Arathi Weaponsmith (Drusenna the Vigilant) from Hearthstone
On one hand, an orc woman who looks like an orc, including facial features and muscular physique… On the other hand, her waist is so small it would look awkward even on a thin human; not the mention THE AMAZING UNDERBOOB that ruins her otherwise cool and stylized costume.
~Ozzie
edit: Added the character’s name (ht: robertskitch)
Tidy Up Tuesday #44
A longer tidy-up this week:
While tangentially related to BABD, we gotta thank all the readers who directed us at @wackd‘s Bad Genderbend Bingo, a very acute look into double standards in redesigning an established character to be of different sex/gender (in this bingo’s case, male to female).
Few more facts regarding Frank Cho storming off DC due to “censorship” of his optional Wonder Woman covers:
- It was not disclosed to Cho that Greg Rucka, the writer for recent Wonder Woman run, was given creative control over all the cover art.
- Cho seems to regard “artistic freedom” of his optional cover freelance contract equally (if not more) valid to Rucka’s script freelance contract with DC.
- While Rucka asked for several changes in Cho’s covers, cropping of the gratuitous pantyshot in issue #3 is what ultimately prompted the artist to quit.
For those confused why we didn’t heap unconditional praise over Ana Amari’s design is because Blizzard has a long history of taking a very safe half-step forward and expecting praise (and then halting all progress indefinitely). Overwatch has an abundance of problems that aren’t going to be fixed by adding a new character or pretending the game has something close to gender equitable representation.
Thing we addressed before:
~Ozzie & – wincenworks
Tidy Up Tuesday #44
A longer tidy-up this week:
While tangentially related to BABD, we gotta thank all the readers who directed us at @wackd‘s Bad Genderbend Bingo, a very acute look into double standards in redesigning an established character to be of different sex/gender (in this bingo’s case, male to female).
Few more facts regarding Frank Cho storming off DC due to “censorship” of his optional Wonder Woman covers:
- It was not disclosed to Cho that Greg Rucka, the writer for recent Wonder Woman run, was given creative control over all the cover art.
- Cho seems to regard “artistic freedom” of his optional cover freelance contract equally (if not more) valid to Rucka’s script freelance contract with DC.
- While Rucka asked for several changes in Cho’s covers, cropping of the gratuitous pantyshot in issue #3 is what ultimately prompted the artist to quit.
For those confused why we didn’t heap unconditional praise over Ana Amari’s design is because Blizzard has a long history of taking a very safe half-step forward and expecting praise (and then halting all progress indefinitely). Overwatch has an abundance of problems that aren’t going to be fixed by adding a new character or pretending the game has something close to gender equitable representation.
Thing we addressed before:
~Ozzie & – wincenworks
ana amari’s tea time emote
Ohmygoshohmigoshohmigosh!!!!!
A female character well over 50 that is NOT SEXUALISED AND STILL BEATS ASS!
I’m excited ^^
Oye, @bikiniarmorbattledamage, a positive example among the widowmakers and tracers in that game ^^
It’s very exciting to see Blizzard has started work on making the game that they said they wanted to make shortly after announcing Overwatch!
Ana Amari certainly looks amazing and greatly boosts representation for badass mothers and older women of color though I notice something.
Of her eleven skins: Five show Ana as her glorious mature-aged self, four show her with her face completely covered and two show her as young. In fact there are zero Legendary skins where you can see Ana’s beautiful older face.
And the skins with her as a young woman don’t really do anything surprising with her, it’s not like Genji’s showing him as pre-cybernetic, it’s just… well:
So while it’s fantastic that Blizzard has started to realize that women in their sixties are dramatically under represented in action games – it’s kind of a shame that they couldn’t commit to it the whole way.
– wincenworks
Ana is a very welcome addition to Overwatch’s cast (heavens know we’re in a desperate need for older women in media, especially games), though I can’t help but notice how, not unlike Zayra, she’s a very safe approach to diversity. While being 60, she’s at the “conventionally attractive lady with grey hair and a couple facial lines” side of old person design.
Also, the fact that Ana’s clothes look very realistic for a sniper make Widowmaker’s hypersexualization stand out even more. With changes Blizzard made so far, they’ve proven a couple of times how they can edit and add things to the game as they please, but are afraid to change all that much
~Ozzie
Tidy Up Tuesday #42
Sadly no, unless we missed something really big at Marvel Captain Peggy Carter the super soldier does not yet exist outside of Marvel Puzzle Quest.
On the topic of exotification, @daicalina made a lengthy but very worthwhile Twitter thread on the inclusion of Overwatch skins like Pharah’s Thunderbird and Rainmaker options.
Things we addressed before:
– wincenworks & ~Ozzie
Tidy Up Tuesday #42
Sadly no, unless we missed something really big at Marvel Captain Peggy Carter the super soldier does not yet exist outside of Marvel Puzzle Quest.
