Sexualized characters that were done right.

[LetalisK]

Without a doubt Isabella from Dragon Age 2. Her sexuality is a core component of her character without it being an all defining, singular character trait.

Inb4: This turns into a gigantic, massive, apocalyptic gender-sexism-feminism-debate-shitstorm.

I have to say Miranda from Mass Effect. Everybody complains how sexist her ass is or whatever, I have to admit I pay zero attention to such debates, but she is just super bad ass (no pun intended). She is smart, strong, skilled, resourcefull and of course crazy hot. She is genetically designed to be the perfect specimin of a human female, and attractiveness is of course part of that.

I gotta disagree with this. She states that her looks are a part of her genetic tailoring and that she uses them to get what she wants, but all she does is state it. Her characterisation is extremely nonsexual. Even when she seeks out casual sexual encounters she is cold, formal and professional, treating potential bedmates like job applicants. Her outfit makes no sense.

I agree with Isabella who was on the nose enough that it worked, but I disagree in that Miranda is a character with sexuality, it's just not in the way we normally expect it. Particularly when taken into context with Jack, it becomes apparent that these two characters are not just foils in personality and goals, but also in sexuality and how they express and view it. I thought it was really clever of Bioware.

 

[AntiChri5]

Where is Miranda's sexuality? She is professional to the point of frigidity and extremely practical. But they put her in an outfit that puts sex appeal above all else.

 

[LetalisK]

Where is Miranda's sexuality? She is professional to the point of frigidity and extremely practical. But they put her in an outfit that puts sex appeal above all else.

I think we're talking about two different thing here but within the same subject, you about being nonsexual and I about sexuality(of which the former and using it as a tool would define it for Miranda. People forget that sexuality is not synonymous with being slutty). My bad.

 

[Vault101]

are we talking about charachters who were developed well in "spite" of theit sexualisation or charachters who's sexuality plays a fundamental part of who they are (and its done well)

...and I'm not sure Bayonetta's design needs to be "honoured", or that such a design or character is the least bit "empowering". That's surely just a male projection as a way of justifying the aesthetic. (btw, I think she's an awesome OTT character, it's just I don't think the industry really needs more of her)

I do love it when guys tell us whats empowering...or that theyre "just apreciating the beauty of women"

[sub/]not assuming your a girl[/sub]

 

[Elijin]

No one has said Moxxie from the borderlands series?

I mean....her whole thing is she's fairly independent (for an npc, lets ignore all the fetch quests in this comment). She runs her own businesses, and treat husbands like passing fads. She totally embraces her sexuality, without it diminishing that she's a powerful woman who gets what she wants. One day she might flirt within the dialogue to get what she wants, the next she will threaten, subtle or outright. And bonus points for her commentary in the arenas turning the male characters into sex objects.

Ninja edit:
Plus she's a loving mother to top it all off.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Poison Ivy?

She's supposed to be a seductress, right? I mean, I know she uses like pollens to enslave men (and women?), so she could look like Chris Farley and it wouldn't matter. But it certainly adds to her character. Ofcourse every woman in the Batman (or any other super hero) universe looks like a total fox, but Ivy's got a somewhat good excuse.

 

[Erttheking]

are we talking about charachters who were developed well in "spite" of theit sexualisation or charachters who's sexuality plays a fundamental part of who they are (and its done well)

...and I'm not sure Bayonetta's design needs to be "honoured", or that such a design or character is the least bit "empowering". That's surely just a male projection as a way of justifying the aesthetic. (btw, I think she's an awesome OTT character, it's just I don't think the industry really needs more of her)

I do love it when guys tell us whats empowering...or that theyre "just apreciating the beauty of women"

[sub/]not assuming your a girl[/sub]

I suppose both could work, but I was more leaning towards the second option in that it was designed to be a part of who they were and it actually added to the character.

 

[Vault101]

I suppose both could work, but I was more leaning towards the second option in that it was designed to be a part of who they were and it actually added to the character.

which is much better than having them sexualiseed for the hell of it

 

[Aaron Sylvester]

I do love it when guys tell us whats empowering...or that theyre "just apreciating the beauty of women"

[sub/]not assuming your a girl[/sub]

So far this has been a fairly one-sided subject considering I can't simply retort to you with "I do love it when women tell us what's empowering"...because to males ANYTHING can be classified as empowering, even hot sexualized male characters (as rare as those are).
Most male gamers tend to not be not too bothered or worried by what classifies as "empowering" or "objectification", most of them understand it's not something really worth fussing over or getting worked-up about.

