Early in my career, I was a 3D animator. Because I am female (in a male-dominated, at that time, industry), I was getting a lot of job offers. The money would have been more than I’d ever made. But, I couldn’t create animations that depicted violence. At the time, my son was two. I just didn’t want to be part of building a world and imparting forms of violence and violence as a thing to enjoy, regardless of gender, into the world in which he would be growing up.
If I’d thought far ahead enough to include female violence in the ways you’ve described from these games, definitely would have been a deal-breaker.
Thank you for this analysis. Even though I would surely have been comfortably retired by now, had I chosen that path, after reading this, I can now certainly put that life pivot-choice to rest.
It is really sad, I think, that present U.S. society, cannot think of any useful ways for the young men to “spend their time”, both those who invent, and the vastly larger numbers who constantly “play”, these violent games.
I personally curate a collection of revenge fantasy business ideas that I will never act on. So here's one for the universe, free for the taking:
A video game with a strong, vibrant female hero. Men find her deeply attractive and she is comfortable with her attractiveness. In the game, the player is faced with a series of choices. Will they be her faithful comrade and help her rid the world of misogynist creeps? Or will they join with the misogynist creeps?
It will be SO appealing to first time gamers of a certain male demographic to join the creeps. They seem to be winning! They get to dominate and insult women!
But then our hero takes action. She doesn't just kill the creeps - that would be too easy. (Though I suppose that could be a game setting you turn on, call it the Survivor Revenge Therapy Mode.)
Oh no, killing is too easy. She humiliates them. She tells them how pathetic they are. All the female NPCs (who are rendered in a variety of ages and body types) gather around to witness. (Also, his mother and sisters are there, if he has chosen the unique Family Mode.)
In the end, our heroine gives the player who joined the creeps one last option: join her on the righteous side of fairness and equality for all (where he has the option of getting a really cool game-girlfriend), or choose between several graphic punishments, all of which lead to permanent erectile disfunction.
Ok, maybe I got a little carried away there. But revenge fantasy business ideas might be a topic for the Babblery sometime soon.
thoughtful analysis of a space most women get eyerolled out of before they finish a sentence. that’s exactly why it matters. we are not going to have more women in gaming, in criticism, in these conversations, without making it safe enough for them to show up and be taken seriously.
The sad thing is how numb to violence we, as a society, have become. Therefore in movies, TV shows, and video games it has to be made bigger, bolder, and more intense in order to truly get a reaction out of the consumer. The news is full of violence and suffering, but many people watch while eating dinner and just shake their heads and move on. Violence towards women is always framed by questions that put the blame back on the women. The idea that people love to specifically watch Laura Croft's long, drawn out, and vocal death scenes doesn't surprise me, but it does sicken me. Torture porn just blows my mind. How can any sane person enjoy watching people tortured, watch people suffer, and enjoy the noises that are part of the suffering? It speaks to a sickness in society.
Thank you for pointing out these distinctions. Yet another way in which violence against women is normalized. All of these things must change or society won't change. Art moves people.
There is a reason young men think it is normal to choke a partner during sex. Dave Portnoy was called out on it, a 19 year-old sued him over him surprise-choking her with no consent required. His stock "Bar Stool Sports" dipped for about a week, and his fans unironically called 'stoolies" are rabid as ever.
And the near rape scene is done with a huge, Russian, buff, strongman against skinny, teenage Lara, I fully expected her to get raped after he looks at her with that lustful stare communicating with what is often referred to as an "eyefuck". And then the leg caress telling her what he will do. You'd have to be extremely naive to miss the intention there.
Many people are very sick. Who needs that crap? Blood and gore from a fictional character or a real Ukrainian family killed by Russian bombing in their own home appear to have become content all the same.
I’m against the graphic depiction of violence in movies and video games completely. When people were still associated with farms, they dealt with death. They hunted, they killed animals for food, but having that death be real and visceral meant something. Video games and movies sanitize it. All you have to do it hit a reset button, or watch the next movie. Death doesn’t have a reset or sequel-it is final.
Oh, yes. These are very good points. In a weird way, for me, the close-ups on women suffering, even fictional women or animations of women, is the same phenomenon as the rising rates of violence and extreme acts in porn. It's a fascination with female suffering that is arousing and often consumed in the same way.
I'm not familiar with the game, but if a portion of its audience is there specifically playing for a titillated ritual death, recording it, and sharing it on YouTube, and that has an audience... Then the verdict is clear: creepy fucks(sadistic voyeurism); possibly living in their mom's basement, muttering to themselves, "it puts the lotion on the skin." [shudder]
I think that your “a fucking creep” is valid, it seems that this comment also relates to the game makers.
