Violence and Gender
By Soha E. on January 24th, 2013 (77 comments)
The topic of violence in video games is ongoing and never-ending. Politicians will grasp at straws to explain shootings, massacres, and violence in youth by blaming the games that encourage players to be trigger-happy to send their digital foes into a blaze of glory. Instead of discussing whether or not there is a correlation between games and real life violence, I think it’s important for gamers to learn how to start reading violence in the same context as they would in other forms of media and art. Instead of asking, “What do violent video games do to us in our everyday life?” We should move towards understanding how we interpret violence as spectators. Last week, publisher Deep Silver found themselves in a controversy after they announced one of the items in the collector’s edition of Dead Island: Riptide which was a headless, armless, bikini-clad statuette covered in blood to suggest she was grotesquely dismembered. One (or two) of her body parts remain perfectly intact – her large breasts.
While the controversy may remain unfazed to many, an important step in realizing why this is a big deal is to understand how violence in the media is gendered specifically towards female characters. Of course, that is not to say that violence doesn’t happen to male characters or that the violence they experience doesn’t comment on masculinity, but when female characters encounter violence in games too many times it is a direct attack on their sexuality to take them down a few notches and restore a patriarchal balance.
Remember the fetish nun trailer for Hitman: Absolution? The violence we witness is implicitly explained because it's made clear the women are the "bad guys" and we know this as soon as they strip off their habits to reveal provocative fetish attire. This action visually fulfills a virgin/whore dichotomy and confirms all of Agent 47's actions as necessary. They are not innocent and thus they are free game. We watch them get stabbed, shot, strangled, and subdued in slow-mo while catching more glimpses of their racy wear. Let's envision for a minute that these assassins were men in regular attire approaching Agent 47 in his safehouse motel room. All he would have to do is attack them and the audience will know to identify them as his enemies. But no, the women must be stripped to sexually suggestive goth wear so we can authenticate his actions and say to ourselves "well, I guess they did have it coming."
The trailer is now old but the stories have not changed. The Dead Island: Riptide bust is only a reminder of something that is commonplace in many forms of media: female sexuality is to be punished or it is to be humorous (see Lollipop Chainsaw, Bayonetta). Even in the earlier trailer for the upcoming Tomb Raider shows a character that is known to exude sexual confidence to be physically oppressed and threatened by men in such a way that she becomes unrecognizable. This motif is used in slasher films when killers target women as they're having sex or after the audience receives confirmation that they are not virgins. Linda Williams wrote in her essay Film Bodies: Gender, Genre, and Excess that the "violent attack on the female victims vividly enacts a symbolic castration which often functions as a kind of punishment for an ill-time exhibition of sexual desire." The Dead Island statuette speaks a thousand words in how the publishers look at the female form. It could’ve been the decaying torso of a zombie, or a severed head, but instead it is a disturbing recreation of the Venus de Milo that can hardly be categorized as art.
Video games and violence go hand in hand. Rarely do we play a game that does not require us to maim, shoot, or destroy to clear missions and complete quests. What disturbs me the most is violence in games against women because society has yet to reconcile this type of violence as a form of female oppression. I repeat – I know there is violence toward male characters and that is gendered too, but in a very different way because it does not attack male sexuality or attempt to make male characters seem impotent. Instead of focusing on levels of violence, let’s shift to learning how to read violence and open a dialogue on how it interprets the gendered societal problems that are already under our noses.
Soha E.
A Canadian graduate student who spends more time playing video games than working on her thesis. Soha often relates gender studies, race and other important topics in visual culture to the gaming world while making you pull your hair out in Internet rage. When we broadcast live you can find her in chat under her PSN handle, “InTheWolf.” For more thoughts about games and the industry, follow her on Twitter.
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You make a good point. They push the violence towards women in video games a little too far. It's not necessary, but it can sometimes, in my opinion, make it highly suspenseful if done right. I didn't like the whole killer sexy nuns thing in HItman: Absolution. They could have been more creative with that. Great article!
Link / ReplyThank you! When sexuality is handled properly and responsibly without promoting an attack against it, I'm all for it. Bayonetta is one of my favourite characters because when she gets attacked it's NOT because she's overtly sexual.
Link / ReplyExactly, and no problem! It's a good topic to talk about, and it informed me well. Never thought about it till you posted this article.
Link / ReplyDeep Silver had to have known the kind of reaction they would get when they announced that statue. I can guarantee they only did it to get people to pay attention to their game. On to the rest of the article. I'm willing to let sexualization of female characters slide if it's a game like Bayonetta because, well, the game isn't meant to be taken seriously to begin with and there's still a good game beyond that. In general; however, I agree with you. Nothing was accomplished through the statue or the Tomb Raider and Hitman trailers except the devs screaming: "LOOK! OUR GAME HAS BOOBS IN IT! BUY IT!"
Link / ReplyExactly! It's all about getting the peoples, mostly gamers, attention for developers now a days. Instead doing unique things to get our attention, they give us violence in unimaginable ways.
