Studies recently show that they utilized an experimental design to investigate the effects of exposure to sexualized female video game characters on stereotyping genders and female self-concept in young adults. Students at a University participated in this study. They were randomly assigned to play a “sexualized” character, a “non-sexualized” character, or no video game then complete an online survey that helped answer some questions about how we view women in video games. Female self-worth was negatively affected by game play with the sexualized female character design. Outcomes of this study suggest that playing a sexualized video game heroine unfavorably influenced people’s view and beliefs of women in reality.
Introducing the Topic
…show more content…
Moreover, images that idealize the female body in the media have been shown to negatively affect girls’ general feelings of self-worth. Although little to no investigations have examined the effects of gender stereotypes in video games on video gamers, the findings based on media point to the gender related outcomes that can be anticipated with new entertainment. As such, the present study examines the effects of exposure to sexual portrayals of women in video games on peoples’ gender attitudes and beliefs and on female self-esteem and …show more content…
In exacting, gamers may adopt beliefs and standards that are in line with these sexualized portrayals, resulting in the desire to be like the characters and to judge self and other based upon the characters. Although it could be the case that exposure to images of strong, powerful female heroines in video games may empower girls and women through these characters’ quintessence of female success, strength, and intelligence, the overwhelming presence of female sexualization is likely to reduce positive effects that may appear. The blending of stereotypical and counter-stereotypical attributes into female heros, like Lara Croft, complicates the task of accepting the influence of such portrayals on media
In “Little Girls or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect,” Stephanie Hanes covers the sexualization of young girls and women in every aspect of the media that influences children and teens. She explains that girls see media figures, movies, and sports being sexualized, and how this is causing children to associate looking and acting a certain way to being ‘the perfect women’. Hanes believes the hypersexualized media is causing girls to obtain a negative body image and it’s killing their self-esteem. The author proposes what she believes society should do about overcoming this obstacle, and how people can crush the stereotypes about women; to her everyone is responsible and should aid in fixing these problems. She explains that the media
Such conventions of hetronormative gender representation can be seen in all areas of the mass media today, such as advertising and film. The representation of both male and female bodies within the medium of video games reflects understandings of gender and sexuality, and it is important that we as players are made aware of these representations and what they signify. I argue that Grand Theft Auto IV, through its framing of both female and male bodies, promotes hetronormative hierarchal distinctions between feminity and masculinity, by encouraging players to adopt and act out a hypermasculine role, and by
Even though I found solace in the female video game characters of my childhood as these icons of Amazonian womanhood, with age I have come to realize that many of these female characters often rely on dated stereotypes. So much so, that many of these female characters become walking tropes, displaying only the most basic of female stereotypes: a love for shopping, makeup, and shoes. Anita Sarkesian, a feminist blogger who critiques anti-woman tropes in video games, created the name of this particular trope, the 'Ms. Male ' character. The 'Ms. Male ' character is defined as a female character with little-to-no personality or defining traits outside of traditionallly regressive “female” characteristics. This allows a game designer to take
Often in videogames female roles are over sexualized and over dramatized within the limited supportive roles that they play, often playing the role of the sidekick. When their the protagonist they’re reduced to nothing but sex icons to appeal to men. Often scantily dressed and a bust size within the D cup and up range. Characters like Lara Croft of the Tomb Raider Series debutting in 1996 and Bayonetta in her own series called Bayonetta which released in 2010. Yet even though they are far apart in terms of release they both feature a lead female role whom dresses in an obscene manner. Why is this? The simple truth is that sex sells, games with female characters with mini skirts and tight shirts generally manage to sell decently well. This causes an issue in the min...
Topics which relate to the subjects in the article can be found in chapter 5 of textbook Social Psychology, Second Canadian Edition (Kassin, Fein, Markus & Burke, 2013). This chapter contains information on ambivalent sexism and effects on media on gender. These topics help to gain an advanced understanding on the effects of hypersexualizing or of objectifying the female body
If you were to ask many video game enthusiasts about their favorite female video game heroines, the answers you’d get would be very varied - some will say Lara Croft of the Tomb Raider series, others say Alyx from the Half-Life series, few say Jade from Beyond Good & Evil, a handful will vouch for Chell from Portal, and a lot of old-school folks might just say Ms. Pac-Man. However, there is another video game heroine who has managed to reach into the hearts of gamers, both male and female, proving that she was just as awesome as any celebrated male hero. However, for gamers who were sitting tight in front of their television sets, exploring the desolate planet of Zebes via their Nintendo Entertainment in 1986, it was widely assumed that the famed bounty hunter was male. At the end of the adventure, the big reveal was made - removing her helmet to signify a job well done, Samus Aran, protagonist of the Metroid series, was indeed female. For the purpose of this paper, we’ll analyze the heroics of Samus through three distinct analytical lenses: The Hero’s Journey (from Joseph Campbell), Carl Jung’s archetypes, and through feminist analysis.
