In this blog I hope to explore some of the statistics that was published in an article written by David J. Leonard in his titled piece of “Not a Hater, Just Keepin’ It Real”. Through out this article Mr. Leonard talks about the racial and/or sexist stereotypes given to characters in games that are commonly played in mainstream games today. We can also connect the stereotypes given in games to the overall context on how white supremacist think of white superiority and dehumanizing minorities.
I first want to talk about the most mind boggling statistics (in my mind) that Mr. Leonard points out. “64% of platform game characters are male, 19% are nonhuman, and 17%
are female. More specifically, 73% of player-controlled characters are male, with less
than 15% being female, of which 50% are props or bystanders.” Why I think this statistic is so important is the male domination of player controlled characters is agreeing with the ideologies of white supremacy. From what we have discussed in class, we have learned that white males are deemed pure and to basically have ultimate control.
To go along with having so many males in games we can also see specifically where the minorities are being included, “less than 40% of game characters are Black, of which the majority appear as athletic competitors. Rounding out this multiracial playground are Latino characters, which amount to 5%(all sports), 3% for Asian/Pacific Islander (usually wrestlers and fighters), and none for multiracial and Native Americans”. Even though a white supremacists is not going to want to see a minority in a video game, I feel they see why they are in the game understandable. With the majority of Blacks appearing in athletic games you do not have ultimate control over them, you can only control the player within the context of field of play. If the majority of Blacks were to appear in games such as Grand Theft Auto where your character has free rein of walking around the whole map and have the opportunity of killing people, then the popularity of these games within white nationalists would be completely diminished. This would solely be based on the thought of having a Black be able to have power and potentially kill a white person in the game play or even kill a white women.
This brings me to another point in Mr. Leonards article that really surprised me. “female characters included in games, especially those of color, serve as sexual eye candy. For example, 10% of female characters have large breasts and a small waist, with an equal number having disproportionate body types. More illustratively, video games limit the purpose of female characters to sex in that 20% of female characters expose their breasts, with more than 10% revealing their butts (Children Now, 2002)”. This once again agrees with the white nationalist ideologies on how to perceive women. We see the dehumanization in women in a lot of games having women included in them. The statistic of having 20% of women that are limited to sex in video games exposing their breasts and 10% revealing their butts is alarming. Having this examination in women be important is the realization of thought that those playing these games will see such few women and when they do see them they will see the dehumanization done to them and see them just as sex objects. Comparing these statistics to class think back to when we saw the different cartoons that white nationalists drew, these cartoons depict women as sexual objects.
To see this article go to http://nideffer.net/classes/270-08/week_07_gender_economy/rimpofrace_leonard.pdf
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