How can it be a triumph of female agency when the woman who’s kicking some ass is doing it in the context of male desire? Over and over again, the ads and the games they sell build up women of strength – both physical and mental – only to ascribe that power to a facet of their sexuality. It turns their power into something pornographic. Into something that will titillate the assumedly male players in order to give them the thrill of controlling a powerful woman and the aspect of a woman that supposedly makes her powerful: her sexuality.
If “girl power” means submitting myself to male control, then I want none of it. I want to be powerful on my own. I want my sisters, both real and written, to be powerful on their own. For once, I’d like not to have to search through titles of “sexy women who kick ass” in order to find a good game with a female protagonist who isn’t a cliché. I’d like to see an advertisement for a game with a heroine that didn’t reduce her to a piece of T&A to be ogled. I don’t think that’s too much to ask, but apparently video game marketers do.
Official Shrub.com Blog » Blog Archive » Girl Power? [Girls & Game Ads, Part 3].