SC and sexism

[The Oracle]

Okay, so I go strolling through the website 'Join the Dominion' and find one of the unlocked content boxes to be a picture of the new SC2 character, Dr. Ariel Hanson.  In this picture, she is drawn to look like a slut, with the whole 'sick note' innuendo and not so subtle 'rough' examination subtitle at the bottom. 

http://us.media.blizzard.com/starcraft2/dominion/unlockables/dr-hanson.jpg



At a BlizzCon 1 or 2 years back, there was a statue of the Ghost character, Nova which was modeled also to look like a slut.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/26/58372288_70e4df5415.jpg

**To find the image of the statue, I typed the following search phrase into my search engine -- "Nova Slut" and *poof*



In the original StarCraft: Broodwar, the medic's 'irritated' voice samples included "Where does it hurt?" but in a skanky way.


In some Blizzard made art renderings of Infested Kerrigan, she has high heels blended into her infested outfit.

http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080517080550/starcraft/images/2/2a/InfestedSarahKerrigan_SC2_Cncpt1.jpg

**************************************************
So here's my question to you guys (and gals if there are gals floating around the forum); do you agree with me that women are portrayed as 'objects' in StarCraft?  And if so, do you like it?

[WB]

I think women are portrayed as objects in most media. I also think men are portrayed as objects.

You just don't notice the second part because you like tits.

[Krazy]

It's funny, because Kerrigan pre-infestation is actually a very commercial, confident, P.C. character.  Apparently turning zerg made her sluttier (also gave her a foul mouth). 

I don't think the statue of Nova was all that slutty, although her hair style was a bit inappropriate.  In game I was hoping she'd be badass, alas we'll never know. 

Also, this is just me, but I don't see a doctor putting on the green glove as all that sexy... instead it makes me a little queasy.  What exactly is sexy about what she is going to do with that glove?

You know what is sexism and also pissed me off for a decade?  Not having a hero medic unit in brood wars.  Every fucking campaign with a romance interest had to use fucking regular Kerrigan.  I kept trying to use the medic as a hero/romance interest, but it always ended up being a huge PITA.  And the dropship lacks sex appeal and ALSO doesn't have a hero equivalent.  So if you're keeping track:
Hero Kerrigan has no regular unit equivalent.
Dropship has no hero.
Medic has no hero.
Valkyrie has no hero.

So basically every female sprite has no "pair." 

AND the "Raszagal" illegal sprite (in addition to being glitchy / having upgrades shared with regular corsair) has no voice acting part.

^^Sexism or not, all that was a serious headache for campaigning.  And why is it like that?  Science vessel has a hero equivalent, why doesn't the medic?  I know the Devourer and Corsair have no (legal/standard) hero equivalent, but they *should* (Kukulza: Devourer, why is that so hard?). 

I bet SC:BW campaigns would have had 10x as many love triangles if they'd been a second hero female sprite that didn't require modding. 

Also, for modding, it's kinda tricky making a good female protoss voice, and it's even harder to edit a male voice to sound like a human female.

[IskatuMesk]

I think women are portrayed as objects in most media. I also think men are portrayed as objects.

You just don't notice the second part because you like tits.

Yep. Sex sells bro. That's the way things are.

[The Oracle]

Good female protoss voices aren't entirely uncommon, I attached a couple

And as for the glove, well, I'm not going to go there.

[thebrowncloud]

Who says sluts can't be badass? I think you are discriminating against the trashy population, Oracle.

In all seriousness, though, the images you described are for various purposes. I shall start with the first you listed.

The image of Dr. Hanson is part of a propaganda campaign that Blizzard is running, They have several other pieces like it of varying topics and they are all intended to be outlandish, ridiculous, and, in many cases, humorous. All of the pieces on the site are placed there for inspiration in the propaganda contest. Why? Because it's silly and it's fun.

I don't really see anything all that scandalous about this piece. It's a statue of Nova. She looks like she just got finished doing a mission. Her hair is messed up. Have you seen a girl come back from a workout before? That's a common hairstyle to be sporting. My immediate thoughts are not "Physical activity?! You whore!" but more like "That's how you fight obesity." The skin-tight suit is standard issue for ghosts. Even the dudes wear them. Even portrayals of special ops in other, more realistic games like Modern Warfare or S.O.C.O.M. have skin-tight suits. The suits could even translate into why the hair is messed up. Ghosts often wear masks with their ensemble that hug their whole head. Like so:
[imgwh 300x816]http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2 ... _Game1.jpg[/imgwh] Take that off an your hair wouldn't look so pretty underneath either.

Female doctors working with male patients has always had a sexual air about it. Part of being a dude is having a doctor inspect the goods. Nine times out of ten, when a girl is handling the goods, it's sexual. I will admit that the medic was a little dirty in her speech, but Blizzard is no stranger to sexual innuendo. It's all in good fun, though. Remember kids: the Night Elf Archer in WarCraft 3 wants a BOW string. BOW.

Those are stilettos on Kerrigan's feet. Stilettos might as well be knives. You could stab a guy in the kidney pretty easily with one good kick from those things. My mouse pad is, in fact, a picutre of Kerrigan trying to stab Zeratul with one of those very stilettos. This picture, actually:
[imgwh 640x480]http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2 ... 2_Art1.jpg[/imgwh] Consider it another weapon in her arsenal, not a fashion statement. Zerg don't do fashion.

To answer your actual question, though, I don't see anything wrong with it. It's entertainment. Ever seen a James Bond film? A comedy? A Disney movie? It's everywhere!














