Weekly Wind Up: Is Street Fighter V Sexist?

Poli Games Hosts, Dan and Joe talk about the upcoming Destiny sequel, Fallout 4 DLC Quantum Break PC controversy, and we ask the question is Street Fighter V sexist?

[kotaku77]

What's wrong with bein' sexy?

[bobtheimpaler]

People who hate themselves and feel the need to project their own problems on games (whilst disregarding other forms of much more mainstream forms of entertainment) may have a problem with it.

[Poli_Games]

Well, apparently I loath myself >;). Lol You caught me! I believe we talk about other mainstream forms of entertainment as well in the podcast. :D

[bobtheimpaler]

It's works of fiction. The creators don't owe you anything. The characters don't need to represent anyone.

[PoSTedUP]

everything... to the unsexy, it seems. :x. which just goes to show how small ppl are. or because most games are made by men, and they depict girls how 99% of girls wish they were and try to be. if most games were made by girls, theyd prob come out the same bc sex sells and their target would be the male audience; except there would be no complaining bc the universal consensus would be that a girl designed a girl that way, and that is ok. bc girls cant be sexist against themselves... right? or are they already? both men and women are equally obsessed with female sexuality, just in different ways. or the same, just in different perspectives.

[Poli_Games]

Your right! Ever since women took over head spots of games like Halo, Uncharted, Splinter Cell, and the new Tomb Raider. I saw a whole lot more penis bulge animation. Let me tell you this! I'll get to the bottom of this woman over sexualizing men controversy as soon as I can!

[PoSTedUP]

...? i meant "come out the same" as in "come out the same"... as in girls would still make Women sexy, turning out the same as they are now in games, bc sex sells and the target is the male audience. not: women making games that give guys a penis buldge. <--- thats not what i said. but the complete opposite, which you pointed out, and would prob have a negitive effect on games bc the target audiance would be bugged out a little, or maybe it wouldnt have an effect at all, which is why it doesnt happen. but if all girls in games were unattractive, flatchested, no ass etc. or masculine with muscles, the games wouldnt be nearly as appealing. just like most of hollywood is attractive, big tits nice bodies etc. it sells. and women dont complain bc its women flaunting their own bodies, you cant call sexism on that. but they do it themselves. but if a guy creates a game with an attractive women, big boobs, big ass, pretty face and nice body, just like they are in hollywood, or close, its sexist... no its not. its a double standard, nonsensical "feminism", low selfesteem and a crave for attention.

if women called "sexism" in the real world in person as much as they do on the internet, it would be weird, annoying, and they wouldnt find a spouse with a higher IQ than 50 points.

[salazarnaruto52]

The answer is no

[bobtheimpaler]

No. I have the game and there is nothing that shows the women as being mistreated for being women. If anything the fact that they kick butt whilst looking confident and sexy while doing it shows that they are not only strong, but embrace their femininity.

It is just a work of fiction with an eclectic cast of colourful and larger than life characters. Anything a player sees and interprets beyond that is their own damn problem.

[Perjoss]

One thing I've noticed about life on earth over the last few years is that people are as offended as they want to be.

[ShaunCameron]

In other words, they just wanna be treated like children. Coddled and protected from any and everything that offends them in the world.

[DragonKnight]

@Perjoss: Truth is, that's always been true only today it's more publicized. Offense is a choice yet so many think it's a reaction.

[Jag-T1000]

Why don't you ask all the half naked singers and artist that question. All they want to do is show their body every time they get. There are only a handful that get my respect.

[Poli_Games]

Again I believe we talk about that on the episode.

[bobtheimpaler]

Sex does sell. Why? It's science. That's the way we're wired. We are biologically programmed to want to have sex not only for reproduction, but fun.

There are scientific reasons why people desire attractive partners with symetrical facial features. Instinctively we are drawn to such characteristics because they're a sign of good health and enable us to create strong offspring. Stop trying to think that the human race isn't an animal at the end of the day. Anything else is a delusion held by religious people and modern feminists polluting the realm of science and aetheism by latching onto this misplaced idea on how important our species is in this universe.

Street fighter V has no shortage of muscly and conveniently groomed men. And there are no shortage of romantic comedies portraying some unrealistic ideal of the woman's perfect man or boy toy.

I encourage women to enter the industry and create content rather than trying to take content away, by trying to get men to do things for them, especially when men aren't impeding them from doing so.

It's far easier to be a critic than to pour years of blood sweat and tears into a risky venture and see through to its success or failure.

[exkalibur97]

another clickbait article on the internet, who could of guessed?

[Poli_Games]

Hmmmm! Another click baity comment about "click baity articles", hmm this is to tempting to pass up!