Link / ReplyI love this article. This is one of my favorite topics. We definitely need to reassess female representation in media. I know most of my male friends don't realize how frequently violence is directed toward women, especially in this medium. Games like Tomb Raider are so conflicting for me. As a little girl, Lara was my role model. I'm not denying she was sexualized as a character, she was. Her sexuality has always existed, and will continue to exist. What disturbs me is the evolution of how NPCs interact with her. Currently, the violence directed toward her is far more sexualized. The picture above says it all. As her captor strokes her cheek, her eyes and jaw are dropped down with a fearful expression. All of these are a sign of submission. If a male character was in the same situation, his captor would not be stroking his cheek and he would not be complacent. Imagine someone trying to pull that with Nathan Drake or Kratos. Someone would get the shit kicked out of them. The Lara above, that's not the Lara I looked up to as a child, and that's not how she was portrayed in her early years. The industry needs to change its attitude toward/portrayal of women, but that will only happen if we let them know we want change. A serious dialogue needs to begin about this topic.
Link / ReplyYou know, you thinking about the old Lara compared to the new one reminds me of Samus. Her reveal as a female character was such a shock because, if it never had happened, no one would have ever known Samus was a woman. She could be a strong character that kicks ass without ever being sexually exploited mainly due to the fact she wore bulky armor all the time (a female character with practical armor. Imagine that?). Then...the commercials started rolling in for some of the Metroid games that clearly tried to play up the sex appeal of Samus. Then the skin tight Zero Suit came along and, after that, I knew there was no going back. To my knowledge, Samus has never been in a situation where she was dominated like the new Lara was in that trailer, but I'm still sad to see Nintendo had to employ the "look, she has breasts!" method of getting people's attention.
Link / ReplyKeep in mind that at the end of the original Metroid, Samus was more naked at the reveal depending on how good your score was.
Link / ReplyThis is very true. Believe me, I did remember that part. My disappointment more stems from the fact Nintendo took that and just ran with it in their marketing campaigns. Though enticing players with a more nude Samus to get them to replay the game is pretty despicable.
Link / ReplySex sells. It always has and it always will. Characters were bound to adapt and take on a more sexual persona. That being said, sexualization itself isn't the inherent problem, it's the tone of sexualization. At the end of Metroid, Samus was naked and intact. Now we have bloody, female, limbless torsos with huge boobs. It's not what you say, it's how you say it.
Link / ReplyI guess there's just a part of me that really wishes that wasn't a legitimate business practice. :/
Link / ReplyThere are many problems with Samus especially highlighted in Other M. She's become fearful and needy, and more obedient to Adam which is infuriating. I miss the silent kick ass woman - it had a Gordon Freeman charm!
Link / ReplyAnd that's why I never played Other M and wiped it from my own head-canon! Besides, doesn't Other M conflict with Prime series to where only one of the two can be canon? I'd much rather take Prime over Other M any day.
Link / ReplyThank you, Emily. This is exactly the type of dialogue I'm trying to open and I'm thankful for this community because a lot of people are jumping in without attacking. Violence against Lara is one thing, but sexualized violence is just promoting rape culture.
Link / ReplyI think the dead island torso and the Hitman nuns just didn't make sense, and that why it makes the game industry's look on violence and women bad. I'd rather see women kick ass, than get their asses kicked in slutty outfits (says the guy who plays fighting games online). In all seriousness, I like how the Japanese handle female characters in shows like Skip Beat! & YuruYuri. I know Dead or Alive exists, but I love 3D fighting games' takes on martial arts and not the insane amount of boob jiggling. You're article makes me a little more comfortable with this subject; and I thank you for enlighting me some. I hope you get yourself on Cocktail Time one day!
Link / ReplyNow that would be great! I'm glad you're more comfortable discussing this mode of violence. I don't mind the overt sexualization in DOA because at least the women know how to fight and it has a bit of a sense of humour, like Bayonetta.
Link / ReplyI'm starting to understand what you're point is with this article. You're saying that it is the culture that makes these problems are shown in games, not games making the social problems. Correct? I was uncomfortable with this subject because I didn't know how to approach it since I'm male and have little understanding of female tropes. I do think violence in general is not gender specific, so the nuns in the Hitman trailer already came across to me as villans because they were wearing combat boots and carried guns; and the sexy outfits were just unessecary. The Tomb Trailer didn't come across to me as too sexually assaulting, but the fact that it opened discussion is how these problems are identified.
Link / ReplyGreat article, what I'm happy is the pretty vocal outcry by a lot of gamers both male and female in regards to the changes made to Luara and to the stupid as hell Hitman trailer. It at least shows that there is progress. Soha, as a male I feel woefully inept at recognizing when a sexualized character is sexist. Now I can tell the obvious ones like he girls from DOA, but characters like Bayonetta are far more difficult for me to determin
Link / ReplyOh I forgot to include my question. When does a sexualized character becom sexist?
