Therumancer said:
I appreciate your line of reasoning, but I could switch the genders make the exact same statement about the potrayal of male main characters in video games/media, and it would be every bit as true.
The fact is, most men aren't cut out to be super-elite warriors, either. To be sure, even fewer women are due to different physical averages, but let's face it: there
are fewer kickass female warrior protagonists in video games than male ones. Far fewer. And far more women than men in video games need to be assisted or rescued. If anything, then, video games are depicting a realistic ratio.
Moreover, how realistic is it for the average man to do the things that, say, your average FPS protagonist does? Most men can't even carry the kit those characters run/jump/backflip in, let alone take on trained soldiers in a hand to hand fight. Should I be worried about my sons growing up to think they can punch out a member of Russian Spetsnaz because Captain Price can?
You might say "well, Captain Price is SAS, of course he can, it's different" - but most female video game characters who fight so do as a profession, or have a reason they're skilled at it, too. A young girl is just as like to understand "Jill Valentine can do that because she's an ex-special forces member of an elite police unit, she's trained to, I probably couldn't" as a young boy is to understand that Price is an elite soldier, capable of things he isn't. Moreover, plenty of male characters with no special training who seem to be capable of the same feats, like Nathan Drake, exist as a counterpoint to your Lara Crofts.
In fact, young men
are more likely than women to be the victims of street violence. As a security professional, you must have seen young men full of themselves try to take on someone they have no physical chance of defeating, fueled either by alcohol or overconfidence. I saw it myself working in bars and hotels as an undergrad, and this was by
far more likely to happen to men than women. They bite off more than they can chew, get beaten up, or worse, killed. There've been two young men who died after getting into fights outside my alma mater's dance club in the last year alone. They either took on an opponent they couldn't handle, one who was armed, or one who wasn't alone. The vast majority of men have absolutely no chance of success in these situations.
And yet, how often do we see a male video game protagonist kick a knife out of someone's hand, or even headbutt them while tied up, catch it, and free themselves - or something equally ridiculous? Or take on ten thugs all at once? We watch Nathan Drake and Norman Jayden pound men five stone heavier than them into the ground with their fists, break their holds, and somehow overcome them with pluck, when in reality they would have about as much chance of winning as your average female protagonist taking on a thug five stone heavier than
her
So, enough with these Action Boys! They're clearly giving men dangerous ideas about their own physical abilities, and getting them hurt. I've seen it too many times. Why do we praise them and scorn all male characters who seek help from professionals or run away and call the police as wimps? Men who can take on more than one opponent or fight a man bigger than them do exist, but they are just that: EXCEPTIONS. If Action Boys are understood to be a fantasy, that's fine, but what we should be looking for is a middle ground.
