I really find it strange that the very people who complain that videogames are not valuated as a legit media start panicking when games get analysed the same way as movies or films, that is also in terms of narration, values, representations, etc.
Or does this vocal crowd also find it strange when critics point out sexism in movies (like "sucker punch", etc ?).
Crosmando: EDIT: Though it is curious how the criticisms of "sexualized" character design in games is almost the same as conservative criticism of the same thing. I wonder if RPS and their fellow travelers would probably consider Saudi Arabia a paradise, no women with sexualized attire over there.
Firstly, the western form of sexism that implicitely pressures women (through icons, models and expectations) into "sexuating" themselves for men (through attires and makeup) while men aren't demanded this, is indeed one "feminist" criticism often emitted by north-african muslims. It's very ambivalent, as it goes with the idea that western girls are liberated, easy women, devoid of moral and dignity, which is both a ground for disgust and attraction (think of the icon of the "bitch", as a stigma and as a fantasy), which leads for instance to both disrespect and to heavy flirting towards western female tourists. In a way, western women represent the same kind of "sexual savagery" than western colonists were imagining (and falsely describing) about natives, in the previous centuries. But the difference is that muslims see western women as sexual victims of a society of consumption. So yes, this echoes feminist critics, and, moreover, this grounds a valid criticism of western culture which does validate the muslim culture in the eyes of its members.
However, the point that traditional (especially fundamentalist) muslims miss, is that their own norms are based on the very same problem. Women, and feminine traits, are also over-sexualized (compared to mesculine traits) in the muslim universe. Women are also seen foremost as sexual products, tossed around just like the western hero's kidnapped girlfriend that the big baddie wants to marry too. For instance, their hair are a very strong sexual symbol (male hair isn't), and, for some, their face itself is an inacceptable source of desire. In other words, in both cultural universes the issue is the same : women are regarded as objects, their exist through the effect they have upon males, their function is to satisfy a man's sexual urges. It's simply dealt with differently in both cultures, one embraces it while pushing (and representing) behaviours of displayed availability, the other by repressing it behind veils of unavailability. Feminism is about shattering the model that underlies both conditions, and defining women as "just as sexual as men, no more, no less", with no different codes or obligations or expectations or repeated objectification.
Basically, this. So "feminists" of both sides are right to attack each others. It is unfortunate that, on both sides, "feminist" ideas serve mostly as little weapons of cultural antagonism and self-serving feelings of superiority instead of being used for self-questionning. However, both in the muslim and the christian/secular worlds, there are also feminists denouncing local representations, and making the woman's condition progress locally. And yeah, usually, "our" feminists have it easy, compared to "theirs".
(Now, just as a disclaimer - the opposition between "western" and "muslim" is a bit rough on the edge, it gives the idea that islam is purely exterior to the "western world", and reciprocally. In practice it's not exactly like that, but right now I can't see what terminology would have been more convenient for this point.)
