Helen Lewis

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I love you video games, so why do you keep doing this?

Sexy, sexy sexism in the Hitman: Absolution trailer.

By Helen Lewis Published 31 May 2012 10:56

Walking Bottom: Please stop doing this shot, videogame developers.

Gamers get really, really angry when you characterise them as mouth-breathing adolescent boys who’ve never kissed a real-life girl. And rightly so: according to Jane McGonigal, one in four gamers is over 50, and 40 per cent are women. Three of the big games of last winter – Gears of War 3, Uncharted 3 and Deus Ex: Human Revolution – were written by women.

And then along comes something like this. I don't mind the Hitman games, although they've come in for a lot of flak in the past for their high levels of violence (remember, only 5 per cent of games get an 18 rating). But it now seems that 12 years after the start of the franchise, it's not just Agent 47 who's looking tired.

The new trailer for Hitman: Absolution, released this week, could be used as a teaching aid if anyone were to give a class on "Boring, Lazy, Stereotypes about Women in Video Games" (it would be a very long class).

The plot of the trailer, such as it is, runs like this. Hitman is hiding out in a motel. The world's least successfully disguised troupe of assassins come for him and he vanquishes them with his chiselled, yet emotionally repressed, combat moves.

First, there's the whole nun thing. Is this Grand Theft Auto: Ann Summers? Surely the whole point of being a troupe of deadly assassins is that you blend in with your surroundings? You wouldn't catch Ezio Auditore prancing round medieval Italy in a gimp suit. Do these women specialise in contract killings on hen nights?

Then there's the shot selection. Chapter 2 in my mythical games class on this trailer would be headed "The Male Gaze". I could have storyboarded this trailer just from the words "sexy nuns". So, first shot: Nuns. Second shot: Suggestion that these AREN'T REAL NUNS, GUYS. (Done by showing a close-up of a very, very high heeled boot. Because, you know, assassins never worry about practicality over style.) Third shot: taking off the nun robes. Fourth shot: what I am going to christen Walking Bottom. There it is, at 42 seconds, the absolutely cast-iron signifier of a game developer working one-handed.

If I had a pound for every game I've seen where the female characters walks in, and the camera follows her gently wobbling buttocks into shot, rather than her face, I'd have at least 23 quid. Maybe 24.

From then on, it's all squeaky pleather and violent shooting, as the Hitman despatches the flock of faux-nuns. Did you know it was possible to die in a sexy way? These ladies try their hardest.

By the end of the trailer, I was feeling utterly depressed that once again the games industry was perpetuating the idea that men are doers, and women are for looking pretty. The only thing that cheered me up was imagining how this trailer would look with the genders reversed. Seriously, try to imagine it. Then you'll realise how ridiculous this sort of thing is.

Tags: feminism video games

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56 comments

Thu, 2012-07-19 19:53 — Pavlova

I don't think feminists set out to entertain you, mattr. We're you under the impression that this was what they were for?

Wed, 2012-06-20 09:05 — DotA (not verified)

Thank You For Game

DotA

Mon, 2012-06-11 11:30 — Getty (not verified)

Hey fellow gamers - remember BioShock? Remember how it BLEW OUR MINDS? Remember how it wasn't sexist because it was too busy kicking ass?

That's the amazing thing about misogyny: nobody misses it when it's gone.

doar jocuri

Thu, 2012-06-07 12:31 — Really?? (not verified)

They kill each other with rockets, guns, knives and saws, and you are complaining because some of them were dressed as sexy nuns! Your values are suspect - probably due to all those video games you play.

Tue, 2012-06-05 18:51 — Gerry Tierney (not verified)

Did you know that in lots of games the aim is to kill as many men as you can?

Thu, 2012-07-19 19:44 — Pavlova

Then I suggest that you research it and make a series of videos about the way men objectify men in video games.

Don't worry, nobody will unleash a torrent of sex crimes against you for doing so. Women don't act that way when men say things they disagree with, they just make video series about it. Etc.

Mon, 2012-06-04 11:35 — Zoki (not verified)

First i didn't know that one of four gamer is over 50 and 40% are women ,it is good info for one of my researches. I have played Hitmann and it is really good game i love it. By the way i am over 30.

