TTWBN Bonus: Lingerie may not be armor, but it is about as thin as your arguments...

you all knew this day was coming....

I normally view anything Anita does as “low hanging fruit” and often disregard it as such. Oh, I am quite vocal about any issues I have with her statements, however I do enjoy watching others tear apart her arguments. This time, though I found her current video,Lingerie-is-not-armor, to be quite interesting for a few reasons; the most prominent being, that this topic covers things that I have spent the better half of two years covering through my series, Those Tits Won't be necessary. While my series has been a means of getting people to think deeper into character design and to respect the design choices of artists who created characters like Darkstalkers' Morrigan or Street Fighter's Cammy, I felt that this video is just another attempt to erase agency from otherwise good representations of strong female characters just to shame them for what they are wearing. I just can't sit back and let this go on without putting in my two cents.

So, without further ado... Let's get it on!

"In the late 90s, developer Rare wanted to replicate the success of their landmark 1997 shooter GoldenEye, but didn’t want to make another James Bond game. Instead, they began work on a science fiction spy thriller called Perfect Dark. For the game’s star. they wanted to create a striking new type of special agent who wouldn’t just live in James Bond’s shadow, so they drew inspiration from figures ranging from Joan of Arc to The X-Files’ Dana Scully."

That's kind of a lackluster introduction. Maybe your audience wants to know a bit more about the history behind the game? As it goes, Rare wantedto work on an original project, despite being vocally interested indoing a sequel to Goldeneye. Of course, the developers clearly didn't want to be known as a “licensed game company” so after taking a short break, Rare's team decided to kick around some ideas for their next project, which was titled Red and Black. Wait wait, no. that would have been the title for the Japanese version of the game, but due to Japanese backlash, the original title was retained. Hmm... Japanese Gamers vocally expressing disinterest in unnecessary localization changes to a game... who would of thought.

I'm also curious as to why you seriously only mentioned two points of inspiration behind Joanna's creation? Couldn't name three, huh?

For the sake of argument, Dark's pedigree consists of not only Dana Scully and and Joan of Arc (Joan's full name just so happens to be Jeanne D'Arc), According to Hollis, She also shares DNA with text adventure game Silicon Dreams' Counter-espionage expert and space traveler Kim Kimberly, Marlene Dietrich's character X27 in the 1931 film Dishonored, The titular character from Luc Besson's La Femme Nikita, and Major Kusanagi from the cyberpunk Anime masterpiece, Ghost in the Shell.

I would also like to point out that the setting and story elements for the game were inspired by the works of Phillip K. Dick, and Thomas Pynchon, with a hint of Buckaroo Banzai for good measure.

"Her name was Joanna Dark. A few years earlier, Eidos Interactive’s Lara Croft had rapidly become one of the most famous and recognizable game characters of all time, so it was reasonable to think that an action game with a female protagonist could be a smash hit.  Alas, Joanna Dark never reached quite the levels of fame occupied by Lara Croft, but Perfect Dark was still a big success."

While it is true that Lara Croft was a popular character at the time, Martin Hollis stated in his interview that his reasons for a female lead had more to do with his feelings that there should be more games centered around having female characters. He also states that it would be cool to see a female heroine in an FPS. It also seemed logical that after creating an FPS with a male lead, that their second game feature a female lead.

You could have used this as a massive point in your favor, considering you want more female representation in games. However here I am doing your legwork for you.. I guess using any of this information would probably work against the narrative you're trying to create for this video.

Roll clip!

“Welcome to 2023. Big businesses now merge with alien nations. An ancient war is being fought under the sea. The president is about to be cloned. And it’s your job to try and save the world. So you’ve got an important decision to make: What are you going to wear to work?

Mon dieu!

From the team you brought you GoldenEye for N64, meet special agent Joanna Dark in Perfect Dark, where you’ll find out that the only person man enough to handle a job like this is a woman.”