Link / ReplyThank you! To me, I read sexism when the narrative outlines problematic tropes that haven't been properly reconciled on a social level. For example, you mention the obvious sexism in DOA and that's because we have been able to read that sexism in real life as a negative thing. But the troublesome ones are the implicit ones, like when sexualized characters get beaten up or raped as a result of their sexuality in a way to subdue them. Society is inept at dealing with violence against women and there is a lot of victim blaming and slut shaming which promotes a "rape culture." It's not talked about as openly as obvious boob-jiggling-sexism because it's a form of female oppression. When you feel like the slutty character had it coming for being so slutty, THAT is sexist. Hope that answers your question!
Link / ReplyEh, I have to disagree. I think there's a very fine line between what amounts to actual sexism and exploitation and cherry-picking sources to fit a narrative and this seems to fall into the latter. Violence is a key part of many games and happens to both genders. Would you rather developers take a kid-gloves, hands-off approach to violence inflicted upon women? I would think you'd be crying sexism if game companies started to treat women as weaker characters than men, as characters that by the nature of their gender should not be harmed. *That* is sexist. That is was many people fought against for many years, for equality. And frankly, we're now seeing the fruits of that labor. No longer are women put on a pedestal. They're down in mud with the men, engaged in combat, and yes, that includes being dismembered. That's what true equality is and now that we've achieved it, it sounds like there are some who wish to go backwards. I think the Dead Island statue in particular is proof enough that gender is no longer a major factor to game devs when it comes to how they portray their characters. I think it was a completely innocuous decision to make that statue the way it was and if people weren't so primed and chomping at the bit to view everything in the light of gender inequality, this would be a complete non-issue, as it should be.
Link / ReplyI totally agree with this. Why should women be pampered like princesses, and to be caressed as if any violence inflicted against them is a crime against humanity? I don't even see the fuss over the hitman trailer. I'd assume he'd attack them in a brutal fashion, because you know, he's a hitman. A guy who pretty much kills for a living. God forbid, a bunch of murderous women get killed by someone who acts defensively to avoid getting killed by these said group of people. Sure they're dressed in oddly inappropriate clothing, but fuck it, not like they're real nuns.Hell, I don't even see much problem with the Tomb Raider trailer (other than it not really looking like Tomb Raider game). From what I've seen, Lara can take a hit, get back up, and defend herself with her own set of skills. How is that not progress? Why must women be treated like feeble bodies? I feel like this as weak of an argument as much as applying the Bechdel test to determine whether a film is sexist or not.
Link / ReplyAgreed. And i believe the Hitman nuns were a stylistic choice in a pretty stylistic game, which i found pretty fitting. But i can't really get a good grip on what this blog is about. Does she want to decrease violence against particulary women in games or what? Because doing that is a big fucking step back on equality.
Link / ReplyThe issue brought up is not the sole act of violence against women that you describe. It is the application of that violence, or, how that violence occurs, or, the context in which the violence occurs. To pull directly from the article, "when female characters encounter violence in games, too many times it is a direct attack on their sexuality to take them down a few notches and restore a patriarchal balance." Also, saying people are even close to being beyond gender is a bit ridiculous, especially with stories like the occurrence in New Delhi and the US women combat ban only just now being lifted, officially. It will take a lot to reverse centuries (or millennia) of inequality.
Link / ReplyWhat has real world rape got to do with fictional characters? As they say virtual violence has no affect on real people, why would fictional sexual violence affect real people?
Link / ReplyBen summed up what would've been my response to those who disagree. It's definitely not about violence against women, but sexualized violence against women, that promotes a larger problematic social problem called "rape culture." Also, CommanderZx2, I think your question of "real world rape" could be reversed to ask about a different kind of violence - how would people be affected if there was an action game that was a school shooting simulator? Real world problems can't just be thrown into fiction without some sort of necessary responsibility on the writers' part. There is too much slut shaming and victim blaming in real life and it is bleeding into fictional settings which too many people are just shrugging off.
Link / ReplyI've heard that term 'rape culture' bandied about the Internet many times and it never comes with substance. I'm not sure where you live, but in most first world countries (where I assume most of the users of this site live), it's not like there's a cabal of men trying to keep women down. I've never seen solid evidence of what you describe as 'slut-shaming' or 'victim-blaming' actually happening, certainly not in the coordinated fashion you believe it happens. I think you've become hyper-vigilant of what you think 'sexism' entails and now you're starting to see it everywhere; not because it actually exists everywhere, but because you're actively looking for it. In essence, to a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
Link / ReplyA lot of these things are not conscious. For example, how many times have you seen a girl dressed sexily in a bar and thought: "She's cruising for cock." Racist and sexist ideas are programmed into us from an early age and every time we see someone behave the way we expect them to based on a sexist idea, it confirms and solidifies the idea in our minds (i.e. classical conditioning). It takes conscious effort to think that maybe the bar girl just wanted to look nice. Maybe she is insecure and wants someone to tell her she looks pretty. Most people aren't willing to make this effort so what they see is simply a reinforcement of their belief that slutty dressed girls want the cock. The end result? Some guy makes a pass. If he's drunk enough or asshole enough, it might be a very violent pass but in his mind it is justified. She was dressed slutty, she wanted the cock. Moral of story: You have to counterattack and question the sexist ideas constantly otherwise they'll never go away.
