Why Do Video Game Vixens Battle in Bikinis?

Cleavage-busting corset? Check. Skimpy bottoms? Check.

When most people think of battle gear, they think of sturdy breastplates and heavy chainmail that cover the body from head to toe for extra protection. What they do not think of are the cleavage-busting corsets, skin-tight armor and skimpy bottoms that make up the outfits of most female video game fighting characters.

Nowadays, it seems as if the only requirement for video game heroines is an impossibly voluptuous figure, complete with a tiny waist, mile-long legs and watermelon breasts larger than the woman’s head. In fact, most of the female characters in popular series, such as Dead or Alive, Soul Calibur and Grand Theft Auto, “don’t amount to much more than a pair of breasts with some hair on top,” writes 1up.com blogger Scott Sharkey.

Video game creators promote this sexualized ideal of women through revealing costumes, which end up doing more to hinder than help female characters in battle. Check out this video of real women fighting—or at least trying to fight—while wearing outfits inspired by popular games. The results are rather revealing, to say the least.

Unlike female characters, male characters are usually covered with heavy metal armor showing very little skin, which makes sense, since they are engaging in life-or-death combat. What doesn’t make sense is the double standard that exists in costumes designed for men and women. The skimpy female outfits only perpetuate the idea that women should be seen as bouncing sex objects—and nothing more. Wouldn’t it be great to see strong female heroines wearing real protective armor without having to be sexy vixens—as if that’s what makes them “real” women?

via Sociological Images