Another day, another site promoting half naked gamer girls to the public. Don't get me wrong here, I like pretty pinup girls as much as the next person but its seems lately that the Nerdcore culture which was brought to the attention of the gaming industry but my pal and Nerdcore King of Destructoid, CTZ, has been over played by too many people now.
Just in the last week, I have received My Space Friend requests from two different sites promoting gamer girl pinups or models and I'm starting to feel that maybe this isn't the right way for gamer culture to go. Ladies who game are great and more power to us but is it really necessary for so many people to create these model sites to put the hot gamer girls on a pedestal like they are something special. Geek is geek and just because a girl geek happens to develop boobs later in life who gives damn.
I've been informed more than on one occasion that the gaming industry is sick and tired of people trying to cash in on the whole "Hot Nerdcore Chick" thing and maybe they've got the right idea. This doesn't really give put us gamers in a good light if this is how we portray the female gaming population. Isn't there enough Hugh Hefners and Larry Flints in this world to cash in on the female form? Do we as a community need to add pressure the female gaming population to throw on lingerie and pose with our controllers?
I posed once for a Nerdcore picture once and it didn't get the response I hoped for. I was deemed less of a gamer for it and maybe the real female gamers in these pictures need to think about the kind of gamer they want to be seen as before they pose. Gaming should be about gaming; not about rubbing a controller between your thighs.
The first site advertises gamer girl models that pose in non-nude photos but they still have them topless and covering up their goodies with their arms or in bra and panties. I say that we, ladies start posing with our gaming accessories with our clothes on. Full jeans and t-shirt with no cleavage, then maybe someone will see that as a good image and start a girl gamer model site where the girls are covered up for once.
*For the people leaving the nasty comments - before you do: I'm not fat and I'm not bitter. I just think these kind of sites are sending the wrong kind of message to young female gamers that they have to be pretty to be a professional gamer. There are enough Cosmos and Playboys out there to make a young girl feel ugly without the gaming industry adding their two cents on the female form.
If you want to add to the topic, then do so without attacking me personally.
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2 comments:
I agree with you there. Unfortunately, as you touched on in your last paragraph, it's the nature of the media in general that there is a lot of pressure for women to conform to certain standards of beauty. I'm not really sure what the solution is. I do think that these pin up gamer women do help perpetuate a certain stereotype of woman gamer, and I think can be detrimental to everyday average women gamers out there.
It's unfortunate that the culture of games exists so that these sorts of women gamers can emerge as stars of a sort. They take a lot of flak for what they are doing, but ragging on those women gamers kind of muddies the issues a bit. It distracts from the real problem, and the problem is that male-oriented and male-dominated gaming culture cultivates an audience that encourages women gamers to behave this way. These women engage in their "promotional" hijinks because they get attention and approval for doing that stuff. Though on the other hand, they can become targets for criticism, which you experienced firsthand. I'm sorry that your experience in posing for a Nerdcore picture was negative. It's unfortunately a part of gaming culture, and I don't really think it's your fault.
As one of the original models for 1337Girls, the first site mentioned, I would like to calmly interject my opinion on this matter.
The first thing that I would like to point out is that the site hasn't even launched yet, and we would appreciate it if you would hold your judgments until you actually see the content of the community.
Also, our girls are not required to strip for any of their photosets. It is likely that you will see several girls who *are* clothed along with those that aren't. I, for one, know that I want several clothed photo sets myself for that very reason. I agree that the world is run by people's insecurities and fashion magazines and things of that ilk do tend to make younger women strive to be something they're not. I know this because I *was* one of those teen girls. I still look in the mirror every day wondering what I could to do be better than I am. Wondering how I can shave off those pesky extra pounds. But I do not blame the model in the photo or even the photographer who took them. It is the pressure of a society that is male and hormone driven.
Not only is the site going to house our photosets, but it will have game reviews, tech support help, and several other community driven aspects. The purpose of the site is not to pressure female gamers to fall into that self-destructive insecure viewpoint. That is the last thing that we want. In case you didn't notice, the women who make up the original ten models don't all fall into that fashion-magazine-cookie-cutter beauty. We are all different shapes and sizes and just have a love for who we are and what we do.
Again, I would like to say that we would really wish that you would hold your assumptions about the page until it actually launches and you see the content. Passing judgment on something that doesn't really exist in its full form yet is a little silly, don't you think?
I noticed that you deleted the last comment by Midly, so I'm just restating things that you have probably already heard as I do not remember what it is that she said in her comment.
Thank you for your time. :)
Suzi
Aka ElektroKandy
Original 1337Girl
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