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keeveek: You probably never heard that if you don't have Abs than you are a pussy and not a man. You probably never heard that if you like take care of children you are a pussy, not a man. You probably never heard that if you shave your armpits then you're a pussy, not a man.

Please stop with "this is not stereotype, this is ideal" bullshit.
Oh, right, because it's so discomforting when you get called a pussy because you don't have abs. When's the last time you got called a pussy because you didn't have muscles ? Oh, right.
And when's the last time you heard a woman get insulted because of her body weight ?
Oh, right.
And no, I have actually never heard of a man being called a pussy because he liked to take care of children. That's actually a quality in both gender, and those who insult others for that are actually quite stupid.
About that body hair thing, I've seen some guys get called names for this. But never consistently got insulted for this.
Now, for women who refuse to shave ? Remember the whole Julia Roberts thing that caused the internet to implode on itself ?

So please, don't tell me that men have it as bad or worse than women. Please don't be one of these blinded MRA.

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Shadowcat69: Boys don't die because they tried too hard to look like He-Man.
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keeveek: You fucking kidding me? Your ignorance is horrible. Please look up the two videos I linked in my previous post.
Yes, I've seen those. And as of today, not important in comparison to the women-side of these problems.
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Shadowcat69: Yes, I've seen those. And as of today, not important in comparison to the women-side of these problems.
Because men's problems are non important! :D

Thank you for your input into gender equality debate.

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Melhelix: Personally I think the market will eventually reward diversity of characters as the customers migrate towards purchasing what they find to be the best match to what they want to play. If it's not viable then it wont sell. If it is viable then it will. Choice just has to be offered in the first place so people can, you know, choose. Already there is a bit of a shift as certain companies start listening closer to the customers, particularly with Kickstarter. Take Project Eternity's Cadegund for example. Her original concept art looked like , but due to a negative reception on the boards she now looks like [url=http://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/eternity.gamepedia.com/3/3a/Cadegund.png]this. Was it a necessary change? Was it a good change? Depends entirely on your point of view; the fact is though that it was a change. A change by Obsidian in direct response to customer feedback. That's pretty spiffy.
I wonder if this was because of the backers' feedback or was it just another RPS article.
Post edited December 01, 2013 by keeveek
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Shadowcat69: Yes, I've seen those. And as of today, not important in comparison to the women-side of these problems.
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keeveek: Because men's problems are non important! :D
No, they're not. Must I bring up the annual women's deaths by eating disorder, body shaming comments on the internet in crushing majority directed towards women, same comments with slut shaming, general historical position of the feminine gender, etc etc etc to prove my point ? Or do you acknowledge that society today has the form of a penis ? And subconsequently, that women problems are more important than those of men ?

By the way, what's your take on the first part of my previous response ?
Post edited December 01, 2013 by Shadowcat69
Let's not have a debate which gender has it worse. There are no winners here.
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Shadowcat69: Yes, I've seen those. And as of today, not important in comparison to the women-side of these problems.
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keeveek: Because men's problems are non important! :D

Thank you for your input into gender equality debate.

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Melhelix: Personally I think the market will eventually reward diversity of characters as the customers migrate towards purchasing what they find to be the best match to what they want to play. If it's not viable then it wont sell. If it is viable then it will. Choice just has to be offered in the first place so people can, you know, choose. Already there is a bit of a shift as certain companies start listening closer to the customers, particularly with Kickstarter. Take Project Eternity's Cadegund for example. Her original concept art looked like , but due to a negative reception on the boards she now looks like [url=http://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/eternity.gamepedia.com/3/3a/Cadegund.png]this. Was it a necessary change? Was it a good change? Depends entirely on your point of view; the fact is though that it was a change. A change by Obsidian in direct response to customer feedback. That's pretty spiffy.
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keeveek: I wonder if this was because of the backers' feedback or was it just another RPS article.
Backer feedback. I was on both the boards and the Kickstarter comment thread at the time. It was a pretty unanimous dislike towards the boobplate actually. After they changed the art it THEN stirred up a debate over whether or not it should have changed due to backer pressure, with most in agreement that it was a good change, and that it was a validation that OE was listening to the feedback.
Post edited December 01, 2013 by Melhelix
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Shadowcat69: No, they're not. Must I bring up the annual women's deaths by eating disorder, body shaming comments on the internet in crushing majority directed towards women, same comments with slut shaming, general historical position of the feminine gender, etc etc etc to prove my point ? Or do you acknowledge that society today has the form of a penis ? And subconsequently, that women problems are more important than those of men ?

