Strategic Butt Coverings - Tropes vs Women in Video Games

For our last blog post, I’m going to tackle Module 6's blog prompt which was to watch a video from the Feminist Frequency YouTube channel and discuss the feminist theory involved with the video. This video tackles the ways in which designers of games often employ camera angles and clothing choices as tools to deliberately sexualize and objectify female protagonists of third-person games. The video uses the game Tomb Raider as an example of this. This game is presented from a third person perspective where the main character, Lara Crofts butt is right in the center of the screen. Her sexualized clothing and the position of the camera orientation present a tremendous amount of emphasis on that part of her body. In Tomb Raider: Underworld Lara Croft is almost in nothing but her underwear.  In Batman: Arkham city, Cat-woman wears an unbelievably tight bodysuit, and has a dramatic his swing that also emphasis her butt. On the other hand, in these video games you could spend hours trying to get a glimpse of the male characters butts. They often have long coats on, capes, and camera angles that just do not allow you to get the right angle. The way women's bodies are depicted are significantly different than how the men’s bodies are depicted in games. The emphasis on female butts communicates to players that this is what is important. That this female character is a sexual object designed for players to look at and enjoy. When I thought back to the games I have played I realized how true this is. The female characters in games are so demandingly sexualized is horrible.