Link / ReplyReally you think all men think that?
Link / ReplyNot at all. It depends on who your parents were and what environment you live in. But they do exist - and are far more common than we like to believe. My mother was raped (roofied, then woke up in a field), I have two friends that were raped (one was date rape, another was too drunk to remember until the pregnancy test came back), and I came DAMN close once (got drunk and was essentially kidnapped). Ask any girl and chances are she knows at least one person who was raped, so while all men definitely don't think like rapists, clearly SOMEONE isn't getting the message. Truth is that sexist thoughts are in ALL people (both men and women) including perfectly normal, rational, gentle-hearted guys and becoming aware of those thoughts is hard and makes feel ugly. What's important is that, when we have them, we challenge them which is why we need to have these discussions. :)
Link / ReplyI think that's quite a stretch. I don't think even a noticeable minority of men think the way you're ascribing to them. Certainly not enough to claim that there's a 'culture of rape', whatever that means. Moreover, I'm not seeing how video games tie into this at all, unless you're trying to say that because video games have violent imagery toward women and therefore the people who play those games start believing that all women are inferior and therefore start to belittle women in their own minds which leads to them belittling women in real life which leads to violence against women which leads to a societal construct that women are inferior or deserve the violence which then leads to an engrained 'culture' of 'patriarchy'. That's the only way I can get from perceived violence against women in video games to actual real life violence and an eventual 'culture' of violence and inferiority towards women. If those are the points people around here are trying to connect to make this argument, not only is it a ludicrous argument, it's actively looking for a controversy to be offended by. It's actively pulling together extraneous points to try and fit together a narrative that doesn't actually exist in the real world.
Link / ReplyI don't think that anyone is trying to prove that video games are encouraging this behavior; you'd find many of the same defending video games against the recent violence allegations. What's been talked about here is the representation of violence towards women in video games and how it's more commonly of a sexual nature (given the two different examples). The 'culture of rape' refers to to the _real_world's_ alarmingly high rape statistics and alarmingly low percent of reported cases that actually get prosecuted. No one is saying video games cause this; that's just stupid. From what I can tell, it's a critique on the way this violence is represented and video games are _not_ alone in this. Being a privileged white male, I'm in no position to say that women should not find offense in this material; I can see why they would find these trends alarming.
Link / ReplyWell said, Tara and Bob. Rorix - rape culture is a punishment of sexuality. It has been in society decades before video games. And women can also be perpetrators of this kind of punishment, I am not saying men are all horrible because only men do this and this is caused by video games, I'm saying my examples of sexualized violence are results of a larger societal problem.
Link / ReplyI think I've said my peace about this subject. I don't think that a 'rape culture' as you define it exists in any noticeable way in our first world cultures and that what you are now claiming to be fact was largely created by perhaps decades of cherry-picking and echo chamber arguments. I'm not suggesting that inequality doesn't exist; it certainly does in some sectors. However to suggest that there exists a noticeable, over-arching culture of acceptance around rape or violence I think is silly and to claim that video games or even most forms of media are in any way responsible for perpetuating this culture is baseless. Frankly, I think that bringing up such tenuous arguments about this subject does a disservice to changing the inequality that actually exists in our cultures by setting up an unnecessary 'us vs. them' dichotomy. And it's not a matter of turning a blind eye to a problem. It's about creating true acceptance and equality based on the obvious problems that currently exist and most of those problems are so obvious that they don't need to grasp at straws to define them. We should be trying to forge relationships and acceptance based on these obvious facts rather than trying to force acceptance by using such tenuous facts.
Link / ReplyExactly, look at any cases of a female accusing someone of any notoriety of sexual assault or rape. There will be many people saying, "Oh she is lying to cover up her having sex." or "She lead them on" or was "Dressed like a 'whore'".
Link / ReplySaying that violence against women in video games is meant to be a 'direct attack on their sexuality' is a meaningless, emotion-jerking phrase, just as much as the term 'patriarchal balance' is. Both phrases lack clearly defined definitions and therefore can be changed or manipulated to serve whatever agenda you're looking to push. They are not meant to describe an actual event or scenario; they are emotionally-tinged words that are used to try and raise the ire of people. It's ridiculous that such a baseless claim even exists, but speaking of baseless claims, are you really insinuating that a dismembered bust or video game violence in any way contributed to the rapes in India or the US's combat code? To even suggest that video game are even tangentially tied to those events is patently ridiculous.
Link / ReplyIn games of the past women were either exempt from games completely or would never be harmed, ever as it would be too much for the average public and ratings agencies. Now that they are treated equally and can be brutally tortured and killed just as much as men can, women cry foul to it?