By the way, what's your take on the first part of my previous response ?
I just love how some feminists reduce men to calling them "penises" or "dicks" and this is somehow not sexist for them.

Or maybe they are just obsessed.
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Melhelix: Backer feedback. I was on both the boards and the Kickstarter comment thread at the time. It was pretty unanimous dislike towards the boobplate actually. After they changed the art it THEN stirred up a debate over whether or not it should have changed due to backer pressure, with most in agreement that it was a good change, and that it was a validation that OE was listening to the feedback.
That's good to hear. Listening to your customers is the best thing you can do.
Post edited December 01, 2013 by keeveek
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Shadowcat69: No, they're not. Must I bring up the annual women's deaths by eating disorder, body shaming comments on the internet in crushing majority directed towards women, same comments with slut shaming, general historical position of the feminine gender, etc etc etc to prove my point ? Or do you acknowledge that society today has the form of a penis ? And subconsequently, that women problems are more important than those of men ?

By the way, what's your take on the first part of my previous response ?
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keeveek: I just love how some feminists reduce men to calling them "penises" or "dicks" and this is somehow not sexist for them.

Or maybe they are just obsessed.
Well, thank you for your input, but as I didn't call men that in the same way I didn't call women "vaginas" or "cunts" I don't feel concerned by your answer.

Still waiting for your impression on my previous answer. Am I wrong in some way ? Are those not far more present and thus important ?
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infinite9: Whenever I read articles or comments complaining about "sexualization" of female characters, I keep wondering why the complaints are one-sided. The social justice zealots shriek over images of "attractive" (I use quotes because I don't get aroused by pixels or drawings) women but they never seem to complain about sexualized male characters.

The following is about toys but illustrates my point:

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/32/c0/9a/32c09a7645e67679ecee082ec60f815f.jpg
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Shadowcat69: That might be because it's not a problem. If you're a man, you're never gonna get insults and being shamed for being in your underwear and muscly. This is pretty much the man ideal (muscly, virile, manly, powerful, seemingly in control). The character's name is "He-Man" for chissakes.

And please, He-Man isn't an unhealthy and unfair standard of beauty leading to a crisis for young boys and their self esteem. No one ever said "I'm not as pretty as He-Man, I can't bend metal with my little fingers, i'm a failure" and has gone on a depression because of this. Actually no male character is the cause to this kind of thing. Female "models" are, however, the cause of depression, anorexia and other severe mental disorders and physical problems. Boys don't die because they tried too hard to look like He-Man. On the other hand, because of exactly "unrealistic, unfair and unhealthy standards of beauty", many girls are suffering from low self esteem, bullying, psychological disorders, eating disorders and other cheerful things.

Bit off-topic here, but just look up videos of men weight lifting on youtube and see the comments. Try to count the insults. You can count them on your hand. Now look up the same videos for the opposing genders.

So, no, this very image is sexist and against equality as a whole.
I never said that He-Man created any crisis for young boys. I was pointing out how selective outrage from these social justice types can easily get dismantled by pointing out how selective their info really is. People normally don't complain about athletic-looking male characters in a video game or He-Man so why are people getting so bent out of shape over skimpy-dressed female video game characters? That is what I was pointing out.

Also, you may want to do some research about steroid abuse and the medical troubles men have gotten into because they wanted to look as muscular and masculine as possible especially the ones that resulted in mental health disorders leading to suicide. I'm not saying those men were literally trying to make themselves look like He-Man but they got themselves killed or in deep trouble trying to achieve their image of the perfect male body.
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Shadowcat69: Still waiting for your impression on my previous answer. Am I wrong in some way ? Are those not far more present and thus important ?
The issue is more pressing, this is the fact. But, in my opinion, dismissing men's issues just because they are less important to not be a good answer.