Soo what's the problem again? The announcer just stated that the best man for the job is a woman, and apparently this woman is packing serious heat! She's literally the only person capable of saving the free world of the future, so why do we have a problem with this, again?

Oh, I forgot It is the current year.

"Can you imagine an ad exactly like this, only with Marcus Fenix or Master Chief, getting out of bed naked, taking a sexy slow-motion shower, putting on his sexy underwear, and the narrator saying that he has an important decision to make: what is he going to wear to work?"

Yes. I could.

In fact, I did a little do about that using Tony Stark, and you'll notice that it completely fits the narration perfectly! Well except for that bit at the end about the best man for the job is a woman... Let's take a look at that, shall we?

Roll Clip!

                                    

You see, the reason why I can do this is because I have an imagination, I have perspective, and I'm not overly obsessed with genitalia based zealotry. 

"A commercial like that would never happen, nor should it. But Joanna is treated differently than her male counterparts. Even though Perfect Dark is a first-person shooter and, as a result, you rarely see her in the game itself, by focusing on her getting dressed, this ad encouraged players to think of Joanna’s appeal as being rooted in her sexual desirability rather than her skill as a special agent."

You clearly don't see her in the game, because you are in fact playing as her! Sure there are cutscenes where she is visible, but for the entirety of the game you are Joanna Dark! Being the player, you have a front row seat to watching and experiencing her skills while beating enemies, infiltrating DataDyne's facilities and gathering intelligence to aide you in future missions. This is the same way we learn about the skill and prowess of characters like Master Chief, Doom Guy, Chrono, Link, Samus and other protagonists

But  in order for you to understand that, you would of course have to had played the game.

"A character’s clothing is one of the first things we notice. It’s an important part of our first impression of who that character is, and as such, it’s a way for designers to immediately communicate to players what is most important and noteworthy about them."

Aye, there the rub. Here we are focusing on the clothing of an actress that tangentially represents a rather well clothed lead female in a popular video game. Also, kudos for actually addressing design theory. Though, you're clearly only using this to further your narrative. Part of me suspects that you've been skimming notes from the blog of a rather handsome dashing mustachioed writer with the mouth of a sailor and the wit as sharp as the tip of a rapier.

"Female heroes in video games might be special agents or soldiers or treasure hunters by trade. They often find themselves in dangerous, physically demanding situations, fighting off bad guys and saving the world. They are typically performing activities that call for practical or protective clothing. But when we look at the types of outfits that female characters are made to wear, we can see that they are often both sexualized and completely absurd."

One – This statement can easily be applied to both sexes equally.
Two - Subjective statements normally require use of the phrase “In my opinion”.

Pointing at something and proclaiming it sexual is in fact merely an opinion. What is sexy to you could be entirely different from what I find sexy. Same with things I find absurd. Case in point: I find those Illuminati Doritos earrings you're wearing absurd, but of course that's the subjectivity of my opinion talking. . 

 

"Ivy from the Soulcalibur games is a bold warrior who finds herself in battles where sharp, deadly weapons are being used and protective armor would be a must, but the clothing she wears–or lack thereof–is not exactly intended to keep her safe."

Ivy's weapon, Valentine, was created for both close and long range combat, which can be used to zone her enemies, keeping them from getting in close enough to even do damage. They work under the same design principal as Kratos' blades of chaos, which he uses to to wage full-scale war against the pantheon of gods while wearing only a tunic and a flimsy arm guard. These are both good tactics to use in distancing opponents, because naturally, combat isn't just standing around getting slashed at by enemies. Then again for a brief moment, I forgot who I was talking to.

"Cammy from the Street Fighter series is a British special forces operative whose thong leotard does a better job of calling attention to her butt than of offering any kind of protection."

Cammy's win pose only lasts a few seconds before you're too busy fighting to even pay attention to her ass. Anyone who is spending more time staring at her ass than trying to defeat the CPU or person you're playing against is probably not going to have the best win-loss record, just sayin'.

"Jessica Sherawat from Resident Evil: Revelations is a member of the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance and regularly faces deadly infected mutants in combat, but her outfits appear to be designed for…yeah, I don’t even know."

