That one was more so for a joke and the sake of publicity. @TheMysteriousGX point still stands, regardless. Joke, parody, or played straight. And in Lara's case, they definitely played it straight.
Another thread about sexism in video games.
- Thread starter CriticalGaming
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- Apr 1, 2009
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- Apr 1, 2009
- 15,127
- 3,985
- 118
- Gender
- Whatever, just wash your hands.
My Big brother and I laughed our asses off, it happened. And when there were actual magazine racks selling them in stores. We still get a chuckle every now and then.
Remember when 7-11 had a magazine rack? I used to love going into the store and looking for new issues of Electronic Gaming Monthly and Guitar World.
Marketing to horny teenagers is nothing new. Don't know that it counts though.
See the following:
and a slightly NSFW one
Sexiness in ads is just a marketing tool, one that has mostly gone away in the States though there are still plenty of places that aren't shy about using sex to sell. It's been a tried and true marketing tactic that will continue to be useful for as long as people still get horny.
Sexiness is not sexism though.
And before you say that it's always women in these kinds of ads that's not true.
For example:
Funny enough the dudes have LESS to wear in their ads. And that body image is crazy.
Would've helped your argument to show videogame ads if you're trying to show sexy equality. Because I can show sexy underwear ads for all genders, and sexy food ads for all genders, but...Marketing to horny teenagers is nothing new. Don't know that it counts though.
See the following:
and a slightly NSFW one
These ads were in actual video game magazines.
Sexiness in ads is just a marketing tool, one that has mostly gone away in the States though there are still plenty of places that aren't shy about using sex to sell. It's been a tried and true marketing tactic that will continue to be useful for as long as people still get horny.
Sexiness is not sexism though.
And before you say that it's always women in these kinds of ads that's not true.
For example:
Funny enough the dudes have LESS to wear in their ads. And that body image is crazy.
EDIT: Like, I know those adds were in actual gaming magazines and I know that the horny teen boy demographic was heavily advertised to. What I'm not getting is the weird pushback on the idea that the horny teen boy demographic was heavily catered to by games themselves, specifically by the female characters, the topic of this thread.
What is your actual argument here?
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How about this one https://media.pocketgamer.com/images/featimgs/kate-upton-crash.jpg
Yes you are right in the sense that there weren't a lot of hot dudes in video game ads. Because video games were very much thought of as a boy's toy during the 1990's in which these types of ads were commonplace. By the time gaming got into the female market (2000's), the "sexy" ad was already mostly gone.
But advertising is all about target audience. Clearly women respond to the sexy shirtless/naked man just as much as men react to the mostly naked girl. Because both types of sex in advertising are still present.
My point is that using sex to sell a product is not sexism. Whether you are catering to a horny teenage boy market or not. You think K-pop groups and boybands didn't cater to a horny teenage girl market? It's all about where the demographic for the marketing lies.
Just because it's different doesn't mean it's unequal. And if sex appeal is used to market to both men and women, then how can sexy marketing be sexist?
The part where it *wasn't* used to market to both men and women in the videogame industry? Is this the level of argument we're at, "the videogame industry didn't have sexist marketing, look at this horny mayonnaise advertisement next to this horny arcade game advertisement"?
This is a particularly sad bit of whataboutism
The argument is that SEXY does not equal SEXISM. Advertisement and content that has sexy content doesn't mean it's sexist. Men and women find different things sexy, therefore sexy ads targeting them will be sexy in different ways.
In what way is sexual content sexist? How does it fit into the exclusion of one sex on the basis of that sex, or the belief of inferriority based on sex? Just because a character is portrayed in a sexy way, or sex is used to sell a product does not mean it's treating that character or person in an inferrior way.
Let's use WoW as an example since it's been brought up. While men and women wear might have drastically different armor, does that different armor make the women less capable than the male characters in anyway? No it doesn't, female armor doesn't have less stats therefore they are just as powerful as their male character counterparts, so women aren't treated as inferrior in that regard. Nor are they excluded in anyway from content or power levels based on their gender. Hell the most powerful characters in the lore are women so *shrug*.
Is the armor "sexier" on women, yes in some cases but that didn't really happen much (if at all) after the first expansion to the game 15 years ago. WoW in that regard evolved it's art style to be more thematic, thus the armord designs became much more unisex.
Lmao
"Sure the full plate mail on dudes was turned into chainmail bikinis on gals but that's not sexist because the stats are the same"
I'm done here, I can't argue with a parody
- Apr 1, 2009
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- Whatever, just wash your hands.
It means women and fictional depictions of them are highly sexually fetishised in our society. What do you think it means?
Okay, I can accept that concept, at core. However, what I'm more suspicious about is to what extent men and women are appealed to with sexiness, and what its relevance is to the product / depiction.
A hugely muscled male warrior in full armour who smashes skulls with a mace makes thematic sense. A woman doing the same role who is svelte (yet buxom!) and showing an acre of cleavage, ass, midriff and thigh is not. The woman warrior has been compromised by sexiness in a way that the man has not. The fact that examples of men compromised also exist does not remotely convince me that overall, they are a great deal less compromised.
These things both play to the power fantasy.
Men want to imagine themselves big and buff and powerful. So they are the big shirtless brutes or knights in shining armor (heroes who save the kingdom blah blah).
Women in revealing outfits also fit the power fantasy. Because they want to also be shown as strong and powerful but they also want to be sexy and attractive. Thus the female characters are often showcased with a bit more emphasis on their bodies. Much in the same way some boy would revere Conan the Barbarian, the power fantasy of Vampirella or even the female version of Conan strikes much the same chord.
The reason why revealing armors on women bothers people is because they want women to be ashamed of their bodies while men are expected to be revered for theirs. And im sure there is some form of jealousy towards these female characters too. The women who famously complain about body image are women who cant put down their cupcakes. Therefore the attractive and sexy characters are "unrealistic" body standards. When nobody gives that same complaint towards a male characters with 0% body fat and perfectly sculpted muscles. These same people who claim the hot female characters are unrealistic, still expect their men to meet that male power fantasy.
You ever seen some of these profiles on Tinder? As a man you better be 6-foot-1, be in perfect shape, and have a 6 figure salary. That's not sexist but Lara Croft is? Give me a break.