Gender equality should be, in my opinion, focused on fighting discrimination on both ends. It's not like every person on the planet should focus on women's issues and leave men's issues for later - nothing is stopping from addressing all of them at once.

By the way, I don't think video games oversexualized imaginery of women contribute to eating disorders among women.

This, on the other hand, obviously does:
http://bi.gazeta.pl/im/c1/09/c8/z13109697Q,Keira-Knightley.jpg

A lot of more women consider her attractive and ideal compared to men. It should be obvious, because female models in video games are aimed at men look nothing like her. I don't think I ever seen a video game character this skinny and considered attractive.

I don't even know why media are forcing this Keira Knightley imaginery, but definitely not because of men. Men don't find that attractive, men don't want their women to look like that.

I guess it's just the so called "industry" trying to lure women into buying more diet products, etc etc. In the same way it works with muscles and men - most women don't like their men to be too buffy, but the industry is pushing this image so the men would buy more shit.

It's a cruel business tactics preying on people's naivety, I don't think it has much to do with sexism, though.
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infinite9: I never said that He-Man created any crisis for young boys. I was pointing out how selective outrage from these social justice types can easily get dismantled by pointing out how selective their info really is. People normally don't complain about athletic-looking male characters in a video game or He-Man so why are people getting so bent out of shape over skimpy-dressed female video game characters? That is what I was pointing out.
Right, thought you had the same viewpoint as the guy who created the image.Sorry then.
Well, in short, because athletic-looking men in video games do not have any disadvantages, be it in practical uses or psychological impact on the player. Hotty nonsensically dressed females do.
As I said before, people complain about it because athletic-lookin men are closer to the ideal that men have set for themselves than the skimpy-looking female ideals that men have set for women themselves. Again, not sure if a bit off-topic or not but If you look at a wonder woman comic now chances are you'll find a relatively normal-shaped wonder woman with a costume that makes sense. Same as with the boob plates, open and nonsensical outfits in general are there to sexualize and undermine the feminine gender.

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infinite9: Also, you may want to do some research about steroid abuse and the medical troubles men have gotten into because they wanted to look as muscular and masculine as possible especially the ones that resulted in mental health disorders leading to suicide. I'm not saying those men were literally trying to make themselves look like He-Man but they got themselves killed or in deep trouble trying to achieve their image of the perfect male body.
I know about these problems. I'm saying that these are not as widespread as young women falling into anorexia or depression because of constant body-shaming, slut-shaming and peer pressure.
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Shadowcat69: Still waiting for your impression on my previous answer. Am I wrong in some way ? Are those not far more present and thus important ?
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keeveek: The issue is more pressing, this is the fact. But, in my opinion, dismissing men's issues just because they are less important to not be a good answer.

Gender equality should be, in my opinion, focused on fighting discrimination on both ends. It's not like every person on the planet should focus on women's issues and leave men's issues for later - nothing is stopping from addressing all of them at once.
Sure. My line of thinking is just that putting far more resources in solving women's problems (ie laws regulating women's bodies, economical inequality, sexualizing of the female body, ads that demonstrates how girls should be, fat shaming body shaming slut shaming yadde yadda) than we currently do today would re-establish balance in the long run.

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keeveek: This, on the other hand, obviously does:
http://bi.gazeta.pl/im/c1/09/c8/z13109697Q,Keira-Knightley.jpg

A lot of more women consider her attractive and ideal compared to men. It should be obvious, because female models in video games are aimed at men look nothing like her. I don't think I ever seen a video game character this skinny and considered attractive.

I don't even know why media are forcing this Keira Knightley imaginery, but definitely not because of men. Men don't find that attractive, men don't want their women to look like that.

I guess it's just the so called "industry" trying to lure women into buying more diet products, etc etc. In the same way it works with muscles and men - most women don't like their men to be too buffy, but the industry is pushing this image so the men would buy more shit.