That is a wet suit. Nice gams, by the way. Wet suits are used for protection against unwanted moisture (heh) and insulating the body against the temperature of being submerged for long periods of time underwater. While this is kind of a different take on wet suit designs, it, like her other costumes are pretty tame. .

"And this is just a small fraction of the vast number of female characters who are forced into impractical and objectifying clothing while in dangerous situations."

                                                                                                         

Ohhh ooops, I must have switched the footage by accident.. Carry on with your point..

"Because clothing can shape our first impressions of a character and has a tremendous influence on our sense of who they are every time they are on screen, sexualized outfits can contribute to what’s called the hyper-sexualization of female characters. Hyper-sexualization in the media occurs when a character is designed to be valued primarily for their sexual characteristics or behaviors. In hypersexualized characters, these attributes are highlighted above all else and made the center of attention, while everything else about the character is made secondary."

Vocabulary.com states that Subjectivity refers to how someone’s judgment is shaped by personal opinions and feelings instead of outside influences. Subjectivity is partially responsible for why one person loves an abstract painting while another person hates it. Subjectivity can also refer to how a person's own uniqueness influences their perceptions. For example, if you grew up in an all male or all female family, that might influence how you view men or women — it's part of your subjectivity. Subjectivity is a form of bias and also individuality. Subjectivity is the opposite of objectivity, which is based purely on the facts and isn't personal. We expect judges to put aside their subjectivity and make decisions based on objectivity.

Going off of her logic, it seems that any woman with a large bust in a tank top can be labeled “hypersexualized” , despite the fact that women in real life would tell you that because they have large breasts, everything they wear would be considered low cut. This summer, we're facing a heatwave of 90 to 100 degree temperature, which means women are going to wear whatever they want to in order to stay cool and comfortable not fall out from heatstroke. A person may look at a woman in a tank top and boy shorts and say that woman is hypersexualized, but in all honestly she could just be wearing something comfortable and keeping cool in the hot weather.

You are right about how in Character design, when a character is presented to you, you are supposed to gather all sorts of relevant information through their appearance. Though, unlike Anita's method of only seeing the sexual aspects of a character, there are tons of differing points of information being presented, that are completely ignored .

It's easy to glance at Morrigan or Cammy's character design and just assume the designs are made for just cheap titillation, However, their costumes are rife with information, from displaying they are capable of a wide range of movements from back flips to flip kicks to air-to-ground suplexes. Cammy's arm gauntlets are there to signify hard hitting punches and backhands, while her legs are striped in camouflage or lightning streaks to show movement via animation smears. Even the combat boots give the element that her kicks are going to do crazy amounts of damage when they connect. Morigan's heels symbolize power and intimidation, while her wings convey fast aerial movements, The Bat leggings also are there for animation and showing fluid movement in her kicks.

"Games and other media often work to frame this sexualization as a positive thing for women. They blur the distinction between female sexualization and female power, and as a result, sexualized female characters are sometimes celebrated for being perceived as “owning” their sexuality in a way that is empowering. But it isn’t actually empowering because the sexuality these characters exude is manufactured for, and presented as existing for, the presumed straight male player."

And lesbians, Bisexuals, admirers of the female form... Remember, diversity.

Let's face it, a puritanical Schoolmarm would try to shame women out of celebrating their sexuality and recognizing their agency. That's a given. Despite this, there will still be women out there admiring the characters for displaying tenacity and strength as well as beauty. That's also a given. This is why you see so many women cosplaying these characters. Just like how young boys and girls pretend to be superheroes or characters from books film and television; They think those characters are freaking cool and want to pretend to be them!

