Sexist Advetising in Stores

When you walk down the toy or clothing aisles in any sore you are bound to see segregation between boys and girls. The products designed for boys are seen as masculine colors such as blue, green, and black. Whereas a girl’s product is much more appealing to a female stereotype. From the toys ad clothes presented in stores someone can identify that boys are meant to be more aggressive, adventurous, masculine and a girl should be more self-aware of their general appearance and be someone who takes care of others, seen in playing with dolls.

 

Eight-Year-Old Girl Calls Tesco Out Over 'Sexist' Kids Clothes

Toys aisles are completely separated by toys having one side for boys and the other for girls. Even in commercials, we see that companies target either a male or female demographic. Throughout history we can see a change in clothing and colors which define gender. Pink was once a color to describe masculinity and blue for femininity, until it changed. The clothes have changed from unisex designs to being fitted with certain color, patterns, or how they are advertised in media everywhere. People do not understand or look at the influence that this has on children and how they behave.

People have come to the conclusion that males and females are just as just as good as the other. Then why do we see separation in stores? By making a product for a certain person, say a pink shirt that says “fabulous,” it is only acceptable that a girl is seen wearing that shirt opposed to a boy. With a society such as ours, children are being acceptable to all the form of media and how they interpret their own sexuality only to be judged by others.

How Video Game Characters Are Portrayed

Genders are portrayed in games can influence players' perception of gender roles. Males in video games are represented by their leadership, muscles, and all around badass in the gameplay. Take characters such as (left to right in the images below) Master Chief; Halo, Jack Mitchell; Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Mario; multiple games to choose from in the Nintendo archives. These men are of different games, from first person shooters (fps) or platform gaming. Every one of these men are main character in their games with a female sidekick. The female characters in the three games, Cortana (Halo), Ilona (Advanced Warfare), and Princess Peach (Mario), are slightly sexualized in some games and scenes, and act as the damsel in distress in some situation. In other games where the main character is female, they are over sexualized or shown to be clumsy, of suborn.

In the game Bayonetta, the main character is a girl, but is over sexualized. Bayonetta is 603 years old witch, but physically looks 26-year-old, 27 tops. In addition to her young figure, her clothes come off when she casts a powerful enough spell. His game has sold millions of copies between the first and second installments, and I doubt that it was the gameplay that caught everyone’s attention.

However, in Life is Strange, a game with a female protagonist, has gameplay ranging in actions with different outcome and an effect on the future with the ability to rewind time. With her mysterious powers, the player watches as Max, and other characters who are mostly female, screw something up in the first run play. And the second. And the third. This game is different as it is mostly grounded within reality and a majority of characters’ female. Even though with its major success. There are just not many games like it that are as popular.

 

In my opinion, most games with the main character female are like this because it is what the majority of gamers want. Go to any gaming website and there will be article after article and post after post, repeating that there is a lack of innovation in video games. Games that are different and innovated just don’t sell and go unknown or forgotten. It comes down to what people want subconsciously, a well-known, identifiable games that they are drawn to by the popular trends and pictures sexy, attractive females or over masculine men.