lysander-gustav submited:
I saw your article on Ultionus, and found myself curious how it holds up on your Bingo. Strangely it doesn’t get a full bingo. I found out about the high heels, bared back, and whether she had a thong from seeing the “Game Over” screen. I don’t feel comfortable linking to it due to the “sexualized in defeat” pose.
I’d totally cross out “No underwear”, as there’s clearly nothing under that… thing. Also would consider “Covers only nipples and genitals on the torso”, seeing how those are virtually the areas around which the covering parts of the costume are designed.
~Ozzie
Hi! First of all thank you for your hard work, this blog opened my eyes about the game industry and made me realize how sexist it is. I’m sending you this cause I have some mixed feeling about one one of my favorite characters: Bayonetta. I know she’s sexualized to the extreme and thats sad, cause she’s awesome, and I still like her. My question its if you think its okay to like a sexualized character like her and still be against the bikini armor, or maybe that’s hypocrite? Thanks for reading.
It’s perfectly okay, normal and healthy to enjoy things that are problematic. There is a DIRE shortage of media that isn’t problematic and nobody should be expected to just sit in a corner and wait until something perfect comes along. Furthermore, media creators can’t be expected to create better media unless they release things to be critiqued so they can do better next time.
The problems come when people deny media they like has problems and want to hold it above critique or when they decide that if anything detracts from the media then it’s not worth worrying about. Not only does it lead to a lack of progress – it leads to people normalizing and internalizing the problems.
As an example: Bayonetta core concept is pretty awesome and open to all kinds of interpretations – super witch with unlimited access to magic and fashion who battles all kinds of powerful and weird stuff. The gameplay exists essentially independent of the concept and is really enjoyable for many people.
It’s just unfortunate that literally everything in the production sets cranking the male gaze up to 11/10 as the top priority. Whether the problems offset the fun aspects is a matter entirely up to the individual experiencing it at the time- what aspects could have been improved is a matter between critics and creators.
– wincenworks
Hi! First of all thank you for your hard work, this blog opened my eyes about the game industry and made me realize how sexist it is. I’m sending you this cause I have some mixed feeling about one one of my favorite characters: Bayonetta. I know she’s sexualized to the extreme and thats sad, cause she’s awesome, and I still like her. My question its if you think its okay to like a sexualized character like her and still be against the bikini armor, or maybe that’s hypocrite? Thanks for reading.
It’s perfectly okay, normal and healthy to enjoy things that are problematic. There is a DIRE shortage of media that isn’t problematic and nobody should be expected to just sit in a corner and wait until something perfect comes along. Furthermore, media creators can’t be expected to create better media unless they release things to be critiqued so they can do better next time.
The problems come when people deny media they like has problems and want to hold it above critique or when they decide that if anything detracts from the media then it’s not worth worrying about. Not only does it lead to a lack of progress – it leads to people normalizing and internalizing the problems.
As an example: Bayonetta core concept is pretty awesome and open to all kinds of interpretations – super witch with unlimited access to magic and fashion who battles all kinds of powerful and weird stuff. The gameplay exists essentially independent of the concept and is really enjoyable for many people.
It’s just unfortunate that literally everything in the production sets cranking the male gaze up to 11/10 as the top priority. Whether the problems offset the fun aspects is a matter entirely up to the individual experiencing it at the time- what aspects could have been improved is a matter between critics and creators.
– wincenworks
Concerning my previous ask: I think it’s time we stop beating around the bush and ask the real question that has been looming. What makes a guy sexy to women? What is the “t ‘n’ a” of men? What makes Conan different from Jacob from Twilight?
Well we do have a tag… but okay. (This was the previous ask)
Well, the most obvious differences between Conan and Jacob is that Conan was what his creator, Robert E Howard (who struggled his entire life with the pressures of society and toxic masculinity) not-secretly-at-all yearned to be and Jacob is the Stephanie Meyer’s idea of semi-exotic potential boyfriend. Check out this classic depiction of Conan by Frank Frazetta and try to remember the last time you saw a guy like this on the cover of a romance novel.
What makes guys sexy to women (physically)?
Well, it turns out since women are not a monolith and women don’t get to dictate beauty standards for men there’s no real standard.
Research has shown that men in general overestimate how much muscle women find attractive. They also tend to overestimate the importance and the preferred size of penises. (Seriously guys, don’t send unsolicited dick pics and don’t expect bragging about ridiculous endowment to help you)
Honestly though, the notion that you have to adhere to beauty standards in order to make a character attractive is kind of ridiculous. I mean, butts are sexualized across genders. Feeling comfortable pressed up against someone and kissing them is usually a plus. Looking like they may find you interesting as a person or want to impress you are definite help.
When designing a sexy male character: Leave the books about primary and secondary characteristics alone and forget about what manly men say a man should be like and ask, “What’s she going to like in this guy?”
Nothing is genuinely universally attractive, but at least this way you have a chance that the audience will see the appeal even it’s not for them.
– wincenworks
Gendered power fantasies and costume design | Male characters are not sexualized the same