"Bayonetta is a quintessential example of such a character. When the camera caresses her body as it does in the opening scene of Bayonetta 2, establishing the player’s relationship with the character, she is frozen in time, the passive object of the male gaze. The camera is putting her and Jeanne on display for the player, breaking them down into what the game is communicating is most important about them: their sexualized parts. And when Bayonetta starts moving, it’s the player who has the power to control her sexuality as a weapon throughout the game, both literally and figuratively"

The “male gaze” ; An archaic idea from a bygone era. So, when it's done say from the perspective of \the camera viewing a man's crotch, or their rear end then what is it called? Is it the “Female gaze” or the “Gay gaze” ? This whole concept ignores the fact that looking at others is actually a large part of human nature, and it's not just limited to just one group or sexual orientation. Let's distance ourselves from such hetero-phobic statements, shall we?

We're better than that.

"She has an assortment of special moves called “torture attacks” which involve devices meant to suggest BDSM and that look like something you might expect to see in an exaggerated stereotype of a sex dungeon. But these sexualized moves have nothing to do with sex: they just obliterate her enemies. And a number of her attacks literally leave her naked, because, you see, she’s attacking the enemies with her hair and her hair is also her clothing so when she’s using her hair to attack her enemies it can’t be covering her body and…"

Have you ever seen a sex dungeon, Anita? I just want to know..

You are right, though. Those moves have nothing do with sex, but they have everything to do with domination and power. This is why they're called “torture attacks”. The only one getting perceived pleasure out of this is Bayonetta.

Additionally, The use of her hair as an attack actually stems from olde world depictions of Witchcraft, where hair is considered to be a powerful item in spell-crafting. Nudity is also prevalent in wiccan culture and paganism, along with other ritualistic cultures. The term “Skyclad” refers to being nude while conducting rituals, due to the idea that clothing can possibly interfere with the natural energies of magick, and being nude brings you closer to the energies of the earth itself.

C'mon, Anita you're supposed to be culturally in tune with what you're talking about

"In these ways, the game deliberately links Bayonetta’s sexuality to power, selling a version of sexual objectification that we’re all supposed to feel good about and find “empowering.” Every aspect of Bayonetta’s existence, from the way the camera is magnetically drawn to her sexualized body parts to the pole dance reward for completing the game, is expertly designed to be sexually affirming and satisfying for a presumed straight male audience."

Or Lesbians, or Bisexuals, or women who admire the female figure.

"If it seems like I’m frequently repeating the fact that the player is presumed to be a straight male, that’s because it’s vital to remember. This presumption influences and shapes so many creative decisions that are made in the development of many games."

CLIP: Whacked!

“Let’s see, target market – mostly male, 18-24 years old, interests – senseless violence, high tech weaponry, pain, humiliation… hey!  Maybe this’ll do the trick.

This actually reminds me of something that happened a year ago, Anecdotal evidence, of course; My co-workers were having a conversation about football uniforms, and one co-worker in particular who fancies himself as a male feminist, stated that if it were up to him he would place all football players in dresses. I'm sure in his mind this was some clever way to stick it to a common form of macho male stereotypes. My response to this was to basically point out that in doing this you're also pissing off female sports fans who not only enjoy the sport, but also enjoy watching the players in their uniforms, Because women also enjoy looking at football player's “tight ends”.

In making sweeping generalizations, we often tend to ignore that there are always outliers where statistics are involved. Case-in-point, Negative world published an article in which a group of women were brought in to discuss their interest in Bayonetta 2. The answers ranged from enjoyment despite thinking the character was “problematic” to full-on elation of the character and both games. Regardless of this, I was a bit sad that the women who stated their grievances with Bayonetta being problematic, didn't quite know that Bayonetta was created by Hideki Kamiya, and designed by Mari Shimazaki who has also done character designs for Tekken and Soul Calibur. (You can thank her for those Ivy and Taki designs btw).

Warning: this image and it's female artist  may go against the narrative

I should also note that Kamiya had requested for Shimazaki to give Bayonetta a look of mystery and intelligence... hence the librarian-esque look.

See, I even did that without using a dated clip of a 2002 Xbox game featuring a parody of a “sexually charged character” as an argumentative point.