Kimmel elaborates on fantasy through gender stereotyping where he depicts men as having “biceps…upper torsos are so massive, their waists so small, and their thighs so powerfully bulging” (Kimmel 157). For the depiction of women they are “a sort of recently sexually ravaged look—with breasts so large and a waist so small” (Kimmel 157). Kimmel is implying that how we view gender-specific ideal beauty standards influence the way we imagine a fantasy world through the use of appearance. Since mostly men engage in video game media it seems that they dominate the video game world where they get to play a character that depicts what they want to look like. This is because it is common for males to freely express their own fantasy that they lack in reality. In addition, they play video games to be their ideal self. If they were to play a female character it would lean more towards the fact that it depicts what they want their dream girlfriend to look like. In Video Games and Gender by Michelle Zorrilla, video games have long been known as a male-dominated media. There would mostly be male characters than there are female characters because female characters are usually depicted as the subordinate character. Statistically “there were still more male characters (60%) than female characters (40%) on the Web site” (qtd in Zorrilla) in games such as Guild
Research shows how gender roles in America have evolved and have changed over the last centuries, although there could be many reasons for this change I will examine the most likely causes for the change. According to Human Sexuality in a World of Diversity gender role is a “learned role by observing behaviors of their parents, peers and media” (pg 25). The following are the topics studied: Increased technology and accessibility to internet, violence and explicit content in video games, movies and television shows.
Video game playing has become an increasingly popular interest for many people. Every video game is unique in its own way and how it is shaped to the audience at hand. With all the video game playing, this gives rise to possible concerns as to how the media portrays such aspects in a game. One debate about video games that is an increasingly popular subject to talk about is how gender is portrayed in video games for both men and women. In many video games, women are shown as having a passive role, while men hold a more dominant role. In the video game Tomb Raider, Lara Croft is a character this is being talked about because she is the main character and is a female. Previous video games have created the media representation that females are
According to Human Sexuality in a World of Diversity 's gender role is a “learned role by observing behaviors of their parents, peers and media” (Rathus, Nevid, & Fichner-Rathus, 2014, p. 25). Research shows how gender roles in America have evolved and have changed over the last centuries, although there could be many reasons for this change I will examine some causes for the change in gender stereotypes. The following topics were studied during my research: Increased technology and access to internet, violence and explicit content in video games, movies and television shows resulting in gender stereotypes. In addition, the media can have a large influence on societies perception on how women and men are should look like which are sometimes
Dill, Karen E., and Kathryn P. Thill. "Video Game Characters and the Socialization of Gender Roles: Young People’s Perceptions Mirror Sexist Media Depictions." Sex Roles 57.11-12 (2007): 851-64. Print.
According to Oxford Dictionary, gender role is defined as “set of social and behavioral norms that are considered to be socially appropriate for individuals of a specific sex in the context of a specific culture”. Gender role created an expectation of how each individual should act, talk, dress etc., based on their biological sex. Over many years, the issue of gender equality has tried to be eradicated but till now this issue still exists. Women, specifically are looked down upon in our society, while men are seen more powerful. Some individuals will argue that women are better off taking the traditional role and being inferior towards men. In this society, there are few women who have proven and destroyed views and perception of all females
Many video games portray women as objectified beings, purely used for sex appeal and to attract the larger male gamer population. We also see men idealised in a similar way as well – the males in video games are portrayed as muscly, brawny men. However, we rarely see a scantily clad man in a game, but there is a vast abundance of games which feature women wearing ‘sexy armour’, or a noticeable lack of substantial amount of clothing. This isn’t female-friendly as these games are made for men, causing women to feel alienated and uncomfortable.
The issue of sexism in video games has been going on for a long time. Similarly, Fox talks about how “Research has indicated that many video games and virtual worlds are populated by hypersexualized and unrealistic representations of women.” This shows how women have been sexualized in media which represent women as self-objective. Jess explained in his research that, “as a result of hypersexualization of women in videogames, it would lead to an increase in rape myth acceptance.” In one of Jess’ experiments, he focused on the effects of avatar features on women’s experience of self-objectification.
Social scientists have been examining the effect that video games have on behavior. From the introduction of video games in the 1980s, there have been numerous research studies to this effect (Andersen & Taylor, 2008). The issue has become even more significant in the modern context because these video games have become bloodier and more realistic than ever before. Even though boys play these games more than girls in America, the consumption of video games has generally been high. Carey (2013) indicates that 32% of these gamers are below the age of 18. Therefore, it would be crucial to evaluate the effects that these video games have on the behavior of such children.