Mon, 2012-06-04 07:47 — aprillian (not verified)

we need sexy girl for sweetener in the video games

http://kue-kering-murah.blogspot.com/

Sun, 2012-06-03 20:29 — Happy (not verified)

Very good article! I do still love hitman though
meme faces

Sun, 2012-06-03 09:03 — John Laymont (not verified)

I wonder why they do this? Prob because the make money and they know that sex will sell anything including video games. kids and teens love it. Facebook Fan Adder

Sun, 2012-06-03 02:49 — Ken556 (not verified)

Great Game ! http://www.sexcommunity.com

Sat, 2012-06-02 19:28 — Louis Oliver (not verified)

I like it, and to everyone here I say it's only a video game and not real life.
____________
abb

Sat, 2012-06-02 16:21 — Daniel 2012 (not verified)

I feel the same about rom-coms, so I don't watch them.

Fri, 2012-06-01 14:46 — Ford Madox (not verified)

Yet another 5/10 getting irate about sexy women being sexier than she is. Only this time the sexy women aren't even real but have been digitally rendered by a man of all people (he should have made them curvy and dumpy, women come in all shapes and sizes you know!). yawn.

Sat, 2012-06-02 14:54 — McMac

To be honest, it's been going downhill ever since they made Ms Pac-Man wear a ribbon.

Thu, 2012-05-31 22:06 — Agent (not verified)

I would just like to mention that I am not going to comment on this.

That's all.

Thu, 2012-05-31 20:26 — Persona Non Grat (not verified)

Here is a suprise,

A lady does not like us (men) looking at ladys bottoms. Please get a clue, this is nothing to do with feminism, sex sells and this game uses sex to sell itself, so please, please get over yourself. The entire article is a based a womans opinion on 'how I think women should be portrayed in the media'.

Women are quite happy to exploit men and the media so grow up.

Thu, 2012-07-19 19:47 — Pavlova

I'd be inclined to agree with you except the treatment of Anita Sarkeesian graphically demonstrates how the attitudes fostered by the male media leak out into real life and affect real women. Women already know this, it appears men are only just discovering it.

Fri, 2012-06-01 10:27 — electricia (not verified)

you really find a cgi bum sexy? problems there. and surely a woman is perfectly placed to have an opinion on how women are represented? Good article helen.

Fri, 2012-06-01 15:50 — sianushka (not verified)

well said electricia and helen!

Fri, 2012-06-01 10:27 — electricia (not verified)

you really find a cgi bum sexy? problems there. and surely a woman is perfectly placed to have an opinion on how women are represented? Good article helen.

Fri, 2012-06-01 18:34 — jankaas (not verified)

of course Helen is allowed to voice her opinion, as are you. but the whole point of these threads i thought was to exchange ideas and question each other's point of view.

so why do you say that finding a cgi representation of a bottom sexy is problematic? do tell.

Thu, 2012-05-31 19:51 — Brody (not verified)

I think the real issue here is that women should just have a big group unbunching of their panties and pipe down. This game looks awesome. The hitman games are played by mostly men anyways, so heaven forbid they market to their demographic.

Thu, 2012-07-19 19:51 — Pavlova

Racism sells.

Fri, 2012-06-01 10:30 — electricia (not verified)

y'know plenty of men find it ridiculous n insulting to their intelligence too, obviously wouldn't apply here.

Anthony (Little Englander and Proud)'s picture

Thu, 2012-05-31 21:59 — Anthony (Little Englander and Proud) (not verified)

LOL

Thu, 2012-05-31 19:17 — McMac

I find the idea of sexism against video game characters intriguing. If my eyes linger a little to long on the pixels that approximate to buttocks am I objectifying the code that rendered them. Do avatars dream of electric employment tribunals?

Thu, 2012-07-19 19:55 — Pavlova

What's your position on cgi soft child porn?

