Over at The Feminist Underground , we've got a guest-blogger today who reviews Soul Calibur IV for us. Look, I like his review, but after pointing out the ridiculousness 'fighting dominatrix' Ivy's ever-increasing chest size and ever-decreasing clothing, he then makes the claim that the game isn't sexist - because both genders are objectified. Riiiight.
Perhaps this is poor form (OK, definitely), since he is a 'real world' friend of mine, but if there are any feminist gamers on the Feministing Community today with some free time on their hands, I'd love it if you'd stop by and give an informed opinion. And, no, you don't have to agree with me that the game is, in fact, terribly sexist and a sure way to keep a lot of women thinking that games just aren't for them... but you can if you want ;)
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I considered myself a gamer for several years and now I'm pretty immersed in another "guys only" hobby--comic books.
All I can do is agree with you over Soul Caliber. Even games that are more "girl friendly" RPGs still use titty-popping and panty shots to attract higher male audiences, and this teaches another generation of guys that they don't really have to respect women.
At least it seems to be commonly recognized that the ridiculous boobage is a shameless attempt to pander to the lowest common denominator. Yet, I'd have to agree that this teaches the younger generation that women's bodies are to be objectified, and their objections to portrayals like this are to be ignored. And apparently that their buying power is to be ignored as well - I'd never spend money on Soul Calibur, and I bet there are a lot of women who feel the same.
I'm a casual gamer. I am really disappointed at how the female character designs in a number of popular games continue to get increasingly ridiculous. I really enjoyed the earlier Soul Caliber games. In fact, their my faves among fighting games. But the character designs really bother me. I don't think I'll be buying this latest edition.
I totally get what the reviewer is saying about how annoying it is to feel embarrassed about wanting to buy the game. On a related topic, Guitar World Magazine puts out this annual Guitar Buying Guide. My husband, as a musician, is really interested in reading the guitar reviews. But every time he looks at it on the newsstand, he can't bring himself to buy it because on the cover they always have these (non-musician) girls in bikinis cradling the guitars in "sexy" poses. So annoying.