Link / ReplyI agree. " but when female characters encounter violence in games too many times it is a direct attack on their sexuality to take them down a few notches and restore a patriarchal balance." This is the most ridicouls thing I have read in a long time. Jesus christ...
Link / ReplySo ridiculous I couldn't even spell the word properly. hueheu..
Link / ReplyI'm glad you find it ridiculous because I am trying to open up a dialogue of reading modes of violence.
Link / ReplyI'm crying foul to sexualized violence, not torture, murder or assault. These female victims are not being treated equally because male victims rarely, if not ever in video games, get attacked or murdered for their sexuality. "Equality" is a word that is thrown around without many people thinking much of it.
Link / ReplyOh there's plenty of examples for that when it comes to male characters too. Here's a recent example look up poor Keith's experience in Far Cry 3. He spent a long with Buck who loves to F... Some other examples in Postal 2 you captured and wake up dressed only in a gimp suit. It wasn't a good day for your postal dude. In Mafia 2 you end up in a prison, in a shower, lets just say lots of big men call you pretty boy and you have to fight them off to save yourself. There's a scene in Yakuza 3 where if you help a 'lady' out it turns out she turns out to be a transvestite. He then pursues you and then rapes you if you get caught. There's a clip of that scene on the 4player youtube account http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGkO4-7FAYI - There are many more examples, but I don't feel any need to list more.
Link / ReplySure, there are examples of it occurring to men (though she never said there were not). But if you look at how many times it occurs to men vs how many times it occurs to women, it's rather disproportionate. You can hardly say that it's equal. It's a tool that's far too commonly used on the female spectrum of video game characters to the point where it's a crutch or even a trope. The whole discussion is recognizing that, yeah, maybe there's a problem and how can we grow beyond it?
Link / ReplyI am puzzled where does this occur so often to female characters in games? The vast majority of violent games over the years don't even have female characters in them.
Link / ReplyYou didn't see a lot of older games with violence towards women because it simply wasn't allowed; your game would never have been sold by anyone. I can certainly list a few: Shadows of the Damned, Heavy Rain, God Hand, Dante's Inferno, any fighting game (they're all scantly clad, why no full clothing?), Deadly Premonition, Haunting Grounds, Heavenly Sword, ... I'd say take a close look at games featuring violence towards women and find the ones that don't involve being a) partially nude/exposed or b) rape or any mention of sexual assault. Now compare that to how many games we have about violence towards men that don't feature any of that. Honestly I don't have exact numbers aside from anecdotal evidence (I don't have time to do the actual research), but from my experience it's pretty one sided.
Link / ReplyWhat has the way they dress got to do with it? This entire idea that the physical appearance or clothing of a character some how defines what sort of violence is being directed towards them is bizarre. Conan the Barbarian is a character that has been around since 1932, he wears pretty much nothing more than a loincloth. Is his character some how lesser than others due to his attire? On another note you mention that it is common for rape or sexual assault to be threatened in games with female characters. Isn't that representative of the real world? But, I digress violence and insults are constructed in a way to be the most effective. Calling a man fat would have little effect compared to how a woman would react. Hence why insults regarding physical appearance are mostly directed at woman. A male being raped is much less effective because A. Cannot fall pregnant. B. Doesn't loose virginity that way. C. Most villains wouldn't want to rape another male, as you rarely get gay villains nor men that desperate.
Link / ReplyYou're right, it is effective, but effectiveness is not always justified. If your story or your characters hinge on the sexualized violence towards women by illustrating a point, then you are trying to justify it (whether that actually happens in the end is up to the audience). When it becomes par for the course and normalized, that is when I see it can become a problem; men get physically assaulted, women get sexually assaulted. Women already get enough shit about their sexuality through TV, magazines, movies and other media. I can't even pretend to understand how prevalent it is because I don't notice half of it; I can only take the word of the many women I know that have told me about it. The whole Tomb Raider thing is a bit tricky given that they're not showing the entire story. I know they're trying for a "trial by fire" approach to the character, but all we've seen so far just amounts to what looks like torture porn and the degradation of a once extremely strong and sexual female character. I can certainly see why people would take offense.
Link / ReplyConan and Bayonetta share something in common here - they are sexualized, but are never out of control of the situation. They are the way they are because they choose to be. For a tied-up Lara Croft, if the situation she's in has sexual tension chances are it's not by her choice. She is rendered helpless and is being forced into a situation where she is seen as "sexy" (by the viewer or by a character in a game doesn't matter). THAT is the problem. You can see how this could be a scary situation and one women are afraid of seeing glorified. As to the question of doesn't the direction of rape or sexual assault at women in video games reflect real life: Yes, but why does it have to? Do we really want to reinforce something we find so reprehensible irl? If we're creating a fantasy world, can't it be one where you don't have to be an overly aggressive chauvinistic male to relate to your character? Or, alternatively, why do people feel that these characters or scenarios need to exist?
