Current Connection 3.1

In Jake Weston's article, "Gender Roles and Sexism in Gaming:  The Gamers' Perspective," he explains how females are generally portrayed negatively in video games.

For example, Weston states in the article, "Almost every game released nowadays features a male playable protagonist, but... only 15% of games feature female playable characters." Although nearly as many females as males play video games, there are few games that even have one female that is playable. Unfortunately, this bias towards men is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to sexism in gaming.

Additionally, Weston states, "While men in video games are typically portrayed as "macho", manly-men with big guns, women are portrayed as weak, timid, and unable to take action for themselves." While men are almost exclusively the heroes of video games, women are usually seen as a victim or a "prize." Women in games are incompetent and typically must be saved from a situation they got themselves into.

In addition, Weston states in his article, "If a woman is made as a playable character, then she is typically reduced to sexual appeal, with incredibly unrealistic curves made in an attempt to appeal to the teenage male audience that game publishers usually target." Women in games are mainly just a marketing tool to bring in more male gamers. They typically have no character and are just walking eye candy.

League of Legends loading screen

In a game I sometimes play, League of Legends (seen above), females are certainly used for their sex appeal; however, there are female playable characters and they are just as viable as the males. The female characters are still used as a way to market to a male audience, even though the female characters have just as much story and personality as the male characters in this case.

Women's portrayal in video games is not improving, in spite of the fact that more and more females are playing games. This is certainly going to hold the video game industry, as well as feminism, back in the future.

Works cited:
Weston, Jake. "Gender Roles and Sexism in Gaming: The Gamers' Perspective." VGChartz. VGChartz Ltd., 29 June 2011. Web. 16 Jan. 2014.

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