But with female characters we gotta be really careful because this is such a touchy and sensitive topic for so many people. Every female character these days seems to get pigeonholed into either being sexually objectified or defying sexual objectification purely for the sake of stirring up a shitstorm.

E.g. Frozen, a movie that got some of my facebook friends hysterically claiming as the ultimate defiance against misogyny, patriarchy, sexism, etc (all the trendy feminism terms) and the ultimate statement towards the strength of females not needing males to help them. They were trumpeting that shit from the rooftops as if it was the next big things since women got equal voting rights LOL. Talk about over-blowing things to batshit crazy proportions!

 

[Vault101]

Most male gamers tend to not be not too bothered or worried by what classifies as "empowering" or "objectification", most of them understand it's not something really worth fussing over or getting worked-up about.
!

HAHAHAHAHA


oh god...your serious? ok..thanks for proving my point...but anyway

no you see "bros" are cool about it not because they are inherently more stoic than those silly hysterical females, its because most media has a very wide spectrum of male charachters, most media doesn't put them into narrow roles, most media (even that meant to be of wide appeal) is aimed at them

why get your undies in a tiwst when theres nothing to get your undies in a twist over?


what I meant was when guys say that Bayonetta is "empowering" which is fine, perhaps some women would even agree...but again its THEM saying, I would wager bayonetta is FOR the male gaze I don't think they always get it, don't get the difference in how female/male charachters are portrayed...like you kind of demonstrated here

if anything the MAIN thing here is [b/]perspective[/b] I mean youve got guys telling us what we should and should not have a problem with?.....is that not..well problematic?

you know why Frozen was such a big deal? because its about Elsa and Anna, about their love..and not "Elsa and Anna and how they relate to a man" oh sure its ptetty simple...but as far as disney movies go its pleasantly subversive

want a good example? check out the show Orange is the new black

its got straight girls, white girls, black girls, young girls, old girls, skinny girls, fat girls, femminie girls, butch girls...all of them charachters with flaws, the show is about THEM first and foremost, and not male charachters, its from THEIR perspective

 

[wulf3n]

I mean youve got guys telling us what we should and should not have a problem with?.....is that not..well problematic?

It is, because you seem to think "Someone having an opinion" == "Someone telling you what to think"

OT: Alyx Vance.

 

[Gypsyssilver]

What's your favorite sexualized character? And how does she (Or he) make it work?

Morrigan from Dragon Age.

She spent most of the game in very little clothing.

But damn, she was a badass...

 

[Candidus]

A sexualized character is `done right` if I find her sexy. I don't give a wild Snorlax about the politics.

So:

- The entire cast of Senran Kagura with the exceptions of the male characters whose names I forget, and Mirai and Hijikata.
- All the DoA women.
- Elizabeth, Vice and Mature equally from KoF XIII.
- Zero Suit Samus, although I've never played a Metroid game.
- Various witches from The Witcher 2.

And so on and so forth.

They make it work by having large boobs and backsides, wearing scant, fetishistic and sometimes destructible clothing, and by doing a lot of violence.

 

[MetalShadowChaos]

Skullgirls's entire female cast(see: All bit Big Band) are sexualised, but the way each of them has some sort of undertone to it all makes them incredibly deep characters.

Filia: Cute Schoolgirl/Monstaer Hair and Amnesia
Cerebella: Circus Acrobatic and Strongarm/One sided love for her Vitelli that results in her doing terrible things for her
Valentine: Sexy Nurse/Sociopath with a history with war and forced to work with evil

I could go on.


Not to mention at least Valentine subverts her appearance slightly with how her main dislikes are listed as 'Back pain', in reference to those badankadonks she has strapped to her chest. Poor girl.

