Recently, I was accosted by the morality police when my lovely young lady commented on the state of dress, or rather undress, of my character in Monster Hunter: Freedom. Indeed, upon entering the game, she appears to have little in the wardrobe department, having figured that Monster Hunting was best accomplished in a thong. Personally I question the logic, I would figure chaffing would be involved, but largely this is just the least common denominator to address a larger problem, in that games portray women as sex symbols. It's impossible to argue either, 90 percent of games that feature women have them poorly dressed or impossibly vulnerable, emotionally as well as physically. Though Tomb Raider would be far to simplistic as a poster child for the prototypical sexual identity assigned to the female gender, I find games like Xenosaga, Tales of Symphonia, or even Dynasty Warriors taking great pains to illustrate icons of sexual desire. Before a great tirade engulfs the point of this post, I concede there are numerous games to the contrary, like Metroid, or Resident Evil, but largely these are exceptions rather than the rule. However, we've only analyzed one side of the issue, and indeed I would be no advocate of intelligent discourse if I did not address the other. Men, in games, are portrayed as the Grecian stereotype; handsome, muscle bound, powerful, rich, and typically these characters have one fatal flaw which their enemies exploit to make them suffer. The greco tragedy is the mold by which other characters are tested. Though the actual event by which the character "falls" so to speak has various entrences in games, usually the event precipitates the gameplay. The event is used to draw the audience into the game, and generate sympathy for our poor hero, who has to suffer through x many levels of falling down into endless pits or being killed by generic zombie monsters, so games that deviate from this course are noticed. Certainly it would be audacious to compare the two states of inequality, one being a sex object, and the other a teen masturbatory aid, however it's necessary for one who brings up the case of inequality to analyze both sides of the coin before flipping it for a chance to be heard on the bully pulpit (thank you Roosevelt). I'm not trying to advocate the change of character design in games, but merely trying to point out that first, this sort of problem affects both sides of the x chromosome. Second, this is an entertainment industry, so if we buy a game, that validates the industries efforts, and they make more to satisfy the consumer whore within us. Finally, this is a video game. It isn't real. These people don't exist. So when somebody tells me they are offended by a game that portrays women as sex objects, I'm inclined to point out that these digital representations of the feminine lobby are no more woman than I am the muscle bound hero trying to save them.