"Of course, characters like Bayonetta are a fictional fantasy. But in reality, we exist in a culture where women are often valued primarily for their sexual desirability to men. So while characters like these are incredibly powerful in the physical sense—able to slay entire armies and bring down gods–there’s nothing empowering about the fact that they are sexually objectified.

In fact, this connection between objectification and empowerment is extremely damaging. It’s  harmful to women because rather than asserting that women have intrinsic value as people, it communicates that the kind of power available to women comes from men finding them desirable. And it’s damaging to men because it suggests that women who are liberated and empowered are also women whose sexuality is always available to men. When we conflate the sexualization of women with power for women, we internalize this harmful myth and begin to think sexualization is the only way to achieve gender equality."

The definition of Intrinsic is “Belonging naturally; essential”.

Despite having it shoved down our collective throats, I'm pretty sure we are all well aware of how essential women are. To exclaim that men aren't asserting that women have intrinsic value, when the whole of society is geared to both protect and advance women over men in scholastic settings, whole industries and legal systems is actually kind of telling. In short, Anita, your narrative is showing.

This kind of reminds me of the Late singer, Prince.
Here was a man who's sexuality was on display constantly; sexually charged lyrics, wanton caterwauling, androgynous yet revealing clothing, the whole nine. He was definitely liberated, definitely desired and was probably objectified by both sexes. However, despite this, he also was very musically talented and was a beast at songwriting. He's worked with many women including Sheena Easton, Sheila E, Sinead O'Connor, The Bangles, Appollonia Kotero, and Denise Matthews, although you probably know her as Vanity. In each case, the collaborations made for some of the most memorable music of it's time, which benefited both him and helped elevate the status and fame of those aforementioned ladies.

If my rebuttal irks you, Anita,  you can always purify yourself in the waters of  Lake Minnetonka

So Prince, a sexually liberated man who's musical talent, songwriting skill, and raw sex appeal, worked his ass off to go on to become a legend in the music industry (you could say he empowered himself). He also helped the women he worked with, and empowered them to further their own careers in that same industry. 

Gee, I wonder if women thought Prince's sexuality was available to them as well?

"But the truth is that sexualization doesn’t actually bring us any closer to equality. In her book Enlightened Sexism, Susan J. Douglas sums up the issue. ”Under the guise of escapism and pleasure, we are getting images of imagined power that mask, and even erase, how much still remains to be done for girls and women, images that make sexism seem fine, even fun, and insist that feminism is now utterly pointless–even bad for you. True power here has nothing to do with economic independence or professional achievement: it has to do with getting men to lust after you and other women to envy you.”

You've accomplished so much, and yet there is so much to do. And when you accomplish more, there will still be so much to do, and so on and so on.

This is called “moving the goalposts”.

Basically, this seems like a long winded way of saying there are no victory conditions for gender equality. No matter how many accomplishments you achieve, Despite overcoming adversity and poverty to be a successful person, who is able to stand on your own two feet, No matter how strong you are of will, tenacity and ability, you are still a victim and thus need Feminism in order to one day be told that you're still not strong enough to overcome your own adversity.

Let that sink in for a second.

"Some gaming fans have come up with all sorts of ridiculous defenses for the sexualized costumes female characters are often made to wear, like the idea that they dress in these outfits as a tactic to help them distract their male opponents"

ahh, I see you're familiar with my work.. 

The interesting part of this statement is that even boxers don't believe that fights are entirely physical.

Sure, you can look at a boxing match and see a bunch of brutish men slamming their fists into each other until one decides to go down , but there are other factors at play, here. Mike Tyson stated in 2014 that he looks at boxing as 90% psychological, and that the physical side has very little to do with it, if anything. This line of thinking is really nothing new, either. Psychological warfare has been something that's been used to win battles, for centuries. Dating back to the use of The 36 stratagems, an ancient set of Chinese proverbs that were often used in politics, war and civil interaction.

Under the Desperate Situations section, there lies an interesting excerpt that I want to point out, called “The honeypot” or the beauty trap.