BOW string.

[AA7Dragoon]

Horner makes me horny.

[WB]

AA7 wants to go Top vs Bottom with Matt Horner.

Few will truly understand the joke there.

[IskatuMesk]

Hesohorner

[WB]

no, MEsohorner

[IskatuMesk]

yousohorner

[Krazy]

AA7 wants to go Top vs Bottom with Matt Horner.

Few will truly understand the joke there.

Who would NOT get that?

[Marco]

Not to mention the proportions of the Night Elves, Blood Elves, and Humans in all the girls both in-game and in any sort of artistically setting in WoW.  I'm surprised to see someone complaining about this though.  They're right when they say it's the guys too.  Every guy is basically a muscle ridden huge guy, not that all girls find that sexy, but still.  It just shows that the portrayal of humans in the visual sense is very one dimensional as far as the Blizzard artist is concerned.

Although still, I have to admit my own prejudice.  If there were 6 pretty females and 6 ugly females to choose from as heroes for my campaigns, chances are my heroes would be attached to the pretty faces.  Just as its the same in real life.  If you had to choose without actually knowing any of the girls personally, chances are, you'd go with the pretty ones first.  I don't think it says anything bad about the person to prefer the pretty person though.  Of course, I have a friend in real life who is probably a 4 as far as guys go, and he only goes after pretty girls.  He doesn't date all that much, sometimes years at a time before he finds someone.  And even then, he doesn't have the personality needed to hang on to a 7+.  I dare say its a tragedy, but then again, I don't know how much importance he places on not being lonely, so how can I possibly judge what is important to him?

Sex and being sexy is something we sometimes place way too much importance on.  Sex is the natural way of feeling as good as the human being perceptibly can and so everyone goes after it, often at the cost of other things which can also be just as good or better in their own way.  It's all about how you perceive the world though.  Personally, Oracle, I don't think it's anything to get upset or raise a red flag about.  It's just human nature shining through again, and all of these 'women' are drawings and models anyway.  They might encourage some guys to objectify women.  If women don't want that, they should show it by staying away from those kinds of guys.  What often happens though is girls get with them anyway and then try to rationalize it in some sort of victim mentality or say, 'but every guy is like that now', but in truth, the way we perceive things is entirely our choice. 

[Xenon]

Why is drawing attention to an attractive shape always conflated with being slutty? The first image and some of the voice clips are deliberately suggestive, but the rest... is there no room for any other response? Is this kind of imagery always to provoke disrespect of the subject?

Unlike real life, artists have a choice as to whether their characters have aesthetic appeal or not (though it may end up being one-dimensional as Desler described). There may also be double standards for some fictional races. However, other than the possibility of people erroneously carrying unrealistic standards and "beauty == good, ugly == evil" correlations over into real life, I don't see why attractive characters in and of themselves are degrading.

I can only speak for the way I see things, and in that way I'm biased, but to me the image of an attractive female promotes emotional connection, which can be an important element in a story or other forms of expression.

For example, in this image her non-suggestive smile makes me feel happiness (at least it looks like a smile to me)
And this image pokes my protection instinct. (may need to reload to show up)

...but that's just the way I like to see things. I only think of one as "slutty" for their actions, for getting their sense of self-worth exclusively from flaunting sexuality. I feel sorry for them. Therefore, I think that if you find a character with sexuality as their only noteworthy characteristic with no trace of personality to care about, you have a legitimate argument for objectification.

I tend to be more frustrated with women being used as expendable plot devices, though again I may be biased because it's the equivalent of punching my protection instinct in the face. 


As for Kerrigan: the new Kerrigan design just screams "mixed messages". (i.e., both aspects that are physically attractive as well as pointy things that yell "don't touch!") The title Heart of the Swarm also has a possible double meaning (maybe triple if you count the acronym). I suspect that the campaign will focus on her internal conflict, as reflected by her design.

I also suspect that her face looks "fat" because it was designed to look symbolically mask-like, but I don't know if Blizzard is capable of that type of subtlety.


(Also note the don't touch sign under the Nova statue, ha ha)

[Legion]

Okay, so I go strolling through the website 'Join the Dominion' and find one of the unlocked content boxes to be a picture of the new SC2 character, Dr. Ariel Hanson.  In this picture, she is drawn to look like a slut, with the whole 'sick note' innuendo and not so subtle 'rough' examination subtitle at the bottom. 

http://us.media.blizzard.com/starcraft2/dominion/unlockables/dr-hanson.jpg



At a BlizzCon 1 or 2 years back, there was a statue of the Ghost character, Nova which was modeled also to look like a slut.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/26/58372288_70e4df5415.jpg

**To find the image of the statue, I typed the following search phrase into my search engine -- "Nova Slut" and *poof*



In the original StarCraft: Broodwar, the medic's 'irritated' voice samples included "Where does it hurt?" but in a skanky way.


In some Blizzard made art renderings of Infested Kerrigan, she has high heels blended into her infested outfit.

http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080517080550/starcraft/images/2/2a/InfestedSarahKerrigan_SC2_Cncpt1.jpg

**************************************************
So here's my question to you guys (and gals if there are gals floating around the forum); do you agree with me that women are portrayed as 'objects' in StarCraft?  And if so, do you like it?

game designers & gamers are nerds who can't get laid. at least they used to be when the business started booming.

but as someone else said, the media has always done this. sex sells. always and forever.

i wouldn't have it any other way.