On the topic of exotification, @daicalina made a lengthy but very worthwhile Twitter thread on the inclusion of Overwatch skins like Pharah’s Thunderbird and Rainmaker options.
Things we addressed before:
– wincenworks & ~Ozzie
The Rigged Slot Machine – Overwatch’s Female Character Creating Engine
Every time we criticize female sexualization in Overwatch, we’re sure to get at least a single reply along the lines of “What’s wrong with having ONE sexy assassin/pilot/etc. in the game?”, to which our answer would be “Nothing. But where’s that ONE person you’re talking about? We see a whole bunch. Also why no male character is coded unequivocally sexy with his design and/or clothes and/or posing and/or personality?”
I figured the best way to illustrate this is a rigged slot machine, in which slot devoted to describing character design lands on “sexy” 6 out of 8 times.
All heroes in the game have unique ethnic and cultural backgrounds, backstories and personalities. Most of them look quite diverse. The problem is that for women in Overwatch, more often than not,
the visual design compromises that in one way or another, in favor of making them conventionally attractive for the presumed cishet male gamer.
It might be a single thing, it might be the whole way character looks, dresses and is animated, but most of female Overwatch heroines suffer from gratuitous sexualization and obvious double standard when compared to their male colleagues. And a single step in more varied female representation should not be glorified as massive progress when everything else remains unfixed.
While a few of the game’s problems listed in old articles like this or this one got resolved by expanding the lineup, sadly, year and a half later
a lot of them remain true.
~Ozzie
Breakdown of all the concerns we have with characters under the cut:
Symmetra, the Sexy Indian Architect: (yes, we know the in-universe word is architech, but isn’t really relevant nor is it our job to explain Blizzard’s convoluted lore). Everything about her pantless costume and non-dance related posing is devoted to accentuating her hourglass figure, especially the thighs and hips. Also she’s wearing thigh-high high heels for no reason other than to look sexy to the audience – even Blizzard knows this.
D.Va, the Sexy Korean Mecha Pilot: D.Va is a teenage gamer celebrity. She’s girly, flirty, flamboyant and confident. Being a sexy character suits her personality and backstory. Her biggest sin is that she was revealed very late in the beta, so among all the gratuitously sexualized women, her genuine sexyness doesn’t stand out. Overwatch missed an opportunity when they didn’t make her THE sexy female character in the cast of diverse women with varying degrees of femininity.
Mercy the Sexy Swiss Healer: She’s a doctor devoted to heal the wounded with the help of her high-tech suit… suit that is so skin-tight it involves a boobplate. We can assure there’s nothing high-tech about separate boob bumps in a rigid breastplate meant for protection. Also, angel-themed character just happens to be a pale, blue-eyed blonde? How subtle!
Pharah, the Sexy Egyptian Soldier: Personality-, animation- and story-wise, a professional and devoted soldier in every inch. Design-wise… her (obviously Samus-inspired) battle suit includes what looks like a metal thong.
And funny how a female soldier character in gender-ambiguous armor just happens to have long, luxurious hair and perfectly made up face under that helmet. If she was a man she’d have the battle hardened, probably scarred, grizzled Male Protagonist™ look, including the buzzcut that conveniently cuts down on polygons while conveying military pragmatism.
Widowmaker the Sexy French Assassin: Some say she’s justified in looking sexy, as her design coveys a femme fatale. While it’s not wrong to have a femme fatale in the lineup (as long as it’s played as more than “good is chaste, evil is sexy”), we don’t see how that connects to this particular character, given her personality and story.
Why someone who was kidnapped, brainwashed and turned into a perfect unemotional killer would dress in something that looks like bodypaint with impossibly deep cleavage and high heels? How is such look helpful for her job as a sniper? Why does every male character from this archetype look totally different than her?
Tracer, the Sexy British Speedster: She’s playful, cute, energetic… and for some reason, whenever there’s a chance, her butt is put in the spotlight. Blizzard couldn’t give it up even when they admitted her previous victory pose was objectifying… they replaced it with a more playful, yet still butt-focused literal pinup.
Zarya, the Beefy Russian Gunner: The first attempt for a different female body type in Overwatch. Why does her suit includes boobplate, though? Much like Pharah, she doesn’t seem to have any of the grit we come to expect from heavy duty soldiers when they happen to be men.
Mei, the Curvy Chinese Scientist: Only problem with her is that we don’t know for sure whether she is significantly chubby/curvy (compared to all the thin women around) or if her thick arctic clothes make her look that way. She certainly doesn’t have her body type conveyed to the same extent as, say, Roadhog.
