Gunstar Green wrote:dsheinem wrote:What's been forced? Consciousness raising is not censorship.
You're right. Forced isn't the word I should have used since no one is forcing creators to do anything.
I do agree about the frequency being an issue, to a point considering there is still the question of demographics and who a specific game is being made for, and that's why I don't really get why layering implications onto particular tropes does much to raise awareness.
Showing me dozens of women who need rescue next to one strong heroine is a more compelling argument to me than hammering on about why Peach is the bane of all women. I'm not trying to take anything away from that point. My issue is with the people who have an issue with the content of fiction and not with the people who are taking notice of specific trends.
Things don't exist in a vacuum, and I suspect that individuals who take issue with individual content will, when pressed, admit that the problem largely comes from where it resides in a larger societal context. Let's face it, if Princess Peach was the only female character in history to have ever been kidnapped and needed rescuing, and sexism was in no way a problem in society as a whole, nobody would make a fuss about it.
As for the stuff about demographics, I think it's worth noting that I think there are a
lot more women into video games than most people realize.
Another question I have rolling around in my head is what makes a strong woman and what makes a good female role model?
For instance, I've seen Sarkeesian argue outside of her "Tropes vs. Women" series that a strong female character is not necessarily feminist because a female character using violence to solve problems is displaying male traits.
While I have to strongly disagree with that, at the same time she has a point about video game violence and in that sense, which male characters are good role models?
I know this is probably a bit of a cop-out, but video games are also known for having terrible writing standards in general and that's an issue in its own right.
I'd say anything that makes a good, interesting character
period probably applies to a good female character.
