Sex Sells Video Games and Insecurity

As I continued on to the next level, I encountered an elderly bee, who had one last dying wish--A wish that I would soon fulfill. Oh, sweet pollination. It is the only way to make honey, and the only way for me to move on to the next level. I must help him. However, the elderly bee only wanted to pollinate one specific flower, "the sunflower with the big breasts." The sunflower was unwilling to corporate. Then, as I walked away, I encountered a swarm of bees, who only had one objective, to tickle. A lit light bulb then appeared above my head. I had an epiphany. I gathered all of the tickling bees, and forced them to tickle "the sunflower with the big breasts," thus exposing her breast, and allowing the elderly bee to pollinate her. The conservative sunflower, then became a passive, hypersexualized ideal of a woman--the woman that I subconsciously wanted to be.

The video game, Conker's Bad Fur Day was one video game out of many that had significantly influenced my self-esteem. As I continued to play more video games that had an emphasis on body image, the more I hated my own. Most female avatars in video games were Caucasian, tall, had a thin waist, and unrealistic sized breasts. I was 4'9", obese, and African American. The thought provoking idea of me not being the ideal woman of the video game had started to eat me up alive. I starved myself, grew a couple inches, but there was no way for me to change the color of my skin. Obviously, I could never be the ideal woman of the video game. However, as I got older, I realized that the ideal woman was not "the sunflower with the big breasts;" it was whatever I wanted to be. What I wanted to be or what any other female gamer wanted to be was not one of the video game creators' concern...

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