Short clothes but only for Women: Why are women always shown wearing short clothes in video games?
- Ubaid B
- Dec 1, 2021
- 1 min read
Ever since my childhood, I am playing video games of all genres. From my experience, almost all video games have two things in common. First, in 80% of the games the main protagonist is men and second, women are often shown in short and revealing dresses.
I came across a TEDx talk by Jacqueline Pavlat in which she talks about the second aspect. She analyzes clothes of women in games using different examples: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufEMtYnMDKc
I agree with her that women clothes are on purpose made to be more revealing and shorter. The game could have been made by creating women character having reasonable body and clothes just like men have in these video games. The main reason behind this is to make these video games appealing for men. This representation comes from the positionality of the game developers and their audience. The people playing video games are mostly men, the people making video games are men and the people who endorse these games are men.
Lets Talk:
Is this sexualized and highly objectified representation of women in video games is due to positionality? Are people around you getting affected by this sort of portrayal? Or have you ever felt like this sort of representation has shaped your opinions and perception of women?
It is a well-known fact that women are depicted in flashy apparel and exaggerated figures in order to captivate an audience. Because the ladies in these video games are extremely sexualized and objectified, it has an impact on the players' perceptions of women. They established exaggerated aesthetic standards, such as slender bodies with massive assets. Women are oversexualized and underrepresented. They are not mere objects for men's attraction or side pieces. It makes women's self-realization and attractiveness complexes worse.