by Kaye Boss

Created on: July 14, 2009   Last Updated: July 18, 2009

Being the loving girlfriend of a young man who loves to play video games; I possess very strong opinions on the usage of female video game characters. While I would love to say that female video game characters are role models to young girls; it is obvious that they are not. Some may argue that female video game characters portray sexiness, confidence and a kick-butt attitude. I diagree. Growing up, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was my idol and though their were sexual scenes in the series, Buffy was in no way a sex symbol on the show; she was a role model. Video game females are hardly in the same category as Buffy, they are closer to figures that you would find in a pornographic film.

Many video games portray females as nothing but sex symbols, and why not? Sex sells, that concept is undeniable. It is pathetic however that a young man cannot sit down and play a video game without sexual images being thrown in his face. It is no wonder that so many women do not want their men to be playing video games; it creates jealousy and competition. "He would rather be looking at her."

I find that depending on the type of video game, there are further levels of the sexual imagery that is being used. Although I have not seen all forms of video games; I will judge based on what I have seen. From my experience, a lot of sexual imagery is used in games that involve racing. One game in particular; I will not name the game because I am in no way, shape or form promoting the game; actually has a section where players can go to a strip club and are offered a lap dance by scantily dressed females. Needless to say, in images such as this women are being exposed in video games as nothing more than eye candy and "images." There is no respect or role model image set out for women in games such as this. The only games that we can really trust for our children and our spouses are cartoon games, and how long before they too are corrupted?

I wish that I were able to work with a video game company in order to help them create female characters because the females that they are portraying belittle women and instill the concept that women are only sexy and appealing to men if they are half-naked. The images of females in video games are unrealistic and create an unattainable competition for women. Video games need to create more role models for women and less of these fantasy women for our men. Not all men want to sit down and watch some distasteful, electronically created woman; especially when his wife is in the room! Hopefully some change can be made to this situation!

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