Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style
Stop the Internet presses everyone, because there's a brand new video in Anita Sarkeesian's beloved (or reviled, depending on who you ask) Tropes vs Women in Video Games series.
I've been looking forward to this particular video for some time, because it's the first video that is moving beyond the bleak little world of the damsel and towards the slightly more complicated or less obvious tropes that plague womens roles in gaming.
The subject of Sarkeesian's first post damsel video is definitely worthy of the series. After the jump, find out all about the "Ms. Male Character".
I'm glad that one of my favorite series' earned an unfavorable mention in this latest video. Scribblenauts Unlimited, as much as I love it, introduced a lot of very unnecessary gendered baggage with Lily (who, by the way, is a textbook example of a damsel in the game's story) and it really does deserve to be called out. As Sarkeesian often says, "It is both possible (and even necessary) to simultaneously enjoy media while also being critical of it's more problematic or pernicious aspects."
It's also worth mentioning that Sarkeesian has YouTube ratings enabled on this video as a test, since in the past she's disabled them to prevent mass downvoting by detractors and trolls. So far the Likes outnumber the Dislikes, but who knows if that will last. If you want to show your support for the series, be sure to click the Thumbs Up icon in the YouTube player above, or on the video page here.
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Iris Ophelia (@bleatingheart, Janine Hawkins IRL) has been featured in the New York Timesand has spoken about SL-based design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan andwith pop culture/fashion maven Johanna Blakley.
same rouge, same lipstick/:)
Posted by: joker | Monday, November 18, 2013 at 12:48 PM
About as irrelevant and outdated as you can get, unless she is going for Pong next.
Posted by: Ajax Manatiso | Monday, November 18, 2013 at 02:06 PM
Did you watch the video, Ajax? The whole video wasn't about Ms. Pacman...
Posted by: Adeon Writer | Monday, November 18, 2013 at 02:37 PM
The Smurfette Principle is one of my least favorite tropes because you end up with one woman, so your choice is between identifying with a guy (again, for the five thousandth time) or identifying with being pretty, vain, and usually pathetic.
I spend a lot of my time in Second Life being the pretty badass to try to make up for it, and sometimes you can manage that in games with thorough character creation, but honestly, as a girl - less pink, less hairbows, less cutsy materialistic. I like all of those things, they can be fun, but every time is just pissing me off.
Posted by: Deoridhe Quandry | Monday, November 18, 2013 at 02:47 PM
Men look at your ball-sack.
There's a line going along it. That line is the vagina you had when you were in the womb.
We're the original and you are the copy! And you make your games to hide that!!!!
Case closed.
Posted by: Amy | Friday, November 29, 2013 at 06:45 AM