C'est plus ça change... thats part of what feminist lit theory is calling out - the inability to perceive women as people and only as gooner bait, its not sex negative to say "hey 2B is acknowledged to be created to be sexy as part of the male gaze, its not really adding to the world building or her characterization strongly, it doesnt make sense practically or have a patina of making sense (e.g. Quiet needing to be almost naked to breathe). And that makes for a weaker/bad character design." And saying it is sex negative is a little silly. I think we were much closer to a better society with slut walks and take back the night, but the issue comes when women are only allowed to exist in media to serve the male gaze - and this is a term with actual real meaning, its not some airy fairy thing. Its also not exactly transgressive or rebellious to put 2B in a fetish adjacent maid outfit, it was done to serve the male gaze and acknowledged as done so by the creator of the game. It also wouldnt be as much a problem if there were more women in fantasy, sci fi, etc that were just women as they exist. Unsexy, unglamorous, not super fit, not enormous boobs, not in fetish adjacent gear - if it was just one way among many to see women in power fantasy media, Id push back less against saying its merely sex negative to see 2B or boob armor and so on as an actual issue.

Whether feminist lit theory was packed with homophobia or not doesnt mean, hey, lets throw out all of that criticism and analysis in favour of having "gooner bait" in media uncritically (also I doubt youd be surprised to hear Queer Theory has a lot of the same kinds of things to say anyway) - like how is it that the transgressive or rebellious or best thing to do is that we serve the male gaze like this yknow.

The characters dont come out of the aether fully formed, theyre made that way by people. Seemingly only being able to be a high femme sexy queen is a reflection of the attitudes of people who made the character and the society that enforced those attitudes. Why are so many women in this kind of fantasy media only allowed to be a high femme sexy queen? Why is it that in stories and media that serve a large audience thats how they seem to be presented? Because of things like the male gaze. Sexuality in media can be an interesting thing, can serve the story, further characterization, the issue is that it seems to begin and end with what patriarchal cishet norms are on what it means to be a women (apparently, wear as few clothes as possible and sex it up and who cares about the interiority of the mind in the body).