Most male protagonists do fit the tall, dark, and handsome bill. It doesn't matter if some women dont find Kratos atrractive. Believe it or not, blondes with big hooters don't do much for me because I don't care much for blondes and dont care about cup size at all - but that don't mean big tittied blonde bimbos ain't a "thing". (Thanks 1980's, ya douchebag) I hate when I see brunettes dye their hair blonde and it is like automatic -2 to -3 points on a 10 point scale for me. Seriously, I like brown and black almost exclusively. Thanks Marilyn Monroe, you made every woman think blonde is sexier.
IceForce said:
Is this meant to be satire? Because if it is, it's not very good.
Also, relevant Critical Miss...
It may not be a compelling argument but it does point out that sexism may not be the causation of whats wrong. It could be simply feeding into commonly perceived fantasies. Men are stereotyped into liking cleavage. So much so that as a man, walking up to another man you don't know and simply saying "beer and titties" will likely generate an echo from them of "beer and titties". As such media feeds into this stereotype of men and offers titties. Women on the other hand don't advertise the desire to see banana hammocks and instead have chosen the stereotype of what I can best describe as "deeper meaning" (emotional bonding, maturity, etc. but with a taste for 'bad boys') not "Spritzers and Cocks". As such most male characters in all media are tall, dark, handsome, charming & witty, yet have some type of emotional/maturity/etc. problem that makes them a 'rebel' where they need a woman to help them understand this 'mysterious' part of them they can't for the life of them begin to comprehend. The male characters have deeper meaning because that is the fantasy of the stereotypical depiction of the ideal man. If women went around saying "Spritzers and cocks" we would probably see more alcoholic female characters and more male sexualization than we do now.
Something to consider is that while these stereotypes are generalized, they still have weight. The cheerleader outfit and Catholic school girls uniform are testaments to this type of thinking. These stereotypes exist because there is a truth to them - generally speaking. A friend of mine is married to a blonde former cheerleader who was raised in catholic schools and he couldn't be happier about it. No depth there, just regular ol' surface stuff and that is who he is. She too falls in line as he is a former alcoholic with repressed emotions yet is overall witty and many people are drawn to his character for some unknown reason. I don't think he is particularly charming but maybe his wit is part of it, I don't know. Either way these two are the stereotypes I described. It's uncanny the more I think about it - they popped in my head when I was writing this and now it fits more and more.
The point is though, they both do as they see society expects of them. There are many people like this out there. Society places pressures on both sides but the pressures are different because the fantasy's of each gender is different. Men are heavily stimulated sexually by visuals. A naked woman in front of us is foreplay and we are heavily stimulated. Women are heavily stimulated by scenarios and acts. Sex is more visually weighted for men, emotionally weighted for women. Granted not everyone falls in line to society's expectations, but consider the masses as that is who is being marketed to. Be it games, movies, etc.
You want something that doesn't cater to that view? Quit looking at AAA and Hollywood. Female action stars in movies are rare too and that is a much older medium. However, a female action star in the leading role doesn't bring in a big draw because action movies aren't sought out by women generally speaking. The only one I can think of right now is Hunger Games. There is more to this than sexism. However, by pointing out the stereotypical gender roles each gender assigns to themselves subconsciously probably makes me look like a patriarch to some or saying it is ok for society to be sexist. However, I am not saying that, I am saying that nature is inherently sexist by making men and women chemically different. We don't want different things, we want the same things differently. It is a duality that will never be "equal" because both sides are right. Does that mean put more titties in games? No, but it doesn't make titties in games wrong either as we kinda asked for them with our money and so far the market hasn't quit asking.
Now, we have a community contributing no money and shouting "quit giving them the titties they pay for" and it has turned into a morality issue. It is easy for a comic writer or a youtube video to grab one leg to stand on and cling to it for dear life as if that solves the issue but no one is going out there and looking at the multiple layers involved in what we all know is a cultural phenomena and we all know that culture has layers upon layers of crap in it.
The most annoying part of this is that the male perspective doesn't even matter and is often glossed over and ignored as bigotry. Oh you don't see a problem? You pig, Anita was right. One leg to stand on clinging for dear life. This whole topic is so absurdly annoying like watching 2 kids fight over a green crayon. Everyone grab the 1 leg you are gonna cling to and hold tight. It's "I saw it first" vs. "I had it first".
