Let ’s confront it : the history of female characters in video game is not particularly woke . Whether it ’s the classicTomb Raidermodel with what is likely a mantelpiece on her chest of drawers or the stock - issue chainmail Bikini of MMOs likeWorld of WarcraftorEverquest , it could be argue that women have been given a raw deal when it come to representation in games .
If you go for this assumption , you might marvel : what effect does that have ? Could this inundation with sexualized female bodies be a problem ? Could it make society more sexist ? Could it make girls and women less surefooted in their bodies ? Could it lead to fanboys draw a blank that women are , in fact , mammals ?
Well , good tidings : according to a recent study issue in the journalComputers in Human Behavior , playing video biz doesnotlead to these negative outcome : “ [ There ’s ] lots of hyperbole and moral outrage , ” study author Christopher J. Ferguson toldPsyPost , “ but very little grounds that telecasting biz are causing any ‘ harm ’ to either virile or female players . ”
This is n’t the first field of study seem into the possible effects of picture games on our views of women – the subject cite at least 18 other papers that had already attempted to reply the question . Of those , 15 measured the link between gambling and anti - woman attitude like sexism or misogynism , and 10 measured outcome such as natural depression , physical structure epitome , or anxiety .
But this one has an edge : it ’s not a lineal cogitation , but a meta - depth psychology , imply it takes all the finding and caveats of those previous 18 results and adds them up to find one overall conclusion . It ’s a more muscular instrument than private studies for quite a few reasonableness – it reduces the effect of “ personal moral opinion ” which , Ferguson told PsyPost , “ [ some ] scholars credibly interjected [ … ] into the studies , if unintentionally ” , and it also countenance the research worker to answer for for different levels of rigor in dissimilar subject area .
“ The major caveat is only that many of the studies just are n’t very good , ” Ferguson told PsyPost . “ The near news is that the higher quality studies were less probable to find grounds for electronegative effects than humbled quality studies [ … ] grant it ’s still a fairly small research field , but this initial data has been so underwhelming that I ’m not indisputable there ’s much to be mined here . ”
So the final finish is slightly underwhelming , really . There ’s no statistically significant radio link between video games and sexist attitudes or mental health – much like the hoo - hah aboutvideo games causing violence , the job has become out to be something of a nothing burger .
“ Overall , the ‘ moral scare ’ over video games and sexualization is pretty much following the ‘ paint - by - numbers ’ design of the video recording game argumentation , ” Ferguson said . But “ as a strictly ‘ public health ’ issue , this does n’t come out to be much of a headache at all . ”
Of naturally , there may be some of you out there think “ well , that does n’t make it fine ! ” – and the researchers are n’t suppose it does . Instead , they ’re just saying : be aware of what the problem you want to puzzle out actuallyis .
“ At least with fictional media , the evidence often expose that we ’re probably scapegoating media and fable seldom causes social problems biz , ” Ferguson told PsyPost . “ Again , to be fair , advocating for honest histrionics of female person in games can be a desirable crusade even if the games do n’t cause harmful effects . I support those efforts , just trust counsellor do n’t belie the evidence as a part of their efforts . ”