 

[Gypsyssilver]

I do love it when guys tell us whats empowering...or that theyre "just apreciating the beauty of women"

[sub/]not assuming your a girl[/sub]

So far this has been a fairly one-sided subject considering I can't simply retort to you with "I do love it when women tell us what's empowering"...because to males ANYTHING can be classified as empowering, even hot sexualized male characters (as rare as those are).
Most male gamers tend to not be not too bothered or worried by what classifies as "empowering" or "objectification", most of them understand it's not something really worth fussing over or getting worked-up about.

But with female characters we gotta be really careful because this is such a touchy and sensitive topic for so many people. Every female character these days seems to get pigeonholed into either being sexually objectified or defying sexual objectification purely for the sake of stirring up a shitstorm.

E.g. Frozen, a movie that got some of my facebook friends hysterically claiming as the ultimate defiance against misogyny, patriarchy, sexism, etc (all the trendy feminism terms) and the ultimate statement towards the strength of females not needing males to help them. They were trumpeting that shit from the rooftops as if it was the next big things since women got equal voting rights LOL. Talk about over-blowing things to batshit crazy proportions!

I gotta agree with Vault here.

All of your arguments seem almost rational on the surface. But when you read between the lines of what you're saying - it's just putting women down. It's subtle, but it's still negative.

Let's translate, shall we?

"most [men] understand [objectification] is not worth fussing over/getting worked up about"

What you're really saying here is that people shouldn't ever get angry about objectification - but that only men are smart enough to realise that. Nice. That's really friendly of you.

"misogyny, patriarchy, sexism, etc (all the trendy feminism terms)".

These are all just words that describe things. The only notable thing about them is that you've lumped them in together under the label 'trendy feminism'. You're essentially stating that people who have concerns about misogyny or sexism etc, are only SAYING they have a problem because it's in fashion to do so. You've completely disregarded the possibility that there actually might be a problem and that the people who HAVE noticed it like to talk about it and raise awareness of it.

"Talk about over-blowing things to batshit crazy proportions!"

Anything can be exaggerated to crazy levels. I don't really think this was. What were they doing? Saying that the movie was a great example of the fact that female characters can have lives and motivations that don't revolve around men? Uh, yeah. It kinda was.

The only truly crazy part is that it's so rare for a movie to be like that. That's why people were so excited about it.

You seem like a smart guy - but you don't seem like a guy that's really thought about the issue. More like a guy who's just reacting to the issue.

It's like a white person arguing that racism isn't a big deal anymore. Prejudice is never a big deal when you're not the one affected by it. And if you haven't experienced prejudice in your life - it can be very difficult to understand that a group of people who ARE affected by it - practically live in a different world than you do.

It's like we're living in an MMO. Everyone's experience is affected by their character type. An elf goes to hand in a quest, and the quest giver (who is also an elf) gives him his gold, along with a bonus. The next guy that goes to hand in the quest is an Orc. He gets given less gold and is sneered at by the quest giver.

Same quest, two very different experiences of it.

If you then asked the elf about the possibility of racism affecting quest turn-ins - he'd tell you that it wasn't an issue. That anyone who says they're having a problem is just being overly sensitive. Why? Because he just hasn't had that experience.

He might be wrong objectively, but as far as he knows - he's correct.

In other words, check your privilege, dude.

 

[Vault101]

[
It is, because you seem to think "Someone having an opinion" == "Someone telling you what to think"

its just not all opinions are equal when it comes to certain topics (which I know no one wants to hear...)

[quote/]OT: Alyx Vance.[/quote]

what? she's notable for NOT being sexualised

 

[Lieju]

GLaDOS.

What? Everyone else seems to be giving examples of female characters they found hot and that nevertheless had some depth to them.

I think this is a bit of an odd way to put the question.
If we are talking about a character created to be eye-candy, I have no problem with Ivy from Soul Calibur. (I think SC2 anyway, which was the one I was most experienced with.)

She looks bloody silly (and not my type), but it and her confident pose and attitude work with the aesthetic and the 'dominatrix-theme' she has going for her, not all female characters are portrayed the same (although they still have less diversity than the male ones, which is negative, and males could use some more fanservice.) and she had more covering alternative outfits, including one crossdressing one.

How the character of Ivy was later used became problematic, however, including the add for the game that just had her boobs.