[slappy508]

I must admit I found the length of the podcast a bit too much (over an hour) but that may be just me because I have ADHD so sitting still for that long to listen through everything is a bit too intimidating for me liking :p
I digress, to answer the question of the headline no I don't think it is sexist. Many women choose to dress that way and that is fine because that is their choice.This constant criticism by the media that girls in entertainment wearing little clothing is sexist kinda conveys the idea that it's not okay to dress provocatively which kinda the defeats the object of gender equality, each gender having equal rights to their personal freedom.I would think though that if in the story a female fighter was forced by a male fighter to dress scantily clad before she can enter a tournament would be a sexist message. However the assumption here is that that's how the characters chose to dress.I don't see the problem having kick ass female characters even if they are wearing revealing clothing

[Poli_Games]

Thank you! For sharing your opinion! Giving out good information, rather then the comments that I hate myself or something to that effect. You made logical sense, and that is what I was asking for when writing up this title. I may share a different view than you, but at least we can be civil about it!

[Poli_Games]

I am feeling the love! :D

[2pacalypsenow]

Man these articles are stupid,didnt even bother clicking on the article, why don't you put a picture of how the man are portrayed in this game?

[exkalibur97]

because that wont get angry nerds to click on the article

[radagem]

Stopped listening when they described Cammy as R. Mika. smh.

[DoubleTTB22]

Just because they are made to look good doesn't mean that they are objectified ( at least not in the actually meaningful sense in which they are to be considered objects instead of people). Look at an actually attractive person in real life who dresses provocatively. Even if you think that they are attractive does that make you entirely incapable of viewing them as human beings. Of course not. That is complete and utter nonsense. Your not less of a person just because people like the way you look. It isn't like naked people are less than human or anything. Heck a real person doesn't even necessarily have "realistic" proportions if there plastic surgeon is bad enough (or they just happen to be born with boobs the size of their head) yet I see no reason why this necessitates that the observer take something from them in terms of humanity.

On a side note, while you can view a character as a person or an object if you want (regardless of their appearance), this isn't really much of a problem. They are fictional characters. By their very nature they are literally just objects that we created for our own amusement. This is why mowing down legions of often male enemies (naked or otherwise) doesn't really matter; because ultimately they are about as human as bowling pins if you want them to be. Even if an Author attempts to give a character depth, you are under no real obligation to take them seriously. If the only part of a fictional character you cared about was there breasts or rock hard abs and you cared nothing for anything else they said or did, or their happiness or well-being then oh well. It isn't a crime to just not care about the depth of a particular work of fiction. And this says nothing about how you view actual people. Anymore than your ability to objectify all of the characters that you mercilessly kill says anything about how you actually interact with others.

[DoubleTTB22]

On another side note the concept of objectification is often overrated/ overused. If an observer sees a scantily clad girl that they don't know and don't particularly want to know, but find them sexually attractive, then in the eyes of the observer their only real use to them is their physical appearance in this one instance. However this isn't very different from having a waiter that you don't know and don't particularly want to know, but care about their ability to take orders and transport food, than this person is little more than a food carrying object in your eyes in this particular instance. If you watch a strong man competition than, you are focused on the physical prowess of the competitors rather than who they are as people, reducing them to little more than than load carrying objects. If you listen to a musician, but don't investigate their life further beyond that, then this musician is pretty much just a pretty noise creating object to you.

We don't and really can't afford to care about the life stories of every single person that we meet in every instance. This is the form of objectification that feminists tend to rail against, however this form is ultimately pretty meaningless. It is important to fight against the idea that one gender is less than the other or that one gender is a mere object but that isn't what we are seeing here. Liking how someone looks isn't the same as consciously (or even unconsciously) considering either them or their gender to be just an object. Enjoying (or in the case of the service/entertainment industry benefiting) from just one aspect of someones being isn't the same as thinking that they aren't real people, and that this one aspect is all that they are.

[DoubleTTB22]

Finally you said something about whether or not someone would want their kids to dress this way. Well for one thing if a girl wanted to dress this way of their own free will because they want to enjoy the social benefits that come from it (or for whatever other reason), and you stopped them, if anything you would be the sexist for attempting to take away their free will. And even that is a stretch. There are plenty of people who don't want their kids to go outside just because they haven't combed their hair properly but, I doubt you would consider that to be sexism. Actually People tend not to want their sons to dress provocatively either so that wouldn't even be a gender exclusive thing. Honestly it just seems like a pretty poor example. I'm not even sure what it is saying exactly. Whether or not a parent would allow something has very little to do with whether or not a single gender is being looked down upon.

On the note of sexism however, thinking that girls are attractive and wanting to highlight this, isn't the same as looking down on the opposite gender. If anything it would be putting the opposite gender on a pedestal. Unless for some reason you think that it is an insult to be told that you look nice. Or an insult to be told that the developer happens to enjoy looking at certain members of your gender with certain traits. I have never seen anyone vilify a girl as a misandrist for happening to like tall guys with curly hair so I don't see why you would be a misogynist for simply having the sexual preferences that you have.

PS: Funny story, apparently my copy of Google doesn't recognize the word "misandrist", and instead marked it in red in this very comment before I manually added it to the dictionary while finding no problem with the word "misogynist" whatsoever. Now that a good example of sexism. jk

[DoubleTTB22]

PSS: People tend not to want their sons to dress provocatively either (ie. Ryu with his shirt off to show off his six pack, Zangief in his underwear, Vega with his V neck that goes down to his abs)