Representation of the Genders and Sexism

Computer games are often criticized as being sexist.

"Are games sexist? Personally, I don't think there can be any dispute - they almost certainly are. On one level, this is hardly a surprising revelation; after all, games are toys made predominantly by boys for boys."

Leigh, Chris. "Roundtable - Sexism and Video Games". http://palgn.com.au/7234/roundtable-sexism-and-video-games/

A lot of the criticism is about the way women are often portrayed, as we've seen there appears to be a certain emphasis on sex appeal in some games, but we've also seen a similar emphasis in more recent cinema which is criticized less.

"I think that sexism is a really tough subject to define in video games, and one that people generally misperceive as being offensive despite games presenting various art forms that have been acceptable way before gaming begun. In some cases, many people feel that having females in revealing clothing is in one part sexist, but honestly it is merely an art form, and a way of showing the beauty of the human body. I think there’s a point where you can portray females as being sexy and not hurting their representation compared to how females are dressed in a way to be considered objects for viewing pleasure. "

Marrow, Mark. "Roundtable - Sexism and Video Games". http://palgn.com.au/7234/roundtable-sexism-and-video-games/

Perhaps games receive more criticism due to the developers ability to create the characters in any form they want and they often choose to create characters which match certain archetypes or "ideals". If this is the case, wouldn't male characters be just as "idealised" as female characters, and if so, would this not mean that men and women are represented in a sexist manner equally?

"the last time I logged into an MMO to make my character, I realized something. There are actually two sides to this coin. Yes, the female characters are all stereotypes of perfection. What really got me thinking was the fact that the male avatars weren't really any different.

Society worships the "ideal woman", but it also values an "ideal man". The ideal man, as it turns out is tall with well defined features, generally broad shoulders and a muscular body. Each and every one of my male options, much like the female options presented to players, was some kind of version of this ideal man.

What does this mean? I'm certainly not saying that women aren't victims of yet another unrealistic representation, but I am saying that men are just as much the victim. I'm also saying that we might want to re-examine the way that we think about this issue."

Wood, Jon. "Sexism in MMORPGs". http://home.nestor.minsk.by/game/news/2006/11/2305.html