Sexist portrayals of women? What about men?

[Salodin]

Velma is a sexy fucking vixen, you take that back Bane!

[BaneTheBrawler]

yeah but she wears a turtleneck and is known for her brainpower. so... nope.

[ronin sparthos]

here's my question. I would like someone to come up with a completely unsexualized mega realistic female character that doesn't fit into a trope/box/token role. I'd like to know what that looks like.

Why would we? The argument is generally that women are marginalized into rather unimportant characters there to wiggle their tits and be eyecandy. You can do sexualization right and I think Mass Effect was able deliver a game with a solid female character that was also pretty hot.

The two ain't mutually exclusive.

But for sake of playing this game: Agent Scully.

[Lucavi]

Nice helmet though

Exactly. Should have been 3 bears, and we've argued that in my FC since it came out.

[ronin sparthos]

'dat face though. lol

[Lucavi]

Makes it all worthwhile. <3

[Xantavia]

yeah but she wears a turtleneck and is known for her brainpower. so... nope.

To add fuel to the fire.
Register to see the NSFW content

[ronin sparthos]

Jinkies!

I do say I approve.

[Cantih]

here's my question. I would like someone to come up with a completely unsexualized mega realistic female character that doesn't fit into a trope/box/token role. I'd like to know what that looks like.

Spoiler: show

[Koul]

Ripley is a freakin badass. Sarah Connor too.

[RKenshin]

Didn't we already go over power fantasy vs. sexualization?

Men create shows about other men and what they perceive to be the ideal. Batman is literally a male power fantasy at it's apex - rich, gets all the hot women, nigh invincible, trusty sidekick and has an answer to everything. As a male you want to be Bruce Wayne because he's everything you'd ever want to be. Modern day Hercules and the like.

Unrealistic expectations aside, there is generally a healthy variety of characters for males to choose from in media and most of them don't need to be beefcakes though such a thing is generally appreciated. While Cap and Spidey are at physical peak they also have genius level intellect, a bevy of hot babes and everything a male would want alongside challenges for added realism. You may not become a beefcake but you can become a scientist, a newspaper delivery boy or date a redhead.

(Juries out on a team up with the X-Men though but we can't always get what we want.)

Look at the female perspective of things. Most females solely exist in media to be a trophy or goal for the male protagonist to accomplish. Most fall into very pigeonholed archetypes that we've all come to expect like a damsel to rescue, feisty lady to tame, complete ditz of no use but to complain or a walking baby oven. This is most often paired with a focus on appearance which creates a lopsided image of women in media. It also drives home an idea that women are objects, macguffins and/or tools bereft of their own desires.

We also tend to internalize our media and project it out as reality. See enough shows about women being idiot damsels without a filter and you *will* think women are like that. Worse when women accept that stuff as normal. If James Doohan could inspire a whole generation of engineers then imagine how many women have been inspired by *insert walking tits on a stick here*.

Taking it back to men, you get many of the same complaints from blacks/hispanics/asian men about how they're portrayed in media and how damaging that is to people who internalize it.

Why not compare the shows created for men to the shows created for women then? Or heck, how about shows created for the general audience?

Bit silly to only look at comic book/hero/action movies and how they portray women as the only point of comparison here, particularly since that's actually an extreme. The average TV show/movie with close to a 50/50 balance in the audience is more likely to be a drama, and most dramas are pretty fair in representing both men and women in equally desirable, sexual, and levels of 'unrealistic' standards to both the male and female audiences.

Pointing to comic book movies in particular and being like "LOOK AT ALL THIS FEMALE SEXISM THAT IS EVERYWHERE IN ENTERTAINMENT" is like pointing at daytime soap operas/romance movies in particular and being like "LOOK AT ALL THIS MALE SEXISM THAT IS EVERYWHERE IN ENTERTAINMENT." (where men are typically casted with perfect bodies and 10/10 looks, and portrayed as assbag jerkholes (often even abusive) that need to be rescued/trained/stabilized/completed by a woman... or one of the men will just lose their great woman, and then live miserable ever after as the woman finds an even better one)

[GoggleHead]

How comfortable are you with more men in thongs appearing in your media?

Honestly not terribly comfortable with it appearing in my media. Having it appear it media that targets a demographic that wants it? Sure, go nuts. There ought to be beefcake aplenty to balance out all the cheesecake if there's a market for it. Let's be honest though, the cheesecake is there because it targets males' most primal instincts that have been ingrained for eons at a biological level. If you want to go overboard on sex appeal go for it, but be conscious of the choice being made. If there's a market for serving up gratuitous beefcake for the ladies then go ahead and saturate it just as much as it has been for men. If the goal is to market your media to both men and women however, you need to dial back the sex appeal or at least equalize it.

I feel like every time this sort of discussion comes up everyone gets on a moral high horse and forgets how much of this is simply making use of the most effective marketing tactic in the history of the world. Sex sells.

[Qalbert]

only loosely related, but I lol'd
http://a.pomf.se/ixzifq.JPG

[Voyage1970]

only loosely related, but I lol'd
http://a.pomf.se/ixzifq.JPG

Reminds me of the Azure Striker GunVOLT boxart for NA being censored to not show the main characters midriff and removed his braided ponytail cause MANLY MEN. On the other hand the villain with a literal giant purple dong spike was left in just fine.

[BaneTheBrawler]

giant purple dongs are manly as hell