A Simple Illustration To Tell When A Video Game Is Being Sexist

+2 Cha -2 Str

Jill Pantozzi

Published: Dec 1, 2011 11:06 am

This article is over 13 years old and may contain outdated information

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Have you ever started putting together your character for a game, flipped through the possible choices, landed on the (most likely lone) female and gone, “WHY ISN’T SHE WEARING ANY CLOTHES?!?” If so, the following illustration, by Redditor stareattheart is for you.

I’d say to be fair there should be one more “Yes” image with the man in the skimpy outfit and the woman in the full armor but when does that actually happen, right? Are there games where the female player characters aren’t treated this way? Sure. But Mass Effect and modern World of Warcraft are the only two that immediately come to mind.

Not a set rule for the entire video game industry of course but this image sure does make me shake my head for truth and frustration. However, this Reddit comment made me chuckle, “That settles it: all RPGs from henceforth shall make everyone naked. Everyone.”

(Reddit (where the comments are fun) via Kotaku (where the comments will make you want to froth at the mouth))

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Author

Jill Pantozzi

Jill Pantozzi is a pop-culture journalist and host who writes about all things nerdy and beyond! She’s Editor in Chief of the geek girl culture site The Mary Sue (Abrams Media Network), and hosts her own blog “Has Boobs, Reads Comics” (TheNerdyBird.com). She co-hosts the Crazy Sexy Geeks podcast along with superhero historian Alan Kistler, contributed to a book of essays titled “Chicks Read Comics,” (Mad Norwegian Press) and had her first comic book story in the IDW anthology, “Womanthology.” In 2012, she was featured on National Geographic’s "Comic Store Heroes," a documentary on the lives of comic book fans and the following year she was one of many Batman fans profiled in the documentary, "Legends of the Knight."