The gaming enthusiast known as seanmalstrom seems to be on a personal crusade to challenge the stereotype of men as the “logical sex.” He does this mostly by 1) being a dude and 2) writing things that make no sense at all.
In a recent post on his blog Malstrom’s Articles News – no, that’s really what it’s called – Mr. Malstrom attempts to rebut a piece by John Walker of the gaming site Rock Paper Shotgun that challenged misogyny in the gaming world.
It’s not much of a rebuttal, but Mr. Malstrom makes a couple of, er, “arguments” that grabbed my attention. At one point he suggests that if game developers stop populating their games with sexy lady characters with giant boobs and long legs, American men will have no way to exercise their God-given right to ogle sexy ladies with giant boobs and long legs.
There is a great question I have yet to hear anyone in the Game Industry answer. If women cannot be depicted fantastical (big boobs, long legs, slaughters armies single-handedly) in fantasy entertainment, where can men go to see fantasy women? Women have their fantasy men from endless soap-operas, romance novels, chick flicks, and such. Are men not allowed to have fantasies in entertainment?
True, that is a question I’ve yet to see anyone in the game industry answer, largely because most of the people in the game industry, whatever their flaws, live in the real world, and in the real world images of sexy ladies with big boobs are not exactly difficult to come by.
Mr. Malstrom goes on to argue that men in the English-speaking world have the greatest need for sexy lady video game characters, because the women they run into on a regular basis in the real world are all fatties. In the Cold War era, politicians warned about a “Missile Gap” with the Russians. Today, apparently, we and the Russians have a Fatty Gap.
In Russia, it is stunning to see alcoholic bums of Russian men with model quality looks Russian women. In the same way, in the United States it is stunning to see wealthy, hardworking, handsome American men with an American woman who looks like a Troglodyte. Of course, this is just a generalization. The point is that the typical American male has a better worldwide value if they stop thinking the local obese women around them are ‘the normal’. They aren’t the normal worldwide.
If anyone needs fantasy depictions, it would be English speaking men who don’t have access to the worldwide standard.
Mr. Malstrom is also bothered by the suggestion that video game makers should try to make female characters more interesting. You know, with personalities and motivations of their own, and stuff like that. To Mr. Malstrom, there’s nothing more interesting about a women than her body.
What makes a woman interesting to men?
The truth is that interesting women needs youth, big boobs, long legs, long hair, and an hourglass figure to be interesting to men. The more women go away from this, the less interesting they become to men. This is why women when inevitably age, they become more and more invisible to men. It is just Nature at work. Ironically, for men the older they get, the more interesting they can become to women as their earning potential goes up. This balances out how most young men are invisible to women when they are younger. After the age of 25, men tend to become the more interesting ones compared to a woman of equal age. This is why mothers always advised their daughters to ‘snag him when he and she are both young’.
Indeed, Mr. Malstrom argues, men who insist that women be depicted as sex objects are doing women a giant favor.
And we should only hope that women wish to be depicted as sex objects for that is how they become love objects as well. No man wants to marry a women they aren’t attracted to. Last I checked, marriage rates were plummeting in the West. Perhaps journalists should strive for ‘positive change’ by suggesting to women to be depicted more as sex objects so they can attract a man for marriage before they get too old. That would truly help women and make men happier as well.
Mr. Malstrom concludes with a stirring call for women to stop being such fat fatties.
It IS tasteless for using women as sex objects to sell games. Why? It is because real life women should be sex objects to begin with. If that were the case, putting them on a game cover wouldn’t be selling the game. This used to be the case decades ago. Since obesity in women have skyrocketed and attractive women have diminished, putting attractive women on game covers definitely attracts men more than it should.
It IS sad that women can’t find themselves sensibly portrayed in the games they play. It is not because the women in the games are ‘too attractive’, it is because the women playing them tend to be ‘too fat’. It is sad for women that they are fat. It is also sad for men. What John Walker should do is to advise women to get in shape and try to look like the depictions of women that men are attracted to. This would be ‘positive change’ we could all get behind.
I hate to burst your bubble, Mr. Malstrom, but I don’t think there was any era of history in which women looked like this.
It’s probably just as well, as Lara here doesn’t seem to have eyelids and her head isn’t properly connected to her neck.
Note: Thanks to Tatjna for pointing me to Mr. Malstrom’s post!
My god, they are wearing the same outfits, except for dye jobs and accessories.
Jesus.
And who wants to play as a Sears Batgirl when you could have a game where you play as actual Batgirl?
I wanna know why anyone would wear stay-up stockings while superheroing. I mean, they’re either going to be damn tight around the thighs or have silicon strips, which aren’t guaranteed to stay put. Something tells me that superheros of any gender would make their costumes a bit more, shall we say, practical? Comfortable, even?
Kitteh: You put me in mind of a superhero I invented in college, the Flannel Avenger.
