Before I start, let me clarify that I'm not posting this blog as an editorial. I don't want a flood of idiots dismissing my opinion over my age or other such comments. Now on to the main matter-

Every once in a while, a major gaming site posts an article on sexism in video games. The authors do an awesome job of shining the light on sexism in video games but these guys are usually shredded to pieces by commenters using a variety of arguments. Most of these arguments are really stupid and are countered easily. As the title of this blog suggests, we are going to debunk one of these arguments - that men are as sexualised as women in video games.

The idea behind it, as you can imagine, is that since most men in video games are depicted as these huge, hulking gorillas, this exaggeration of masculinity is over-sexualing men in the same way women are over-sexualised. This is total bullsh*t. It's a situation of false equivalence - the idea that two things presented together are equal when in reality they aren't. This idea falls apart for many reasons one of them being that it assumes that the things men find attractive are the same as the things women find attractive.

The other reason is the fact that there is a big difference between turning a character into a sexual object and having that character be a power fantasy. Let's take for example Marcus Fenix from the Gears series. There is never an emphasis on his sexuality in any way, only on the fact that he is a living, breathing killing machine. He is a male power fantasy. Now I hear you saying that women find powerful men attractive but that's another thing altogether. Power here means influence and inluence comes from a lot of things such as confidence, physical appearance, body language, money etc. not from being able to gun down and entire army or from highly exaggerated masculinity.

If men were as sexually objectified as women, trust me, you would know. In MGS3, a game that isn't really about attractive women, there are various points in the game where the player can get a close-up of EVA's bosoms and rears by pressing a button. Now imagine the apocalypse if they did this with a male character. If male sexuality was really forced down our throats you would hear about it.

P.S - This is probably going to be my last blog till April. My final exams will keep me busy from November to Early April. So wish me luck. :D