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David Velador Santos

Jon Beadle
English 115
11/1/16
Iron Bikinis: The Breakdown of Gender Differences in Video Games
In multiple forms of media, men and women are portrayed differently according to their
gender. In many cases, both genders are identifiable by the way they sound, act, and look.
Unsurprisingly, in the game World of Warcraft by Blizzard Entertainment, both genders are
differentiated very distinctly, as a means to target its specific male audience. Because of this,
both male and female gamers have been subjected to gender roles while playing as different
characters or following a plot line. While some video games are gender neutral, most games have
a male centralized foundation, forming a gender hierarchy, thus instilling gender roles on the
target audience, due to a hyper sexualized depiction of women. This not only changes the
mindset of gamers to accept a different view on women, but also teaches them to expect this
false image of women to be the norm for them, much like movies and other forms of
entertainment.
When video games first became popular in the 1980's, games were initially gender
neutral with protagonists and player characters. However, when the shift came from arcade
cabinets to games on computers, video games began to be advertised to boys rather than girls.
Furthermore, when World of Warcraft debuted in 2004, having already been built on a franchise,
developers and marketing teams made the unanimous decision to openly portray female
characters in a sexual way to draw the attention of customers. Despite the fact that players are
split evenly between both genders, the game attracted enough attention to become one of the
most popular games of all time. Since Blizzard had decided to portray player characters as

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conforming to gender norms, this also meant that many players were being subconsciously
exposed to gender roles according to society's norms. Interestingly, since the gamer population is
split evenly among both genders, an equal amount of both male and female gamers are exposed
to these types of unrealistic depictions.
In the game World of Warcraft, players create a character from the beginning of the game
and customize them to use throughout the virtual world. These characters, however, are heavily
influenced by society's views of attractive and normal. For example, male characters appear to be
muscular, act tough, and dominate their competition. Female characters, despite their race or
origin in the game, appear to be thin, beautiful, wear tight or exposing clothing and speak softly
and more gently. In fact, in a paper by Jordyn M. Giulio, the author discusses how According to
a study by Burgess, Stermer and Burgess in 2007, female video game characters were almost
four times as likely to be portrayed in a primarily and overtly sexual manner (Giulio,2011). In
this quote, the author explains how female characters, despite being main characters, supporting,
or even background characters, are sexualized much more than male characters. Whether
wearing tight, revealing clothing, or posing in a way to show off their figure, female characters in
video games are used to grasp the attention of players. In addition, male characters are also
usually portrayed as hyper masculine. Whether they are given unrealistically big muscles,
discussing their victories or wins, or a combination of both, male characters, especially main
characters, are shown to possess a chiseled body to show strength and power over their enemies.
In the game, male characters of other races such as orcs and elves, are given either gigantic
muscles or toned, sleek bodies respectively.
Their dominance does not end there, as because of these traits given to most characters in
video games, it should come as no surprise that women do not usually get leading roles due to
their submissive roles to their dominant male costars. Michelle Zorrilla says in her article, Their

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research supported this, finding that the amount of primary female characters paired with a male
primary characters was significantly higher than the proportion of primary males paired with
primary females (Zorrilla, 2010). By this, the author is describing how more often than not,
female lead roles require a male supporting role rather than being independent, unlike male roles.
In addition, male roles are not as likely to have an accompanying female role with them, due to
their strongly implied independence and strength. This creates a false hierarchy between male
and female characters in games, implying that women are subordinate to men and require their
help to accomplish a goal. An example of this is most female non-playable characters in World
of Warcraft do not actually do anything aside from talk to the player and provide a place for them
to shop or do other mundane tasks, as opposed to a male character that would often go into battle
with the character instead of stand around in a town doing nothing.
As with any form of media, video games tend to also be influential on gamers. As
discussed in the previous paragraphs, the portrayals of men and women in games has an effect on
the audience that plays video games. Jordyn M. Giulio explains in this sense, There is already
evidence that the pervasive sexual representations of women within the industry have the
potential to create negative feelings towards women (Giulio, 2011). Although a bold statement,
it holds truth to how women are treated in many forms of media. Specifically, because women
are usually portrayed as submissive in World of Warcraft, unless controlled by the main
character, in which case they would be as the player intends, most players would usually have the
idea of males being dominant and females being submissive in the real world due to their roles,
abilities, and capabilities in games. Gameplay does not create these allusions alone, as
advertising for games also contributes to this. As with movie posters and book covers, video
game covers and promotional posters usually feature males in the foreground with female leads
and supporting characters behind them, sometimes in the background. If a game has a female