Thu, 2012-05-31 17:42 — IronFly (not verified)

I have to admit, on reading a different take on this I can see why my previous comments have annoyed some women. I did not mean to be dismissive of violence against women, but was asking (perhaps naively) what the problem was. No disrespect to the author of this blog, I've enjoyed some of her other posts, but I found this one a tad vague in explaining what precisely the issue was - the author was more interested in creating interesting prose, but clarity of thought suffered. I think the word limit on most publication's bloggers (approx 800words) is partly to blame. This article about sexism in Hitman is much longer and all the more clearer for it:

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-05-31-cant-we-discuss-this-li...

Thu, 2012-05-31 17:10 — jankaas (not verified)

seriously Helen, you get this worked up by a game? you bother to point out how impractical and unlike real life these games are?
i doubt that your preferred entertainment is 100% real and without a hint of fantasy. or perhaps.....maybe not.....?

Thu, 2012-05-31 16:27 — Anthony (Little Englander and Proud) (not verified)

I love it, more please.

Miranda in Mass Effect 2, that chest, that ass. Boy did Miranda get it good and proper at the end, sex in the Mass Effect drive room. Bliss.

Thu, 2012-05-31 16:23 — TripleJack (not verified)

You did your own argument a lot of damage by using the same eye-grabbing shot from the trailer that you criticise so much as an eye-grabbing thumbnail for this article. Shame.

Thu, 2012-05-31 15:26 — Sam Gisoad (not verified)

Presumably they do this because it sells.

And here's the thing - no one's getting exploited! Because they're just pixels! Huzzah!

You see it's one thing not liking pornography because you believe that the women in it are being oppressed and exploited - and it's a discussion that can be had, though let's not get into it now - but it's quite another to get upset about this. If you think there's a market for a different sort of game, go make it, and get rich. What with all the women writing games that you reference, it shouldn't be hard, right?

Fri, 2012-06-01 10:34 — electricia (not verified)

You've missed the point. The women may not be real, but it's still the repetitive boring stereotypical images that repeatedly drum home the tired old cliches. Cliches that affect women in everyday life, so Helen's criticism is perfectly valid.

Fri, 2012-06-01 11:09 — Sam Gisoad (not verified)

Don't think I have - my point stands. No one is stopping Helen, or anyone else for that matter, going and making her own game that doesn't "repeatedly drum home &c &c" and fighting those cliches. My point is - in case you missed it:

- it's one thing objecting to actual people being harmed.
- no actual people were harmed in the making of this game

You can object to the ideas in it if you like. That's fine. But let's be clear that it's the idea you're objecting to, and that some other people don't and that if you think your ideas are more valid that theirs you have to prove it. And given that people are paying to be entertained by this, I'd say the burden of proof rests with you.

Of course, the delicious irony is that this is a game where the central conceit is becoming very good at killing people for money. And there are people complaining about the *sexism.*

[NB I don't give a tinker's cuss about the 'killing imaginary people for money' bit. Because ITS FICTIONAL and THEY'RE NOT REAL. But then that's rather my point, isn't it?]

Fri, 2012-06-01 11:51 — MrMoth (not verified)

No, they're not real, and people aren't really killed in TV shows, or films, or in books, or in any kind of fiction. But that's hardly the point. Game creators don't have to keep doing this, perpetuating as sexist worldview that HAS to have women as sexy, sexy objects, there to be stared at, abused, destroyed, raped, bought, sold and mocked. But they do. Oh, because it sells, and men like it. It's all part of the background hum of misogyny, constantly telling women their place, and men too.

I don't like being told this is what I want. I cringe at the wiggling arses in my videogames. I can watch porn for that, ta. Let's get on with the killing, shall we? Until games can deal with sex and sexuality in a grown up manner I suggest they stick to what they know. Killing, racing and pretending to be an elf.

Fri, 2012-06-01 12:27 — Sam Gisoad (not verified)

"Oh, because it sells, and men like it."

Err, yes. You can accept that, or try to change it. But if you try to tell people what they can and can't think, you should probably mentally prepare for an awful lot of people telling you where to go, and rightly so.

Which was - lord, this is tedious - my original point. Don't whinge about this, go out and make something better. Some non-sexist games. And if you succeed then not only will you have brought loads of people round to your way of thinking, you might even get rich. Or, if you don't believe in getting rich, you can always donate the money to the Fawcett Society.