Link / ReplyBeing rendered into a situation where you or a character is helpless and is under the attack of another is one of the main pillars of all horror content. Are you saying that all horror movies, games, books, etc are bad? Think about every piece of horror fiction, what you just described about the Tomb Raider situation as being a problem is the corner stone that makes all horror scary. It is meant to be unsettling, because it is horrible situation. If characters are empowered rather than helpless in these situations of fiction, then the situations would completely loose their impact. For example imagine if you had guns in Amnesia or the actors in Cloverfield carried weapons rather than just a camera.
Link / ReplyYou could also add 2k's shitty Duke Nukem game with girls basically getting raped by the alien sack things (sorry can't explain it well) and also being able to hit boobs that are on the wall in the same level I believe, and I would even consider Haunting Ground for how FIona is dressed that makes her boobs jiggle every damn step she takes and having the mentally disorder big man mistaken Fiona as doll and keeps chasing her....... Come on, that can't be the only reason. Idk if those are good examples, but its something to consider.
Link / ReplyI do hope for better days in the future where female warriors and assassins bring more appropriate clothes to battle on a gaming wide scale and sexuality is toned down, but I'm not afraid to admit that I will miss this days off kick-ass half naked chicks running around beating people up. Not because it's right, but it's what I grew up on. The change will be for the better, that holds the most importance.
Link / ReplyI don't mean to sidetrack, but there is some seriously great discussion going on in here. Thanks for the interesting topic!
Link / ReplyThe 4PN community is a fantastic one.
Link / ReplyI'm still not seeing your point. Whatever happens in the hitman trailer can't even be closely considered to be sexualized violence. He's not grabbing them by the tit and kicking them in vag or whatever. Nope, he's strangling them and shooting them like he would for any other male target. The tomb raider trailer as well also doesn't display explicit sexualized violence. Maybe the bad guy is kind of a creepo for touching her in odd places but that's not exactly hurting her. I also don't see why in the world some of you guys are bringing real world applications into this discussion as if that has to do with anything.
Link / ReplyI think what she means by "sexualized" violence is how the women have to be portrayed before our minds register it as being "ok" for Agent 47 to kill them. The article argues that, if Agent 47 were to just straight up murder a bunch of male priests, our minds would automatically tell us "Well, it was part of his mission. Those must have been corrupt priests, or enemy soldiers in disguise." If Agent 47 were to instead murder a bunch of nuns... as in, regular nuns in regular Catholic clothing, our minds wouldn't be able to rationalize that because of our society's portrayal of women. "Why is he killing innocent women?!" So in order to "help" our brains out, the scene's directors had the nuns strip down into hooker outfits. This sudden change would cause our brains to say "Hey, they aren't nuns! They're sluts! Kill them, Agent 47!" and then the violence towards them would be rationalized. At least, that is what I think Soha is trying to say in her article. If you agree with it or not is another story. One question I have is what would be the result if the nuns in the Hitman trailer never stripped down? What if they stayed dressed as regular nuns, but then brandished weapons and shot at Agent 47? Would there be the same reaction if Agent 47 had just killed a bunch of regular male opponents?
Link / ReplyOh man, I completely these posts don't take into account white space in a post. Sorry for the wall of text!
Link / ReplyBeat me to it, but yeah I would agree that if they just looked like a regular group of nuns (in their 30s-60s) but pulled out guns, I would have made the same logical leap as if the were attacked by a bunch of male priests/men in suits. It's not a concept that's far fetched as there are many movies were the seemingly innocent guise is used as a ruse. There's nothing innocent about the Hitman nuns though.
Link / ReplyIf you had that thought process that you would quickly assume those priests must've been some group of terrible people, as opposed to nuns, it would be a double standard. Those priests could've been innocent for all you know, but when it comes to nuns, you think all of em as pure hearted individuals because you don't ever see or hear nuns doing bad things. But for priests, you don't really mind because you commonly hear them doing terrible things like molesting little children and whatnot, but say what if that just wasn't the case in a hitman game? Double standard, man.
Link / ReplyI don't really think that a group of nuns with guns (non sexualized) would be any different from a group of priests with guns (non sexualized); I think we'd all agree that we'd make the leap to "Oh they're bad guys/girls" really easily. Though let's try another scenario: Group of male priests dressed with leather fetishist gear implying they are homosexual. Justification for killing them "because they're a group of fags" would not be a stretch. Hell, we've already got a bunch of games where we kill brown people because they're terrorists. It's all about perspective really; you can completely say that this is _not_ meant as racists or sexist, but that's not going to keep people from perceiving it as such.
Link / ReplyIn that same scenario, if they were carrying guns, it would be the same situation. Because guns are dangerous. And well typically if you see people carrying guns unless they were a cop or an FBI agent, you'd think of them as a threat. Again, it doesn't matter how they are dressed. I really don't perceive this situation the same as some of these people here do.
