i’m not trying to f%&k them- i’m trying to f%&k them up!
Stejphan Sejic, aka nebezial
A succinct yet comprehensive character design mantra that more mainstream creators should consider.
– wincenworks
Stjepan Sejic on: BABD | Tumblr: nebezial-asheri
i’m not trying to f%&k them- i’m trying to f%&k them up!
Stejphan Sejic, aka nebezial
A succinct yet comprehensive character design mantra that more mainstream creators should consider.
– wincenworks
Stjepan Sejic on: BABD | Tumblr: nebezial-asheri
Source (1, 2) Specifically Brianna was referring to this this unfortunate incident, and the even more unfortunate response.
It’s really terrifying how common this piece of rhetoric is and how extreme people will take it. I have lost count of the number of people who say that if you view the clearly hyper-sexualized female character as objectified maybe it’s you that’s the problem.
The characters we critique cannot have agency, and their creators are responsible for choosing what aspects of the character they communicate and when. When they make “sexy” be the top and almost singular priority for a female character – it’s a problem and it’s the creator’s fault.
– wincenworks
The myth of fictional characters possessing agency and thus “choosing” to dress a certain way has always been a pervasive rhetoric against BABD and similar sites/communities. That’s why it’s on the bingo.
Over time, we’ve collected a bunch of posts devoted to debunking that mentality, so I went back and introduced a tag for them.
~Ozzie
re: this post on double standards of body type diversity in SMITE and Overwatch
(yellow)
cited: our first post about Zarya
CLEARLY, Zarya can not be a step in the right direction AND a token exception AT THE SAME TIME, because… Uh… It’s so not like she’s literally the only female Overwatch character who is not conventionally pretty*, thin and/or sexualzied, right?
…right???
How about “she’s BOTH a token exception and a step in the right direction”, then?
~Ozzie
Okay… well, if we limit ourselves to just athletes in say… Olympic level condition… this is a sample of the body and features diversity we might expect:
Given that Blizzard has said they’re making this game to improve representation for women in video games and even address things like “why all the bikinis?”
Zarya is currently the quick “we fixed it” response from a company with a long history of going back on their “fixes”. They’re preaching that they want to fulfill the desire for diversity – but the sexy purple skinned assassin lady, a robot, a gorilla all got priority over so many types of real people.
Currently they are only vaguely close to meeting their stated goals due to a few isolated, individual characters. Pretty much all the tokenism alarm bells are ringing loud and clear.
“Much good work is lost for the lack of a little more.“ – Edward H. Harriman
– wincenworks
*Not to say that Zarya is ugly. She’s still “unconventional” in the safest way possible.
more on character design | more on Blizzard | more on Overwatch
A friend’s request for a bodily comparison of the gods and goddesses of Smite.
I’m having a flashback to this Overwatch silhouette comparison (pre-Zarya, the token exception, that is):
original source: [x]
Eyup. Typical. Men tend to be all shapes and sizes, while women are just slight variations of the same “shapely” figure.
[x]
[x]
~Ozzie
With a very few exceptions, pretty much every time I see a game brag about diverse body shapes – I wonder if they hired the same “expert” consultant that Levi’s did:
– wincenworks
more on double standards | more on character design | more on SMITE | more on Overwatch