Of course, you may find that people don't agree with you. But then whose problem's that?

Fri, 2012-06-01 12:25 — jankaas (not verified)

your position seems to have a few problems. you say " sexist worldview that HAS to have women as sexy, sexy objects".
but women are sexy, at least to me they are. i am a man and i find women on the whole to be sexy. am i abnormal and/or sexist because of this?

you then state that thinking women are sexy means i would want them "abused, destroyed, raped, bought, sold and mocked". this is extremely offensive as well as utterly unfounded. where is your evidence that thinking women are sexy leads to all this abuse?

"Until games can deal with sex and sexuality in a grown up manner I suggest they stick to what they know"
please can you define your parameters, and, why your value system would be superior. thanks.

Thu, 2012-07-19 20:01 — Pavlova

The evidence is in the behaviour of gamers towards Anita Sarkeesian. That was no fantasy.

The other evidence is inthe anti-hate legislation that protects against damaging stereotypes of protected groups ( which currently unjustly do not include female people).

Fri, 2012-06-01 15:10 — MrMoth (not verified)

The key word is not sexy, it's objects. I can't believe I actually have to say this, but I genuinely believe there is nothing wrong with finding the opposite sex sexy. If I thought that my marriage would definitely be in trouble.

Fri, 2012-06-01 16:29 — jankaas (not verified)

ok, fair enough. in other words you didn't mean a word of that previous posts of yours? you can't have it both ways imho.

Fri, 2012-06-01 17:51 — MrMoth (not verified)

No, I did mean it, you simply misunderstood it. There is a difference, as Spinal Tap noticed, (eventually) between sexy and sexist.

Sun, 2012-06-03 09:41 — jankaas (not verified)

just wondering how sexy and sexist are linked then, as that is what you implied, unless i misunderstood, in which case why put the 2 terms next to one another?

Fri, 2012-06-01 12:12 — McMac

Mmmm.

I think I am looking at a cgi arse.

You think I am abusing, destroying, raping, buying, selling and mocking women.

By the way, a particular gender liking something doesn't make it bad. For example, woman like watching Holby City and that's ....hang on...bad example.

Fri, 2012-06-01 12:34 — MrMoth (not verified)

These things do not exist in a vacuum. Just because they are fiction does not remove them from our society and culture. The opposite, in fact. They reflect our society, our culture, our normality. Think about that - this trailer represents what we, as a society, think is acceptable. Yes, we would condemn it if it actually happened, but in a game? Just a bit of harmless titillating fun. No harm done, it's not a real bottom. But that cgi bottom was lovingly crafted and shot by a real human. For real humans to drool over.

Bit depressing, really. That's where we are, as people?

Fri, 2012-06-01 13:25 — McMac

I understand.

I think that sexy isn't sexist. A look isn't rape, an attraction isn't abuse. I'm also able to work out that sexy nuns with guns are no more a reflection of real life than the guy walking the streets slaughtering people.

Fri, 2012-06-01 13:21 — Sam Gisoad (not verified)

I would have thought if anything it was good news. A real woman - someone's daughter, someone's mother &c - isn't being drooled over. Huzzah and break out the bunting.

"Just because they are fiction does not remove them from our society and culture." - and who said they did? Not I. Yes, they reflect our culture - a culture in which some people like the idea of killer nuns in leather as entertainment. In which people like "killing" non-existent people as entertainment.

Does that mean that people think all women should dress in pornified nun-suits? I don't know, do they think it's acceptable to kill people? Or do they view both on an "entertainment" spectrum?

It seems to me that what you don't like is the fact that some people like this sort of thing. And that, as I said before, is no-one's problem but yours unless and until you go and make something better.

"this trailer represents what we, as a society, think is acceptable. Yes, we would condemn it if it actually happened,"

Those two sentences are mutually contradictory.

Thu, 2012-05-31 15:44 — IronFly (not verified)

Then there's always the possibility that people actually *enjoy* being disgruntled and do not want to think about the hard practicalities of solutions...