Link / ReplyEhh.. I wouldn't necessarily say being "kind of a creepo for touching her in odd places" doesnt exactly hurt anyone. Putting someone in a terrifying situation and then borderline molesting them does cause harm, regardless of gender. As for the sexualized violence of the Hitman trailer, it's not about getting your dick out and stabbing nuns with it. It's the portrayal of the female assassins that is the sexualization. You couldn't have our "hero" going out and beating the shit out of a group of real nuns; that would be unconscionable. It's that they felt the need to demoralize the female assassins by using sexuality in order to justify the violence towards them that is the problem. They made them a sexual fetish to show they were "tainted' and thus fair game for the violence they received. It's the fact that as a society, far too commonly, when there is violence portrayed towards women, it's done in a sexual manner or they "deserved" it by being sexually depraved. Yes, I'm sure there are many counter examples just as there are many examples, but the idea is to have an open conversation and _recognize_ that this is an issue. I'm not one to comfortably talk about female sexual issues as I am not a woman and I simply will never understand to the degree some of the shit they have to put up with, so I won't claim to. I will, however, try to see the world from their perspective and keep an open mind that there is more than just being "overly sensitive."
Link / ReplyHow those nuns are dressed don't have anything to do with the violence being inflicted upon them. I would only see its natural for the hitman to brutally kill em, regardless of their clothing, because you know, they're all carrying GUNS. And usually when we see people with GUNS, we'd recognize them as a dangerous threat. I'd say violence is totally justifiable against a bunch of deadly female assassins carrying guns. If they were dressed in any other way, or let's say for the sake of argument, casual, non-risque, clothing, what makes you think the hitman would act any differently than what he did in the trailer? Of course they deserve to be killed, they're assassins. I'm sure there are some cases where sexualized violence does occur in video games, but they don't by any means represent the majority or that this is how all or even most video game publishers perceive women. Clearly not. The examples provided in this article aren't solid evidence of sexualized violence. Hell, the new tomb raider is being judged by a three minute trailer. I know there's an issue with how women are commonly portrayed in video games, but there are some signs of progress along the years. Female soldiers are apparent and set on equal grounds in games like Xcom and Valkyria Chronicles, and can be attacked like any other male soldier on your team, because they're seen as soldiers, not by gender.
Link / ReplyThen why weren't the nuns dressed like normal nuns and not presented as a sexual fetish? Sure, sex sells, but having a bunch of scantily clad women get beaten doesn't really do it for me. One interpretation that some of our female community sees is that it's used as a mechanism to justify the violence. I'm not a woman; I'm not particularly sensitive to this type of imagery or scenarios. I can, however, confidently say that there is certainly a sensitive issue here. As a privileged white male, I'm in no position to claim that I know that was no intention in the representation of women in these scenarios, unconscious or otherwise. As a culture, women are treated extremely sexually to the point where it is even difficult for game developers to stray away from these stereotypes or societal preconceptions. There is no conglomerate of men who are out there to "keep the women down." But there are certainly people with different ideals, be it intentional or not, who rationalize choices based on these. Video games are not alone in this and nor are they immune to it.
Link / ReplyBecause they're not normal nuns. Clearly, they're not normal nuns. What kind of nun carries a gun? No normal one. Maybe what they are wearing is just some sort of odd uniform or fashion statement. Women being beaten probably won't sit well with most people, but seeing Agent 47 escape a rocket launcher blast, single-handlely take down a bunch of assassins each wielding an assault rifle, well that's kinda cool to see. Well I see that trailer, I don't see MALE POWER, but someone who outskills a bunch of other assassins. This is Hitman. This is what he does. I'm don't play the games, but even I know that this is what the series is about. Better and more apparent examples of sexualized violence would likely be in games like Duke Nukem Forever or Other M. But I believe this is blowing stuff way out of proportion and context too at that.
Link / ReplyWhen I first saw this trailer I had the same feeling; It's just Agent 47 kicking ass. That doesn't mean that people whom are more sensitive to gender issues don't see yet another brick in the wall. Are they just being overly sensitive femi-nazis? Some are, but I'd say the vast majority are not. As I mentioned way too many times on these comments, I really don't think I can claim to know what all of these things look like from the female perspective, but I at least understand why some women would be offended. Does that mean you shouldn't enjoy Hitman? Fuck no, enjoy it all you like. Does that make you a bad person for enjoying it? Not at all, unless you're getting a raging boner over the whole "beating up women" part. Women put up with a lot of shit that men never even know about or for the most part, care to know exists. We should at least do our part and accept that these problems do exist.
Link / ReplyI already acknowledge that these problems exist. It just feels like these certain examples used above are taken out of extreme context, as opposed to what's more obvious. For example, harvesting little sisters in Bioshock could easily be taken way out of context as it can be described as the player being rewarded for destroying the lives of little children. Clearly this isn't the case. And then there's something like Duke Nukem Forever which establishes that sort of "patriarchy", to which I can logically understand as being sexist. There's acknowledging an issue that's clearly evident in a video game, and then there's taking something out of context because you perceive it that way.