“Send your enemy beautiful women to cause discord within his camp. This strategy can work on three levels. First, the ruler becomes so enamored with the beauty that he neglects his duties and allows his vigilance to wane. Second, the group of men will begin to have issues if the desired women courts another man, thus creating conflict and aggressive behavior. Third, other females at court, motivated by jealousy and envy, begin to plot intrigues further exacerbating the situation. “

Historically, Japanese Noblewoman Chiyome Mochizuki utilized this tactic, by taking orphaned girls and training them to infiltrate enemy camps for the purpose of extracting information, seduction and deception and sometimes assassination.

So the case of people using that line of logic that characters who are provocatively dressed are doing so to throw off opponents actually makes sense, once the argument is framed in proper context. However, instead of actually doing the legwork like I did, you decided to dismiss the statement as ridiculous, while lazily applying equally ridiculous “current year” logic, right?

"It’s not unheard of for developers to sometimes rely on this harmful logic, too. The superintelligent AI companion Cortana from the Halo franchise.. "

Super intelligent AI.....

Do you also say ATM machines, or PIN numbers, or VIN number?

 ' has always been depicted as naked, and when asked about why this is, franchise director Frank O’Connor said, “One of the reasons she does it is to attract and demand attention. And she does it to put people off so they’re on their guard when they’re talking to her and that she has the upper hand in those conversations. It’s kind of almost like the opposite of that nightmare you have where you go to school in the nude, and you’re terrified and embarrassed. She’s kind of projecting that back out to her audience and winning intellectual points as a result.” '

Personally, I wouldn't say “intellectual points”, as I would say that she has the respect of the UNSC and it's officers. Lets consider the fact that she can run just about any computer based system from propulsion systems, mainframes, life support, and has been found indispensable in many cases. With that information,  I think she's gained much more points than just intellectual, but that's just me.

Also, why does a 12 inch tall hologram of a nude woman with no genitalia bother you so much? I'm guessing you weren't an art major, huh?

"Meanwhile, male AIs in the Halo universe do wear clothing; the idea of them trying to “win intellectual points” by walking around naked is ridiculous. But we rarely question the extremely widespread association of sexualization and power when it’s applied to female characters"

AI constructs in this world can also choose their own appearances, as well. O'Connor goes on to say that one of the other AI constructs “Looks like a shrunken Chinese lady”. 


                                    

A detail you so conveniently left on the cutting room floor. I could attribute this to skimming through the interview in order to find the parts you needed, because that fits your MO perfectly, but I'll let the audience decide.

"Usually, the games themselves don’t go into much detail to explain or justify why female characters are sexualized. Players are simply meant to unquestioningly accept the impractical outfits these characters are wearing. Sometimes, however, as in the case of Quiet from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, developers build convoluted and absurd tales about a character’s past into the game in an attempt to justify their blatant sexualization."

CLIP: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
“She, uh, refuses to wear clothes. The last staff member who tried to dress her – breathing through tubes. Other than that, she’s completely cooperative. She understands English, she never speaks, sweats, or breathes.”

“What?”

“Well, not with lungs at least. She breathes through her skin. Clothing would suffocate her.  Showers are okay, but she can’t be submerged.”

“What’s wrong with her?”

“She’s drinking. Through her skin.”

About as absurd as a guy who secretes pheromones to mimic being a queen hornet in order to command swarms of them to lob grenades at people, and protect him as living armor? Or about as absurd as a pyromaniac cosmonaut working as a mercenary? , An androgynous vampire who's immortality was created by nano-machines? An Obese man on roller blades who can set explosives like no one's business? Cyborgs that can split apart in pieces and then reform back together, Or maybe a Russian gunslinger with a sentient arm that can possess it's donor into believing that he's the brother of a genetically modified cloned twin of a aged mercenary soldier?

Please, tell me more about this one absurd thing you picked out of the collective absurdity in the Metal Gear universe's entirety.