Your description of representations of women in games may be paralleled in the world of VR and sophisticated aviators. I am no expert but my son is an IT person and sees a lot. There are two areas of potential conflict (one, perhaps with a more positive spin?)
The backdrop? In these virtual worlds anonymous players choose their own avatars.
A larger percentage of these avatars are female, sometimes “exotic”.
It seems to me unlikely that these online feminine avatars are all woman players (that could be a sad misogynistic comment my apologies if my assumption is wrong)
For some it could be males who want to be more feminine (just nice guys, or perhaos safely role playing trans), and who are unable to be this expressive in this sad real world.
The more negative angle is that these folks are playing predators in that virtual world.
I suspect both of the above avatar scenarios are there. Who polices this sort of online space?
I can’t watch the video because I don’t want that in my head. Just here to point out the role of deadly drones in real wars. Humans control those drones, often from across the world, while seated in a comfortable room, in an ergonomically correct chair. They kill real humans, on a screen. It’s not a huge jump from maiming and obliterating pretend humans in a video game, to doing it to real humans in real cities.
What comes after harming Lara Croft in creative ways doesn’t give you the thrill it once did? Do you go looking for real women being harmed, on the Dark Web? Do you have intrusive and confusing thoughts when you see attractive (to you) females in your daily life? What if you are just 13 years old?
If you can’t concentrate on anything over three minutes, my long articles may not be for you. That said I referenced characters from Resident Evil and various other games as well (in fact I included videos for some of these games).
I also find it hard to believe that you can’t concentrate for more than 3 minutes when your post in response was 9 paragraphs long and over 600 words. Unless you wrote it with AI, I am sure it took more than 3 minutes to write.
In final, my post was not meant to be a peer reviewed academic article. My statement that enjoying a female character making sex noises while she’s impaled on a spike make someone a creep stands and if you don’t like my analysis of the situation, that’s a YOU problem. My entire point is that framing of violence against women is different in that it is sexualizied and fetishized in a way that male death and violence is not. Not that male characters aren’t brutalized, but that they aren’t sexualized while it happens.
Early in my career, I was a 3D animator. Because I am female (in a male-dominated, at that time, industry), I was getting a lot of job offers. The money would have been more than I’d ever made. But, I couldn’t create animations that depicted violence. At the time, my son was two. I just didn’t want to be part of building a world and imparting forms of violence and violence as a thing to enjoy, regardless of gender, into the world in which he would be growing up.
If I’d thought far ahead enough to include female violence in the ways you’ve described from these games, definitely would have been a deal-breaker.
Thank you for this analysis. Even though I would surely have been comfortably retired by now, had I chosen that path, after reading this, I can now certainly put that life pivot-choice to rest.
It is really sad, I think, that present U.S. society, cannot think of any useful ways for the young men to “spend their time”, both those who invent, and the vastly larger numbers who constantly “play”, these violent games.
Agreed! How about some sports where everyone gets to play?
I personally curate a collection of revenge fantasy business ideas that I will never act on. So here's one for the universe, free for the taking:
A video game with a strong, vibrant female hero. Men find her deeply attractive and she is comfortable with her attractiveness. In the game, the player is faced with a series of choices. Will they be her faithful comrade and help her rid the world of misogynist creeps? Or will they join with the misogynist creeps?
It will be SO appealing to first time gamers of a certain male demographic to join the creeps. They seem to be winning! They get to dominate and insult women!
But then our hero takes action. She doesn't just kill the creeps - that would be too easy. (Though I suppose that could be a game setting you turn on, call it the Survivor Revenge Therapy Mode.)
Oh no, killing is too easy. She humiliates them. She tells them how pathetic they are. All the female NPCs (who are rendered in a variety of ages and body types) gather around to witness. (Also, his mother and sisters are there, if he has chosen the unique Family Mode.)
In the end, our heroine gives the player who joined the creeps one last option: join her on the righteous side of fairness and equality for all (where he has the option of getting a really cool game-girlfriend), or choose between several graphic punishments, all of which lead to permanent erectile disfunction.
Ok, maybe I got a little carried away there. But revenge fantasy business ideas might be a topic for the Babblery sometime soon.
thoughtful analysis of a space most women get eyerolled out of before they finish a sentence. that’s exactly why it matters. we are not going to have more women in gaming, in criticism, in these conversations, without making it safe enough for them to show up and be taken seriously.
