I have been seeing a lot of things like this around, and I really am starting to get pissed off by it. I think a lot about how being female works with being a gamer, or if it should be any issue at all (I don't think it should be) and a lot of people ask me stupid questions about what I do and why I do it. For those of you who don't know what I do, I work for a company called the D20 Girls Project. We 'promote a positive image of girl geeks and gamers in the industry' by showing that gamer girls come in all shapes and sizes, and we often times work booths for vendors and socialize at conventions. By all shapes and sizes that means the chub chubs and some fucking hot vixens too.
Girl gamers can wear makeup and look sexy. They can have toned abs, work out as well as pwn noobs on their spare time. I am completely comfortable with my sexuality. I may not pose nude (I have a lot of reasons why I don't) but I am totally comfortable wearing my black bodysuit to a convention with no panties on underneath and toting little golden guns as Black Widow. Why? Because being that geeky makes me feel validated and sexy. I hate how everyone is using 'slut' as a bad word, or even calling people sluts when they really know nothing about them. I actually don't have sex very often, typically only have exclusive partners or no partners at all (usually the second one) and I just like to have fun (NOT in a sexual way, but hey sometimes)
I have met a lot of girls that have been very opposed to my viewpoint. They say that I shouldn't be so overtly feminine if I want to be treated equal in the gaming world. I say I should be able to be whatever the fuck I want, and the people who don't like it don't have to look. I'm comfortable with my body, I am comfortable with my job, and I love to play video games. And although you can post all these cute things about a grungy gamer girl curled up in front of the TV (and sometimes I AM that girl) a girl who games and puts on some lipstick and macks her controller for the camera can be just as valid.
Trying to promote a positive view on gamers and making a double standard on what they can be is damn stupid. Geeks can be sexy, and they can flaunt it. All this fear of sexuality or the lack thereof needs to be left alone, in this digital culture there is room for everyone. So stop hatin. Here's my slutty abs with a controller. Kiss this. Mwah.
Good point, if fact I share a similar vision to this matter. Marketing industry likes to ride on the most powerful / brainless steamroller they can fetch, so they use sex appeal for almost every product, especially games. Just take a look about how much silly noise we hear from criticism into Mass Effect for a "sex scene" that shows nothing but the same you see in any teen movie. BTW, all this noise didnt come from Bioware, it came from other sites looking for visits.
ReplyDeleteI believe you must be just like you want to be; if having a good shape makes you feel better and more confident, then go for it. That has nothing to do with gaming. Both things can go together. I consider myself a gamer since the first time my hands reached ZX Spectrum (old times!), and today I do my gym because is healthy, and I feel better that way. So, scrub slutty propaganda. We know which public they want to reach.
The part of your article that I most agree with is this;
ReplyDelete"I say I should be able to be whatever the fuck I want, and the people who don't like it don't have to look."
I think modern society needs to grow up and start realising that people are people, they can be whoever or whatever they want and that's okay. Yeah sure you are always going to have a difference of opinion but that's healthy, what isn't is saying that something SHOULD or SHOULD NOT be the right way to do something. There is no 'right way', only your way.