita Sarkeesian)