"So you see, she can’t wear clothing because she breathes through her skin! These ludicrous narrative justifications don’t “make it okay.” Regardless of whatever absurd explanation a game might provide, it should go without saying that the only real functionality of outfits like this is to titillate the presumed young straight male player base."

I wonder if this same argument can be made if she knew that Venom Snake has an equally revealing  alternate costume. Seriously, he looks like he should be part of the Nudist Beach organization from Kill la Kill!

' "Out of all the arguments that are tossed out to defend the impractical and objectifying clothing that women are made to wear in games, there is one in particular that I hear the most often and that is perhaps the most pernicious. That argument is: “Maybe that’s what she wants to wear!” Which is ridiculous. '

About as ridiculous as making a video about strategic butt coverings?



                              

"These women are fictional constructs. That means that they don’t dress themselves or pick out their own clothing. I can’t believe I have to say this. All these visual designs are deliberate choices made by the developers"

Teams of of both males and females...

"and they serve a specific purpose: "

To create interesting characters with quirks and personalities that do amazing things in order to entertain an audience and tell a story?

"they communicate to straight male players that these characters exist primarily as sex objects to be consumed. In doing so, they also"

Can be designed however those artists and creators so choose without the need of some new wave Evangelical schoolmarm trying to butt in and muck up the design process?

"reinforce the larger notion in our culture that the value of real human women is determined largely by their sexual desirability to men."

Sure thing, Whatever lines your pockets, princess.  I think that if anyone is going to reinforce this notion, it's most likely going to be you.

"It’s not hard to imagine what more practical clothing options might look like for some of these characters. But if you’re having a hard time envisioning that, I will let you in on a little secret:"

[Whispers] "She's not an artist or a designer, and her convoluted bullshit reasoning may have single handedly ruined the Mirrors Edge and Assassin's Creed series".

"For those of you who aren’t familiar, there is this thing called a sports bra. Sports bras are designed to keep breasts held in place to better facilitate athletic activities. In other words, they are used to prevent “jiggle physics” in real life. In the real world, there are many female martial artists, athletes, and women in combat roles that developers could use as inspiration when designing and dressing their female characters."

One: I think both men and women would appreciate it more if you would stop talking to them as if they had no idea what a sports bra is, because you tend to forget or just outright omit that women play and enjoy these games as well.

Two: According to complaints from women, Sports Bras do work for the most part, but for larger bust sizes you may need more support than what just one can give you. Larger breasts, which to clear up your confusion actually exist, often tend to move more due to their increased mass. In certain cases a small strip of elastic lined cloth just isn't going to keep those funbags in place during a 5k jog, So more support may be needed if you need maximum comfort. Damn you physics!

Damn you all to hell!!!

"It’s important to note that the amount of skin shown is not the crux of the problem. Many female athletes wear minimal form-fitting clothing because it’s more conducive to their activities. However, their outfits are not designed with the primary goal of sexualizing the athletes for the benefit of spectators."

Yes, and that argument actually can go both ways to support the clothing choices of characters like Cammy, Chun Li, Morrigan, Taki and others. Just because a woman is dressed a certain way does not mean that they are asking to be treated in a certain way, Anita. Wow. That was actually pretty amazing that I was able to use that argument against a woman.

Fairy tales can come true. And they can happen to you.

"The problem of female characters wearing impractical, sexualized and objectifying attire and being put on display for players is not a difficult one to solve, and developers already know how to do it. Even many fighting games that have several sexualized female characters on the roster often have one female option who is in more practical attire. The Dark Souls games are generally pretty good about not making armor appear significantly different on female characters than it does on male characters. Natural Selection 2 and XCOM also have examples of women in practical armor. And Assassin’s Creed Syndicate put female gang members in outfits very similar to those worn by the male gang members."

The best part about Dark Souls is the ability to have nude runs of those characters as well. Those are called “options”. In Dark Souls I can dress my character any way I want. Even if you think it's sexual or not, it's none of your business, because It's my choice. Also when I think of women in practical armor in XCOM, I always think of this

Niccccceeeee

I could talk about the problems in Syndicate, but that game was such a load of hot garbage, that it would take another video just to break down the issues. By the way, weren't you the one who provided input into the design of that game?