The sad thing is how numb to violence we, as a society, have become. Therefore in movies, TV shows, and video games it has to be made bigger, bolder, and more intense in order to truly get a reaction out of the consumer. The news is full of violence and suffering, but many people watch while eating dinner and just shake their heads and move on. Violence towards women is always framed by questions that put the blame back on the women. The idea that people love to specifically watch Laura Croft's long, drawn out, and vocal death scenes doesn't surprise me, but it does sicken me. Torture porn just blows my mind. How can any sane person enjoy watching people tortured, watch people suffer, and enjoy the noises that are part of the suffering? It speaks to a sickness in society.
Thank you for pointing out these distinctions. Yet another way in which violence against women is normalized. All of these things must change or society won't change. Art moves people.
That’s because most men sexualize women’s suffering. They actually get off of it and it’s so sick.
There is a reason young men think it is normal to choke a partner during sex. Dave Portnoy was called out on it, a 19 year-old sued him over him surprise-choking her with no consent required. His stock "Bar Stool Sports" dipped for about a week, and his fans unironically called 'stoolies" are rabid as ever.
And the near rape scene is done with a huge, Russian, buff, strongman against skinny, teenage Lara, I fully expected her to get raped after he looks at her with that lustful stare communicating with what is often referred to as an "eyefuck". And then the leg caress telling her what he will do. You'd have to be extremely naive to miss the intention there.
Many people are very sick. Who needs that crap? Blood and gore from a fictional character or a real Ukrainian family killed by Russian bombing in their own home appear to have become content all the same.
I’m against the graphic depiction of violence in movies and video games completely. When people were still associated with farms, they dealt with death. They hunted, they killed animals for food, but having that death be real and visceral meant something. Video games and movies sanitize it. All you have to do it hit a reset button, or watch the next movie. Death doesn’t have a reset or sequel-it is final.
Oh, yes. These are very good points. In a weird way, for me, the close-ups on women suffering, even fictional women or animations of women, is the same phenomenon as the rising rates of violence and extreme acts in porn. It's a fascination with female suffering that is arousing and often consumed in the same way.
I'm not familiar with the game, but if a portion of its audience is there specifically playing for a titillated ritual death, recording it, and sharing it on YouTube, and that has an audience... Then the verdict is clear: creepy fucks(sadistic voyeurism); possibly living in their mom's basement, muttering to themselves, "it puts the lotion on the skin." [shudder]
I think that your “a fucking creep” is valid, it seems that this comment also relates to the game makers.
Your description of representations of women in games may be paralleled in the world of VR and sophisticated aviators. I am no expert but my son is an IT person and sees a lot. There are two areas of potential conflict (one, perhaps with a more positive spin?)
The backdrop? In these virtual worlds anonymous players choose their own avatars.
A larger percentage of these avatars are female, sometimes “exotic”.
It seems to me unlikely that these online feminine avatars are all woman players (that could be a sad misogynistic comment my apologies if my assumption is wrong)
For some it could be males who want to be more feminine (just nice guys, or perhaos safely role playing trans), and who are unable to be this expressive in this sad real world.
The more negative angle is that these folks are playing predators in that virtual world.
I suspect both of the above avatar scenarios are there. Who polices this sort of online space?
I can’t watch the video because I don’t want that in my head. Just here to point out the role of deadly drones in real wars. Humans control those drones, often from across the world, while seated in a comfortable room, in an ergonomically correct chair. They kill real humans, on a screen. It’s not a huge jump from maiming and obliterating pretend humans in a video game, to doing it to real humans in real cities.
What comes after harming Lara Croft in creative ways doesn’t give you the thrill it once did? Do you go looking for real women being harmed, on the Dark Web? Do you have intrusive and confusing thoughts when you see attractive (to you) females in your daily life? What if you are just 13 years old?
I don’t think you even read my whole article since you mention several male characters as being left out when I SPECIFICALLY mentioned them.
If you can’t concentrate on anything over three minutes, my long articles may not be for you. That said I referenced characters from Resident Evil and various other games as well (in fact I included videos for some of these games).
I also find it hard to believe that you can’t concentrate for more than 3 minutes when your post in response was 9 paragraphs long and over 600 words. Unless you wrote it with AI, I am sure it took more than 3 minutes to write.
In final, my post was not meant to be a peer reviewed academic article. My statement that enjoying a female character making sex noises while she’s impaled on a spike make someone a creep stands and if you don’t like my analysis of the situation, that’s a YOU problem. My entire point is that framing of violence against women is different in that it is sexualizied and fetishized in a way that male death and violence is not. Not that male characters aren’t brutalized, but that they aren’t sexualized while it happens.