It's a cruel business tactics preying on people's naivety, I don't think it has much to do with sexism, though.
Well, what Keira does with her body is her business and girls who consider her to be attractive and choose to look a bit more like her (ie not forced by magazines because that's the way they should be and nothing else ) are not to be looked down upon. Women can wish to look a certain way not to please the opposite gender but to please themselves, and that's what the media fail to understand (or understand but try to brute force their understanding of the concept). Not sure if that was your point though.

I think this matter has reached its conclusion in a pretty civilized way. Back on topic, I just think people of both genders in video games should dress the same same way, as far as military uniforms (fantasy armor, futuristic armor, modern warfare uniforms) go. I live for the day I won't see boob plates for female knights in fantasy games, honestly.
Post edited December 01, 2013 by Shadowcat69
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Shadowcat69: Well, what Keira does with her body is her business and girls who consider her to be attractive and choose to look a bit more like her (ie not forced by magazines because that's the way they should be and nothing else ) are not to be looked down upon. Women can wish to look a certain way not to please the opposite gender but to please themselves, and that's what the media fail to understand (or understand but try to brute force their understanding of the concept). Not sure if that was your point though.
That's true, she can look just as she likes and the women who want to look like her are not wrong by pursuing their dream.

On the other hand, there is a lot of pressure towards women to loose weight whenever they can.
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Shadowcat69: Sure. My line of thinking is just that putting far more resources in solving women's problems (ie laws regulating women's bodies, economical inequality, sexualizing of the female body, ads that demonstrates how girls should be, fat shaming body shaming slut shaming yadde yadda) than we currently do today would re-establish balance in the long run.
Laws regulating bodies? Well that would be kind of terrifying.

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Shadowcat69: Women can wish to look a certain way not to please the opposite gender but to please themselves, and that's what the media fail to understand (or understand but try to brute force their understanding of the concept). Not sure if that was your point though.
I'm actually wondering tho: How does that work? The reason you want to look attractive is never you. You don't see yourself. When you look good, you feel good about yourself because you know you have nothing to be ashamed of / something to be proud of. And that brings us back to 'looking good to men' - not just men per se, men try to look good too as much as we go 'Grrrr' when it comes to looks (which is part of that image, often enough). Still, point is that the same sex will mostly not put as much weight into your looks than the opposite sex will, so you get back down to the issue of 'looking good for -inset opposite sex here-'
Post edited December 01, 2013 by Fenixp
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Shadowcat69: No, they're not. Must I bring up the annual women's deaths by eating disorder, body shaming comments on the internet in crushing majority directed towards women, same comments with slut shaming, general historical position of the feminine gender, etc etc etc to prove my point ?
I don't know what you're trying to prove with that comment but what you're actually proving is that women's issues get far more attention these days. You love talking about pressing issues, okay, let's move on to some possibly even more serious issues: cancer. Let's take a look at some statistics in the UK:

Breast cancer is the third most common cause of cancer deaths in the UK accounting for 7% of all cancer deaths (accounting for 15% of all cancer deaths among women).
Prostate cancer is the fourth most common cause of cancer deaths in the UK accounting for 7% of all cancer deaths (accounting for 13% of all cancer deaths among men).

Which one gets FAR more media attention? Which of these two gets more FAR "awareness" programs and months/days? Clearly the breast cancer, doesn't it? Is that an issue regularly raised by huge groups of men who feel discriminated? No. Is that an issue that is deeply researched? No. Does it seem that both cancers are slowly beginning to get the same attention? I don't think so. And can it be that the fact that breast cancer gets several times the attention that prostate cancer gets may keep the awareness of prostate cancer so low that men underestimate the risk and people actually die because of that inequality in media coverage and research? I'm pretty positive that they do. A serious issue indeed.

What does that have to do with anything here? That even some of the most serious gender related issues are not treated the same way for both genders and just mentioning something like "annual women's deaths by eating disorder" is worth shit when women's issues of that kind clearly receive more attention and research than in case of men. It's pretty darn easy to keep track of cancer victims and yet there's no gender equality here (while according to the stats the issues are pretty much equally serious). Now, if already with something as easily traceable as cancer victims women receive more attention and research, what does that say about all the other "facts" which are much harder to research, require more funding to even get the basic numbers? Isn't it pretty clear that for instance eating disorders among men probably have much higher numbers than it seems but the issue just isn't as "pressing" (as you love to call it) and so nobody really cares or knows?