Developers, take note.

"None of this is to say that characters in games should never be sexual; far from it. Sexuality and sexualization are very different things."

Yes, Sexuality exists, while Sexualization is a buzzword you're going to try to force people to use in the creation process of their games. If history is any indication, your views on sexualization will ultimately do to Video game properties what the Black Death did to Europe in the 1300s.

"The sexualization of female characters is about designing them, dressing them or framing them in ways that are specifically intended to be sexually appealing to presumed male viewers or players. Women’s sexuality, on the other hand, exists for themselves, and for those they care to consensually share it with. And sexuality can be expressed or experienced in any kind of attire."

From an artist's perspective, designing attractive female characters comes from wanting to design something that's appealing to the eyes, be that Male eyes or Female eyes, that's really up to whomever enjoys it.

It's the same idea behind women drawing shirtless Bishonen style male characters or creating Yaoi Manga; It's largely done for a target audience who enjoy watching visually appealing males, expressing their sexuality. You can presume who views this content all you like, but at the end of the day, those are the people purchasing the product and keeping the artist gainfully employed so they can make more of the thing that appeals to that audience.

Meanwhile, in reality, men and women's sexuality can be for themselves and for those they share a relationship with, but that has never stopped either from expressing their sexuality via modeling through exotic dancing, or other avenues you may turn your nose up at. Go to a strip club, sometime. The ladies there are actually pretty nice and actually talk freely about the business side of things as long as you're paying, of course...

 To be fair, It was my bachelor party, and I like to at least get to know the person who's grinding on my junk.

"To clarify, the act of sex isn’t the problem, but rather how its presented.  I’d love to see great representations of healthy, consensual sex in games. "

I would love for you to put your money where your mouth is and make your own content, however it seems insinuating yourself into others creative processes is much more productive.

"But sadly, when consensual sex does occur, it’s often presented as a transaction or as a reward for player accomplishment. Whether that accomplishment is completing quests, or just choosing all the right dialogue options to get the sex cutscene to play."

Choosing the right dialogue options to get the sex cutscene isn't limited to just male interactions in games; Dragon Age, and Mass Effect both allow you to play as a male or female, and can lead to in-game same sex romantic scenes.

"When fictional female characters in games are dressed in impractical armor or clothing, it encourages players to view them as sex objects.."

Or in certain cases, it means we're getting terrible games that publishers know are terrible and need something distracting in order to fool people into opening their wallets.

"and reinforces the already pervasive and harmful notion in our culture that sexualization is the most viable or only real route to power for women. By contrast, when those characters are dressed in clothing that is truly practical and functional for the work that they are doing, and when they express sexuality and sexual desire in ways that aren’t served up as sexualized treats designed primarily for straight male players to consume and enjoy, it encourages players of all genders not to view those characters as sexual objects but to be invested in them as people."

Make things that don't appeal to anyone. Got it!

Ughhhh... this was like wading through a toxic swamp. I think I'm just going to respond to this in the same way Japan responded to the UN:

The so-called sexualization of females in video games is a made-up thing and as such does not threaten the rights of actual people; therefore, these proposed changes are meaningless in protecting the rights of women.

In Japan, and especially when it comes to art and design, these are creative fields that both men and especially women themselves cultivated and worked hard by their own hand to create careers for themselves.

If we were to limit the design choices of female characters, while othering the designs of male characters who also fall into subjectively being depicted as sexually charged by certain parties, it would do the opposite and instead force real life women who choose to cosplay these female characters to cover up, and create a new avenue of sexism in games towards men. One in which you wouldn't be so quick to talk about, or would try to sweep under the rug by stating that it's not as important as female depictions of sexuality in games.

Speaking of weak defenses...

 

 Culture Critic, indeed..

-I'll see you next Bossfight!