Science reveals how women truly feel about sexy game characters

It’s the year 2024 and gamers are spending their hard-earned cash on sexy bathing suit skins for women in The First Descendant and ignoring the mundane, repetitive Hawaiian shirts that the male characters got from the same update. It seems like every patch across gaming is catered to men while women get nothing, but is that really true?

Studies have continued to show that female representation in video games hasn’t gotten that much better in recent years despite some studios’ efforts. How do women view these sexualized characters and how does it impact their gameplay experience? New research has provided some not-so-surprising results.

Video games have attempted to create more varied female characters in games the past few years, although it’s been often met with backlash from the most vocal gamers who don’t want to see a woman with peach fuzz wearing armor. Blizzard recently gave up its self-righteous view on sexualizing its female characters and officially posted about one character’s exposed feet. This is after acknowledging the type of questionable content that existed about the hero against its will already.

It’s no secret at this point that most female characters in video games are sexualized at this point, something many studies have researched. A character that some fans find cute or attractive is one thing, but putting female characters in skimpy clothing and creating up-skirt angles for players to discover is another. Now, studies have confirmed once again that female gamers may not really like this.

How do women feel about sexualized female characters in games?

A recent study published by Sage Journals called “Examining How Sex Appeal Cues and Strength Cues Influence Impressions of Female Video Game Characters” discovered that things have not really changed all too much for female gamers in recent years.

The study explained that scholars have often debated if making a female character powerful would help women feel less negative effects from seeing them. Past studies have proven that women often feel self-objectification and negative feelings about their own appearance when forced to see sexual female characters in video games and other media. But what if these sexual female characters were strong and capable?

Research on women’s reactions to female superheroes portrayed in skimpy and sexy ways showed that being strong did help female consumers feel less objectified and bad about themselves. A study published in 2015 said female participants were not as offended by sexualized female characters who were capable. This is likely due to a feeling of empowerment instead of a subconscious feeling of being sexualized against one’s will.

Is it the same for video games? A recent study says that could be the case. The Sage Journals study explained that female characters with sex appeal cues were still greatly disliked by women. However, taking control of a sexy female character in a fighting game or RPG, and kicking bad guys’ butts with them, made women feel better about the character’s overly sexual appearance and behaviors. This aligns with the idea that women feel more empowered when they are capable, like they are sexy for themselves and not a weak character being sexualized by male gamers.

Still, the larger barrier for women who want to get into gaming forms the bedrock of discussion for male gamers. This could be sexual in nature like dedicating entire Reddit threads to the shape of a female character’s butt or just male gamers being mad if a female character is not sexy or young enough for them. Playing as a sexy and powerful diva is not the issue. It’s whether or not they measure up to their game’s environment.