Our friends over at GuildMag brings up a great topic for discussion. Kudos to LittleBoat for posting this.
Very well thought out and deep article in my opinion. It held my attention like I was reading a favorite book of mine.
Here is a snippet from the article...
Guild Wars 2 Stratics always are here to support all sites related to the Guild Wars 2 community.
This is a great read and please go visit the link.
What the Skimpy-Armor Debate Misses | GuildMag | Guild Wars & Guild Wars 2 Fansite: Magazine, Podcast, Editorials and more
GuildMag site: GuildMag | Guild Wars & Guild Wars 2 Fansite: Magazine, Podcast, Editorials and more
Guildmag Twitter: @GuildMag
For the click link impaired:
What the Skimpy-Armor Debate Misses
Posted by LittleBoat on February 6, 2012
Very well thought out and deep article in my opinion. It held my attention like I was reading a favorite book of mine.
Here is a snippet from the article...
LittleBoat and GuildMag we thank you for the article and the time you all put into it. Keep up the good work.
Guild Wars 2 Stratics always are here to support all sites related to the Guild Wars 2 community.
This is a great read and please go visit the link.
What the Skimpy-Armor Debate Misses | GuildMag | Guild Wars & Guild Wars 2 Fansite: Magazine, Podcast, Editorials and more
GuildMag site: GuildMag | Guild Wars & Guild Wars 2 Fansite: Magazine, Podcast, Editorials and more
Guildmag Twitter: @GuildMag
For the click link impaired:
What the Skimpy-Armor Debate Misses
Posted by LittleBoat on February 6, 2012
Hey remember the sylvari? They have genders. That’s weird. I mean, I know their story gives a reason for their having genders, and I’m happy with the sylvari lore because it shows that ArenaNet is conscious of how odd it is that their plant race has breasts and beards. They made a bold move simply by doing so—by explaining how their form was inspired by the human form when the Pale Tree created the sylvari—and I don’t hesitate to say that the sylvari are more interesting for their connection to humans.
But it doesn’t fully explain why they have those two distinct shapes and sets of features, why a thick line still divides the female-coded sylvari from the male-coded sylvari. As I said, ArenaNet worked to accommodate and explain their dimorphism—why is it there in the first place?
I bring this up because there’s a lot of sexism in the world of videogames, just like everywhere else in the world. It’s obvious in places and invisible in others; it informs what we see and how we see it. Even a company like ArenaNet, who continually show themselves to be progressive and conscious of their place in a larger cultural context, operates within this context and can’t escape it. They do a lot of things right in both Guild Wars games: the sylvari’s sexuality, the gender dimorphism of the non-human races, the diversity of clothing options for characters, the focus on people of color in designing Elona (especially) and Cantha, and the overall message of diversity in the games, to name a couple. While there are aspects I would criticize (the running animations for female characters in GW1 come immediately to mind), they are easily overshadowed by the praise I have for ArenaNet.
And yet (wait for it)… skimpy armor. Despite what you’re likely to read in discussions on the topic, it’s an important issue. It’s important as a reminder of the culture we live in, which often reduces women to sexual objects. First things first, however, ArenaNet made a statement long ago on how they approach the issue: “We’ve always intended to create outfits for male and female characters that are appealing and attractive without making our players feel uncomfortable about what their character or other player-characters are wearing.” I admire that they’ve gone as far as making their aims clear and it’s more than I expect to see from most developers.
Yet, the issue is so much bigger than whether male characters wear equally skimpy clothing or whether Transmutation Stones give the player more freedom to choose. When the topic comes up in forums and comment threads, the discussion always turns to the same dismissive cliches to explain why it’s not an issue: (a) “The men are just as sexualized”; (b) “I’m a woman and I don’t have a problem with it”; (c) “You can choose not to wear it / You can go play something else if you don’t like it”; and last but not the least loathsome, (d) “It’s just a game.”
All of these are excuses for avoiding discussing the greater issues of sexism, and they’re all problematic on their own. (a) Sexualized men, because of their position of power in gender dynamics, are not objectified the way women are—they’re idealized. (b) Women are in fact not a monolith, and anecdotes about women not bothered by sexism do nothing to address the structures of inequality among genders. (c) It takes a certain amount of privilege to be able to simply ignore these problems, and suggesting that people who refuse to put up with it go somewhere else only further marginalizes them. And finally (d), Games are a part of life, and equality and justice matter in life—if these don’t add up for you then you’re not taking either seriously enough.
Back to the sylvari, and a how a tenet of feminism applies to them: gender precedes sex. Take a look at what influences their physiology: In-game, there is Ronan’s tribe, the humans on which the sylvari are based. Then there’s the Pale Tree’s interpretation of these human forms; the Tree is an artist using the materials at its disposal. On the meta level, there’s Kristen Perry and the other artists at ArenaNet. And then there is the cultural context that influences their how they created the sylvari, and even Ronan’s tribe. For a single sylvari, her physiology isn’t limited only to how the Pale Tree physically created her, there are these unseen influences that define her as a “female” sylvari, and would likely affect how the humans in-game would see her.
Gender precedes sex (check out Gender Trouble by Judith Butler). The common, mistaken notion is that humans have two distinct sexes and our gender roles are applied on top of those. But it’s our gender constructions that determine how we view ourselves biologically. They tell us there are only two combinations of X and Y chromosomes, when in fact there are other combinations that are not uncommon. We apply these gender constructions to people as soon as they’re born, assigning sexes and the appropriate colors to babies. Later on in life, we tell them that women act and look this way while men act and look another way.
And when women are provided as eye candy in a videogame, these gender constructions tell us that it’s normal. It sends a message, sometimes consciously and always subconsciously, that women are primarily sex objects. And to anyone who objects, it says “this is not a place for you.” Which is why, when the topic surfaces, people regurgitate excuses for avoiding talking about these problems. They try to ignore that it’s a problem, despite the fact that it’s noteworthy for women to simply be portrayed in non-skimpy armor. They want to believe games are exempt from other parts of life. They don’t want to examine how they are complicit in the structures of inequality throughout the world—and we all are complicit.
This article was the first in a new series here at GuildMag. Each Monday, LittleBoat will offer commentary on the world of Guild Wars. Stop by each week and take part in the discussion!