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Friday, April 26, 2013

Feminist Friday: Naked Women in Video Games

"What's an appropriate way to ask about all the boobs?"
- Emily McGreevy


I'm not what one would call a "gamer" but I enjoy video games, and I love them as a new medium for story telling. What I don't love is the need for women to constantly be naked and large-breasted in the games.

Over the weekend I went to an art school in LA to meet the concept artists for the game God of War: Ascension. My boyfriend loves the God of War games, and in preparation for GOW:A which came out in March I sat through (sometimes slept through) his replaying of all the games. All the women are naked. Nipples out and everything. There is one sex scene in every game where the sex you have gives you experience or health points. That's ridiculous as much as it's hilarious. In the gallery of the art show there was one painting showing the progression of a character, and in each she just gets more and more naked. Its like the art director was like "Maybe show a little more boob in the next version." 

I asked one of the character artists about the use of boob, and his response was along the lines of:  "We just draw the character and leave that space open." I think the games are awesome, but something about the need to show nipple bothers me. 

Soon after my boyfriend posted this article The Real Problem With That Controversial Sexy Video Game Sorceress to one of our best friends, with whom we talk about this subject often. It got me thinking about the subject even more. This woman's breasts look like they each have their own heart beat as she moves! 

What do you think? Am I a crazy straw feminist for being bothered or should the video game industry evaluate its boob usage?

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