Let's throw in a few funny words and sentences: "Grow your penis six inches in two days!" "Get buffed in three weeks!" "Your penis to small? Get a penis pump!" All of these aggressively attack male sensitivities that are not nearly enough covered by research, men do destroy their bodies by popping pills manufactured by obscure companies or even applying devices like a penis pump which can permanently disfigure the area it was meant to improve. What are the numbers, what are the facts about the victims of these aggressive assaults on men's sensitivities? I don't friggin' know - what I also don't know is whether I "don't friggin' know" because the numbers are ridiculously small next to similar issues among women or because the same reasons which make breast cancer receive more attention than prostate cancer apply here as well. I think the latter.

Oh, and don't get me started on botched penis enlargement surgery where nobody has any idea of the numbers because the patients/victims don't dare admitting they were involved in such a procedure, because the social stigma of having a small penis is far worse than that of having small breasts - and something's telling me that more researchers and media people are trying to uncover botched boob jobs than botched dick jobs.

And no, I'm not trying to say that men have it worse. Frankly, I'm even okay with women receiving more attention in similar issues after they've been victimized and discriminated so much throughout history - but I am AWARE that they do receive more research and attention right now. And this also means that I am aware that when someone uses buzzwords like "eating disorder!", "breast cancer!", "beauty standards!" to raise the importance of women's issues over men's they don't really mean shit.
Post edited December 01, 2013 by F4LL0UT
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Red_Avatar: For starters, the games that "sin" the most are barely played by girls, games are still clearly fake in design, are often stylized and don't contain real actors for people to grow attached to and look up at. As such, I believe the influence on people is almost zero when it comes to body image.
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Melhelix: I can assure you, having a pair of ovaries does not affect whether or not you enjoy a certain genre of video games. Given that the majority of female characters in video games are depicted in a similar fashion, I am quite curious what specific games or genres do not "sin" that you think are "played by girls."
Are we going to have this discussion again? Basically, the more violence, the more it tilts towards men, the less violence, the more it tilts towards women, it's that simple. Adventure games, casual games, etc. have a far larger share of female gamers than action games or FPS games. This is proven by my Steam friend list where you can easily see what games they play.

It's mainly action RPGs that are the problem here and if you look carefully, that's also where the most complaining comes from exactly because there's quite a lot of girls playing those as well. Even then, most surveys or polls show that male gamers outnumber female ones 4 to 1 on these games - so while, among girl gamers, many play those games, the amount of girl gamers themselves are outnumbered by a large margin meaning that, when it comes to aiming at a certain group, it makes sense to focus on the men - especially considering (and I have to stress this) that most girls or women do NOT mind having scantily clad characters and in the case of Skyrim will often even download more revealing outfits.

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Melhelix: Personally I think the market will eventually reward diversity of characters as the customers migrate towards purchasing what they find to be the best match to what they want to play. If it's not viable then it wont sell. If it is viable then it will. Choice just has to be offered in the first place so people can, you know, choose. Already there is a bit of a shift as certain companies start listening closer to the customers, particularly with Kickstarter. Take Project Eternity's Cadegund for example. Her original concept art looked like , but due to a negative reception on the boards she now looks like [url=http://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/eternity.gamepedia.com/3/3a/Cadegund.png]this. Was it a necessary change? Was it a good change? Depends entirely on your point of view; the fact is though that it was a change. A change by Obsidian in direct response to customer feedback. That's pretty spiffy.
Diversity of characters comes from proper writing, not how they're dressed, something which too many people don't seem to get. You can have a very sexy but very strong female character which appeals to both male and female gamers, or you could have a "normal" female character which is poorly written which will appeal to neither. Proper writing takes skill and effort, though, and it's something most games these days suffer from. You get the bravado main guy who is really stereotypical, and you have the "strong" female co-character who makes quips at the main guy and points out his flaws. That's how far it goes, really, and it's dull as dishwater.