ALL OF THEM: They’re all young (19-34), with conventionally pretty faces (even Zarya and Mei, who are supposed to be somewhat masculine and chubby, respectively, don’t veer off any far from Western beauty standard). There’s very little body type variety. Literally half of the women are ethnically white, while two East Asian characters sport pale completions.
The Rigged Slot Machine – Overwatch’s Female Character Creating Engine
Every time we criticize female sexualization in Overwatch, we’re sure to get at least a single reply along the lines of “What’s wrong with having ONE sexy assassin/pilot/etc. in the game?”, to which our answer would be “Nothing. But where’s that ONE person you’re talking about? We see a whole bunch. Also why no male character is coded unequivocally sexy with his design and/or clothes and/or posing and/or personality?”
I figured the best way to illustrate this is a rigged slot machine, in which slot devoted to describing character design lands on “sexy” 6 out of 8 times.
All heroes in the game have unique ethnic and cultural backgrounds, backstories and personalities. Most of them look quite diverse. The problem is that for women in Overwatch, more often than not,
the visual design compromises that in one way or another, in favor of making them conventionally attractive for the presumed cishet male gamer.
It might be a single thing, it might be the whole way character looks, dresses and is animated, but most of female Overwatch heroines suffer from gratuitous sexualization and obvious double standard when compared to their male colleagues. And a single step in more varied female representation should not be glorified as massive progress when everything else remains unfixed.
While a few of the game’s problems listed in old articles like this or this one got resolved by expanding the lineup, sadly, year and a half later
a lot of them remain true.
~Ozzie
Breakdown of all the concerns we have with characters under the cut:
Symmetra, the Sexy Indian Architect: (yes, we know the in-universe word is architech, but isn’t really relevant nor is it our job to explain Blizzard’s convoluted lore). Everything about her pantless costume and non-dance related posing is devoted to accentuating her hourglass figure, especially the thighs and hips. Also she’s wearing thigh-high high heels for no reason other than to look sexy to the audience – even Blizzard knows this.
D.Va, the Sexy Korean Mecha Pilot: D.Va is a teenage gamer celebrity. She’s girly, flirty, flamboyant and confident. Being a sexy character suits her personality and backstory. Her biggest sin is that she was revealed very late in the beta, so among all the gratuitously sexualized women, her genuine sexyness doesn’t stand out. Overwatch missed an opportunity when they didn’t make her THE sexy female character in the cast of diverse women with varying degrees of femininity.
Mercy the Sexy Swiss Healer: She’s a doctor devoted to heal the wounded with the help of her high-tech suit… suit that is so skin-tight it involves a boobplate. We can assure there’s nothing high-tech about separate boob bumps in a rigid breastplate meant for protection. Also, angel-themed character just happens to be a pale, blue-eyed blonde? How subtle!
Pharah, the Sexy Egyptian Soldier: Personality-, animation- and story-wise, a professional and devoted soldier in every inch. Design-wise… her (obviously Samus-inspired) battle suit includes what looks like a metal thong.
And funny how a female soldier character in gender-ambiguous armor just happens to have long, luxurious hair and perfectly made up face under that helmet. If she was a man she’d have the battle hardened, probably scarred, grizzled Male Protagonist™ look, including the buzzcut that conveniently cuts down on polygons while conveying military pragmatism.
Widowmaker the Sexy French Assassin: Some say she’s justified in looking sexy, as her design coveys a femme fatale. While it’s not wrong to have a femme fatale in the lineup (as long as it’s played as more than “good is chaste, evil is sexy”), we don’t see how that connects to this particular character, given her personality and story.
Why someone who was kidnapped, brainwashed and turned into a perfect unemotional killer would dress in something that looks like bodypaint with impossibly deep cleavage and high heels? How is such look helpful for her job as a sniper? Why does every male character from this archetype look totally different than her?
Tracer, the Sexy British Speedster: She’s playful, cute, energetic… and for some reason, whenever there’s a chance, her butt is put in the spotlight. Blizzard couldn’t give it up even when they admitted her previous victory pose was objectifying… they replaced it with a more playful, yet still butt-focused literal pinup.
Zarya, the Beefy Russian Gunner: The first attempt for a different female body type in Overwatch. Why does her suit includes boobplate, though? Much like Pharah, she doesn’t seem to have any of the grit we come to expect from heavy duty soldiers when they happen to be men.
Mei, the Curvy Chinese Scientist: Only problem with her is that we don’t know for sure whether she is significantly chubby/curvy (compared to all the thin women around) or if her thick arctic clothes make her look that way. She certainly doesn’t have her body type conveyed to the same extent as, say, Roadhog.
ALL OF THEM: They’re all young (19-34), with conventionally pretty faces (even Zarya and Mei, who are supposed to be somewhat masculine and chubby, respectively, don’t veer off any far from Western beauty standard). There’s very little body type variety. Literally half of the women are ethnically white, while two East Asian characters sport pale completions.