Video game characters are presented in many different ways, however there could be a link between female characters and sexualisation in comparison to male characters, who could be said to be presented in “normal” ways.

Examples of female sexualisation include differences in female animations, camera angles and clothing. The purpose of this may be to satisfy the stereotypical straight male player who would usually be interested in these types of games.

This could link to an idea dubbed “The Male Gaze” which is a masculine, heterosexual viewpoint of the stereotypical straight male which portrays women as “objects” used for sexual pleasure. It was first applied by John Berger in a documentary-style analysis named “Ways of Seeing” in 1972. It showed how women were represented in art and advertising.

The concept was further applied by Laura Mulvey when she critiqued traditional representations of women in film, which solidified the term further.

The ‘Male Gaze’ is a very popular point of view used in media, this is mostly used in Film and Video Games. The ‘Male Gaze’ is essentially the interpreted way a male character would see the world depicted in the narrative, for example the ‘Male Gaze’ commonly over-sexualises any female character whether that be the costumes available for the genders or just the simple movement which may be exaggerated or iconic to that gender

“Ways of Seeing is a 1972 television series of 30-minute films created chiefly by writer John Berger and producer Mike Dibb. It was broadcast on BBC Two in January 1972 and adapted into a book of the same name.

The series was intended as a response to Kenneth Clark‘s Civilisation TV series, which represents a more traditionalist view of the Western artistic and cultural canon, and the series and book criticise traditional Western cultural aesthetics by raising questions about hidden ideologies in visual images. According to James Bridle, Berger “didn’t just help us gain a new perspective on viewing art with his 1972 series Ways of Seeing – he also revealed much about the world in which we live. Whether exploring the history of the female nude or the status of oil paint, his landmark series showed how art revealed the social and political systems in which it was made. He also examined what had changed in our ways of seeing in the time between when the art was made and today.”

The series has had a lasting influence, and in particular introduced the concept of the male gaze, as part of his analysis of the treatment of the nude in European painting. It soon became popular among feminists, including the British film critic Laura Mulvey, who used it to critique traditional media representations of the female character in cinema.”

The extract pulled from Wikipedia gives a short insight to the book ‘Ways of seeing’ by John Berger, published in 1972 it expertly explains the ‘Male Gaze’ and what it commonly means in the sense of using it in media.

The male gaze is how a straight man feels empowered by objectifying and sexualising women in general and in media platforms.

Laura Mulvey created the idea of the so called ‘male gaze’ and revealed the amount of sexualisation women were getting. Then also presumed all men who play these games are only interested in seeing the sexualised version of a woman.

John Berger is well known for his piece of writing “Ways of seeing” which had many feminists viewing it around the male gaze.

John Berger sight of seeing

“Men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. This determines not only most relations between men and women but also the relation of women to themselves. The surveyor of woman in herself is male: the surveyed is female. Thus she turns herself into an object of vision: a sight.”

This is proving women are objectified and overly sexualised. Video games have proved the male gaze influenced how women are treated and looked at.

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“don’t look like they’re from around here” and appear “dirty.”

“Asian women perpetuates the stereotype that they are meek, submissive, sexual objects who exist purely for men’s entertainment.”

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 “As a girl growing up playing games I was always like, why do I have to play as a boy?”

“If we can show just one of them that they can be accepted anywhere – in both gaming and in the real, working world – and that gaming is not just about being super gender- or sexually conforming, then all the months of work is worth it. That’s why it’s important.”

Laura Mulvey- Visual pleasure and narrative cinema

“In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female.”

“The determining male gaze projects its phantasy onto the female figure which is styled accordingly.

• The male gaze is a part of representation of female characters in not only video games, but other forms of media too.
• The male gaze is a masculine, heterosexual point of view that bestows women as sexual objects solely for the pleasure of the straight male.
• John Peter Berger – An English art critic who wrote the book “Ways of Seeing” which was a book that created the idea of the male gaze.
• Laura Mulvey – She is mainly known for her essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” in her book named “Screen” which further explored the idea of the male gaze and the male perspective in film and cinema.

• The Male Gaze – This is the representation of women in video games or any form of media, over sexualising them for the male attention, this also presumes that the viewer/player is a straight male.
• John Peter Berger – Is an English art critic who wrote the book “Ways of seeing” which introduced the idea of The Male Gaze to the world.
• Laura Mulvey – Is a British film critic who focuses of the feministic views on the obvious male drive in films. She is most well known from her journal “Screen” where a specific essay speaks about the “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” which focuses on Johns idea of THE MALE GAZE within cinema.

Examples of the male gaze within films:

This comes from the Transformers film where, as you can see, they oversexualise the actor Megan Fox with the angle of the camera and her body language.

The male gaze: The term came about in 1975 by Laura Mulvey and how the media represents women in magazines , films and video games to make it more appealing to heterosexual males.

From wearing revealing clothes showing much skin as possible , camera angles and the way females move. The male gaze sexualises and objectifies the women’s body whilst when males are represented in media they are mainly covered for example video games will do their best to cover the males body and present him as a fearless warrior. Or at other times when they are shirtless it is representing them as strong and fearless.

Laura Mulvey: Laura Mulvey is a feminist best known for her media theory ‘The male gaze’ in one of her quotes “the gender power asymmetry is a controlling force in cinema and constructed for the pleasure of the male viewer, which is deeply rooted in patriarchal ideologies and discourses.”

The male gaze refers to the sexualized interpretation of the gaze in a way that sexualizes/objectifies women and empowers men. In terms of the male gaze, women are often positioned as the object of a generally straight male desire- which is exactly what John Berger mentions in his book Ways of Seeing. Film theorist Laura Mulvey also theorises that most films and movies are filmed in ways that satisfy male voyeurism, which is the sexual pleasure derived chiefly from watching others when they are naked or engaged in sexual activity which is also known as scopophilia.