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I am annoyed with how women characters are sexualized in games
(piefed.social)
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this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2026
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It's interesting that people will find issue with sex appeal and unrealistic body proportions in fantasy media but are fine with everything else unrealistic about fantasy. I think the real issue is the unrealistic expectations people put on themselves and others because they can't separate fantasy from reality.
I will never be as buff and chiseled as batman.
I also hate that the word “unrealistic” keeps coming up about character bodies when so many are literally real people that got body scanned.
It's a if people can't fathom that different body types exist from their own.
My issue is that it's shoved in where it's not needed. Sexy characters where appropriate makes sense. Random panty shots in an action scene don't.
Yeah I agree with you there, if it's random it takes you out of the story. At least let me know what I'm getting into from the start.
That pantyshot tendency I think is a greater Anime thing than a video game thing.
But if we are talking a fighting game like Street Fighter or something: those are like Luchadore and Professional wrestling. Those are costumes and the sex appeal is usually the point.
But then you have games like Nier that just have lingerie dolls as main characters.
Appropriate sexiness is extremely hard to pin down.
To be fair, the creator of Nier Automata stated he specifically designed 2B so that attractive girls would cosplay as her.
Was that the guy who tweeted that he'd noticed that there were many rude pictures of 2B on the internet and it was hard to keep track of them all so he wanted someone to just send him a zip file every week?
Appropriate being incredibly subjective doesn't help.
Some of the most appropriate I can think of are Bayonetta and Faye Valentine (from Cowboy Bebop).
People don't just accept everything unrealistic about fantasy though, you can find plenty of complaints about inconsistencies in world building. Having completely fictional aspects like magic or dragons that work by specific rules within the narrative isn't the same as taking real world creatures and hypersexualising them.
I am talking about sexualization and pornification.
Too much of those is very common in games, and they contribute nothing to the fantasy game / story.
You did talk about unrealistic beauty as well.
And as for why, the answer is simple. For every person like you that strongly dislikes it, there are probably 9 gamers that prefer it this way and buy games that do it. Which of course results in about 9 out of 10 games including it. (numbers made up to illustrate point). There really isn't anything wrong with that. If art had to appeal to everyone, there would be no art. You are just unfortunate that your taste is in the minority so there is less content matching your preferences.
I am struggling to accept what you just said, but it does make sense.
If it was frown upon, then such dirty designs wouldnt have existed.
Its unfortunate that because I refuse to accept this pornification, I have become in the "minority"
At the same time, there definitely are tons of games that avoid needless sexualization. Is the issue that there are games you enjoy that has this issue (or would enjoy if it didn't)? You mentioned action games above. Are you able to find alternatives that suit your preferences?
Or is the issue that these simply exist and are at odds with your morals?
both to be honest. Its hard to find games I like that also dont have sexualization. I avoid sexualization because of many reasons. Including my belief that its harmful and inappropriate.
Let me first say that I do respect your preferences and opinion on them being innapropriate, even if I don't share these opinions.
But I have to push back a little on why do you believe they are harmful? That's quite an accusation, and one that contradicts existing research.
Well said. Strong agree.