I used to have quite the collection of flannel shirts (and bowling shirts, but that was another story — my favorite was one that had been owned by someone named Lou who was on the Bud’s Meat Market team). I like the idea I could have been a superhero, flyin’ the flannel.
The Flannel Avenger sounds like my kind of superhero! 😀
Actually Pierre could be the Flannel Avenger if he got all fierce about something.
Pierre does like wearing flannel pants and slippers around the house. But he never gets fierce about anything.
I invented a regular old hero once: The Worm Ranger. Like The Lone Ranger, but a worm (in case that wasn’t obvious). I made a stop-motion animation film of him back in 6th grade.
Speaking of women’s “sexy” spine contortions…
http://eschergirls.tumblr.com
The entries vary from WTF examples to parodies to redraws/improvements.
I like the Wonder Woman design at the top, that’s very cool. She looks like a human being! In a covering outfit!
::faints::
BritterSweet, the Escher Girls tumblr is a very well known institution here at this blog, and yes, the image of Joker Girl that David chose for this blog post is definitely one worthy of the rubber spines tag. (Go looking for blog threads in the long dim past and you’ll find Ami Angelwings, the proprietor of EG, well represented in them.)
And yes, I’ve finally given up any last-minute resistance and succumbed – nao haz cat avatar! This a depiction of my Devon Rex cat Biscuit, who’s a bit of a doofus; hence the interrobang over his head‽
Random geek (design) advice — outline the interrobang, it just looks like a smudged question mark (ie, outline it all, with a little D inside it so the ? and ! are both visible)…if there are pixels for that /random advice
That aside, D’AWW it’s a kitteh!
Also, oh gods the rubber spines. Idk if I’m just dumb or what, but I don’t think I knew that Ami was behind EG.
In cat things, “I heard you like boxes so I put a box in your box” = totally happened earlier. My empty shoe box fit perfectly in kittehs file box, so now she’s got a subdivided box. Last I saw she was half in each section trying to figure out where to curl up (granted, 5 min before that she was trying to eat my big toe, she has a weird)
Last time I checked NO ONE in the real world is airbrushed or computer designed. Has this jackass even looked at the men surrounding him? Haha! All human beings are flawed. There are fat nasty men AND women! Look around! If he spent his time in actual “real life” he would know. If he doesn’t like the way humans look, then get a blow up doll and quit whining. Go fuck Sonic the Hedgehog.
Xanthe kittyyyyyyyyyy!
Argenti, you’ll have to film this – she sounds like she’s been studying the Way of Maru. 😀
Hey! Love the blog! I nominated you for The Versatile Blogger Award, http://survivinginitaly.wordpress.com/2013/04/12/this-nomination-is-just-the-beginning-of-world-domination-p-s-thank-you/
@B and Cloudiah, my GSD is actually the sweetest dog on the planet in spite of the image he projects. It’s funny because I have a pack of herding dogs (border collies and heelers) as well, and they’re all territorial little shits who just might bite you if they don’t know you (a couple even have a bite history from before I got them–I took them in so they wouldn’t be put down)…yet everyone wants to pet them, and are scared of the shepherd. The only danger from him when left to his own devices is that you might possibly get a cramp in your arm if you give him as much tummy rubbing as he wants. LOL
But he is a very big dog, with very big teeth, and I definitely understand why people are intimidated by him! I just think it’s funny since I know my dogs so well, and know that he’s seriously the safest one of the bunch.
@AK: It’s so odd how that happens! My cat is kinda the opposite – he looks very fluffy and friendly, but really, it’s best to leave him alone. My sister’s dog Janie is very very sweet, but because she is so big and exciteable people who don’t know her are scared of her.
Eh, let’s be careful to not equate the two, k?
*by two I mean fat =/= nasty
I was just at the vet for a little checkup/vaccination renewal, and the front desk area was like a convention of big, gentle dogs. There was the largest Golden Shepherd I’ve ever seen in my life, a Great Dane, some big white thing of unknown pedigree, a beautiful jet black Malinois, and right next to us was a very sweet German Shepherd mix. The Golden was actually bigger than the Great Dane.
Anyway, they were all very sweet. I think I am over my fear of big dogs; I’m just always careful to ask before petting any dog I don’t know.
Great Pyrenees?
“Argenti, you’ll have to film this – she sounds like she’s been studying the Way of Maru. ”
I would, but her preferred activities involve sleeping in awkward positions and biting various parts of me (my elbows are also apparently delicious)
I just checked out the Escher Girls tumblr. It made me cringe. But there were some good pics, too.
It probably did have some Great Pyrenees in it, that big white dog, but the owner said it was a certifiable mutt from a line of certifiable mutts and didn’t look much like either of its parents.
I fear I am taking over the Recent Comments in the sidebar.
I want a big fluffy dog so it can play adorably with my kittens.