4. Male Representation In Video Games Is Not Held Up To The Same Standards
This is a retort I often come up against when I am talking about female representation in video games. "Video games are full of idealised body types of men as well" or "What about my rights as a guy?" I am not saying that this claim is empty or holds no weight, but it is just not the same problem and especially isn't as prevalent. It is certainly true that men can be repressed in certain work places and on a social level, do have their own pressures put on them by society, but it is a fact that men aren't held to the same standards as women. Men are paid better, have more opportunity and the likelihood of you missing out on a job because you don't look like Duke Nukem is relatively non-existent. If we look at this strictly through the eyes of video games, the depiction of women and men are worlds apart. While the number of women working in the industry is growing year by year, and that is encouraging, the large majority of developer's artists, executives and creative directors are men. They design their games for what appeals to them. This comes into play when trying to explain the differences between representation of male and female. In its simplest terms, generally (I don't stress that enough), men are depicted as power fantasies for men and women are designed to exploit their desires. Some gamers should realise that female representation in games isn't the same as female representation in advertising and film. Much of the pressures put on men come from those media and we can definitely have that conversation. However, when talking about gaming specifically, I don't know any women who feel pressure to look like Lara Croft, although I do know a bunch who would love to have a female character designed for them.