Video: The 'Ms. Male' Character

In the fourth entry of Anita Sarkeesian's highly visible "Tropes vs Women in Video Games" series (above), Sarkeesian takes a critical lens to several overlapping themes representing women in games as cosmetic counterparts to men. Dubbed the 'Ms. Male' Character, the video game protagonists, sidekicks and antagonists under examination often begin as feminized versions of male 'default' characters, usually visually aided with gendered signifiers like clothing and makeup. As with all of Sarkeesian's videos, she includes a caveat that there is nothing inherently wrong with a visibly hyper-feminine character in a game -- what is at issue is how pervasive and similar these techniques appear across genres and decades of game design. Sarkeesian ends her video with a look at several positive examples which invert or subvert stereotypical feminization -- and the list includes a few recently released indie games. Take a look. News page image credit: How Not to Suck at Game Design