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lead, then usually these characters are made to look appealing to a male audience, whether their
physical appearance is portrayed in a sultry or sexual way, or made to accentuate beauty, such as
focusing on eyes or the face. In the case of World of Warcraft, the cover shows a male dwarf with
a firearm, and the face of a female elf, focusing on her facial features.
During gameplay, World of Warcraft follows gender roles as much as the real world, with
women being generally submissive roles doing various tasks in villages, while male characters
tend to charge into battle with players. This inequality has created a false image of women's roles
in the game and in real life, creating a hierarchy between men and women and offsetting what
women are actually capable of. According to Judith Lorber in her article, Gender inequality the devaluation of 'women' and the social domination of 'men' has social functions and a social
history... It is produced and maintained by identifiable social processes and built into the general
social structure and individual identities deliberately and purposefully (Lorber, 30). This quote
explains how both in the game and real life, on a social standard, men stand above women. Due
to their prowess in combat, strong appearances, and tough guise, male characters in the game are
dominating over female characters since most women in the game serve the character's needs,
whether the player is male or female. In the game, since most of the characters for physical
combat are males and magical combat are females, males are generally referred to as stronger
and have a better ability to hold up in fights.
An obvious counterargument for this is how women and men are biologically the same,
and therefore can theoretically accomplish the same goals. As Ruth Hubbard explains in her
paper about biological equality, Male/female comparisons are made between physically more
highly trained men and physically less trained women so that so-called sex differences at least in
part reflect difference in activity levels (Hubbard, 49). This quote explains how in real life,
comparing men and women is not fair because of boy's promotion of exercise and girl's

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promotion of sitting and playing with dolls or other toys. The same applies in World of Warcraft,
but instead of dealing with children characters, it applies for male character's lust for combat and
female character's lounging around in safe areas free of harm. While this counterargument does
prove a point, and in the game the playable character's gender is up to the choice of the player,
the game still limits clothing and mannerisms based on masculine and feminine traits according
to gender. For example, a suit of armor would fully cover and protect a male character to provide
maximum protection. However, for a female character, the armor would only cover certain parts
of the body, such as the chest and waist, leaving the midriff or legs exposed to show the figure of
the character. Logically, this type of protection would make absolutely no sense, hindering
movement and not fully protecting the user. Despite the choice of being able to play as a male or
female, the choices available to each gender reinforces gender roles, and therefore keeps them
going rather than breaking them down. In addition, while a player can choose a female character
to play as and chooses to go into battle, they will still be forced to use armor that will accentuate
feminine features, and therefore will provide a false image of what a woman would really do in
combat.
Like any other form of media, video games do their part in keeping gender roles alive in
society. Female and male depictions are exactly as they are in movies, television shows, and
music. However, due to a target audience mostly made up of young male adults, hyper
sexualized women and hyper masculine men dominate promotional images and covers of games.
Although the gaming community is a male majority by only a small amount, the gender roles in
video games still continue. Had that majority been mostly female gamers, the unrealistic
depictions of women would probably not be as they are today, and lead roles would most likely
be balanced between men and women. Although this is a nice thought, the video game industry is
expanding at a quick rate, and is soon expected to become the lead entertainment platform within

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the next few years. With this said, the industry and audience are constantly changing, and a
female dominated audience for video games is not such an obscure thought after all.

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Works Cited
Giulio, Jordyn M. Gender and Video Games: A Look at the Portrayals of Women and the
Demographics of the Female Gamer (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.
Hubbard, Ruth. 'Rethinking Women's Biology. Composing Gender, O'Hare, John, Groner,
Rachael, Bedford/St. Martin's, 2014.
Lorber, Judith. 'Night to His Day': The Social Construction of Gender. Composing Gender,
O'Hare, John, Groner, Rachael, Bedford/St. Martin's, 2014.
Zorrilla, Michelle. "Video Games and Gender: Game Representation." Video Games and
Gender: Game Representation. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.