Link / ReplyOKAY Ready for a Reborn Response? From what I understand, this article is about the "sexualized" violence displayed when it comes to women in video games. A lot of the commentary disagreeing with Soha here involves the "sexualized" part. Rape being immediately paired with the "violence" aspect, but that's not the point she's trying to make. Rape is bad, kids, mmkay? But I have yet to see an on screen rape (well, then I think of FEAR 2 and...that...thing), the sentiment is always there whenever such an act is implied. E.G. Ben in Far Cry 3--you feel for the poor guy, and its fucked up. But notice that Ben was fully clothed when you found him, I didn't see him with a shirt off, or tied up in a particular way, he was a guy, shaking, on a bed, das it. If it was a woman, she would probably have something torn, be tied up, some flesh exposed. THAT'S what she means by sexualized. Want a different example? Madison from Heavy Rain during her nightmare. Sure she's fighting her pursuers off, but she's in her goddamn underwear! Why couldn't she be wearing pants? It's these subtle choices that establish this sexualized violence. Someone was also asking about real world implications. Soha isn't saying that video games= rape all day everyday. But video games where women in bikinis and school girl outfits getting zombified and beaten to a bloody pulp (I'm thinking the Dead Island bust and Dead or Alive, btw) psychologically desensitizes a person into having those violent tendencies without terribly understand the gravity of his/her actions. Note that a lot of assault against women is often unreported for a variety of reasons, but video games as a medium should make an effort that, if they want to show these things, not to hint at glory, it should be realistic, it should be traumatizing. Commander mentioned the shower thing from Mafia 2, I just watched it. 1. he's wearing shorts, 2. The protagonist, based on his movements, doesn't look fearful, and in fact shoves the guy away before engaging in the fight. I'd like to see a woman get attacked and be able to hold her ground, struggle to fight her attacker back, not scream and flail like a hot mess like Madison. That being said, degrading violence is a horrible thing for both genders because we are intelligent people and know better (or we watch Law & Order like me). Sexualizing it by showing attractive features of the victim doesn't get the message across, and that's the real issue here.
Link / ReplyI never saw the reason why that scene in Heavy Rain was included or even necessary. It really didn't affect the story, felt really out of place and honestly left a bad taste in my mouth.
Link / ReplyI put down Heavy Rain for a while cause of the Madison intro scene :|
Link / ReplyLast year Jim Sterling posted an episode of the Jimquistion regarding the question about rape vs murder in games. Its a great video I suggest you take some time to check it out. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/5972-Rape-vs-Murder
Link / ReplyI think its also a good idea to watch "The Positive Side to Punching Nuns" video as well. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/5808-The-Positive-Side-to-Punching-Nuns
Link / ReplyOh! and good Idea to bring up Jimquisition by the way.
Link / ReplyThere is nothing I can add to this at all. Pretty much everything has been said. Just, congratulations to 4PN for being mature as fuck in all these comments. I don't know if they're being heavily policed or not, but man, way to go everyone. Stupidly off topic, really, I know. But still.
Link / ReplyWe haven't had to police anything. This is a great community.
Link / ReplyI just finished reading all the comments and I agree this is why i love the people of 4PN and why I have stuck around since 09. There is a level of maturity that other sites just don't have. I was half expecting someone to just troll and say your wrong or you don't know what your talking about but no everyone comes and explains there point of view and I respect that very much. Thanks to the community of 4PN you give me a bit of hope in mankind.
Link / ReplyIMO its another one of those problems with gender in videogames and other media sources. Most of the staff making videogames are male notably writers and designers. It just seems that many of them don't know how to write for a female character outside cliche tropes. Its because they approach creating female characters differently than male is why we have such an emphasis on whether a character is female or male. So in terms of violence mostly we'll see violence done to males because they are though of as expendable and just 'default' as they are of no importance to the story , when the character is female its portrayed completely different: mostly sympathetic (since females are objects of emotional support to the main character) or in this case aggressive, and since the focus is the female character and the only thing we know is that shes female it sends a very clear misogynistic message from the writers. It would be the same if for the focus character (to whom violence is dealt) we knew some other type of information (like religious belief or if he was a nationalty different than what those in context of the story would be) . I'm all for violence in videogames but when its not intended to be attacking any type of person in the real world. It would be refreshing to see enemies in videogames be both male and female and not just male, imo this would lead to more equality in portrayal. Now that I think about it, Resident evil 4 had this in the village chapters, and it was done properly.
Link / ReplyThe way I see it is that video games are cultural products. As such, they reflect certain aspects about the cultures that produce them. In America and in many other societies, sexual violence against women is occurring at epidemic levels. The combination of violence and sex is a cultural reality. This cultural reality is reflected in many games. The Dead Island bikini corpse and the Hitman nuns are examples of the combination of violence and sex; they are forms of sexual sadism. These examples of sexual sadism in video games reflect certain cultural modes of thought that the game makers, marketers, and players have about gender, violence, and sexuality. It's all pretty scary really.
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