It is true that video games tend to showcase the minimally clothed female body more than the minimally clothed male body. What is not true is that an exposed female body in a video game sexually objectifies the character, yet random objections to the presentation of women in gaming assert otherwise. The false idea that showing a game character, whether a man or woman, objectifies them ironically commits a somewhat inverse error: it tries to ignore a character's body, an aspect of their existence, almost completely rather than neglecting all but one aspect of them.
Of course, almost no one who mistakes the in-game portrayal of women in scanty clothing as objectifying is consistent: there are many shirtless or otherwise exposed men in video games that go uncriticized because many people assume that to look at a woman's body disrespects her in ways that looking at a man's body does not. Neither looking at a woman's body nor looking at a man's body is disrespectful, but the double standard remains, even if it is grounded in an asinine misconception of objectification. This is why charges of objectification are almost exclusively thrown at games which feature female bodies.
Samus Aran from the Metroid series is a key example of a female video game character sometimes claimed to be objectified for the sake of male gamers. In some cutscenes, in some death death animations, and at the end of many Metroid games (given that the games were either finished under certain times or that certain thresholds of items were collected), Samus is shown without her signature Power Suit. Depending on the game, she wears her Zero Suit, a skin-tight and blue bodysuit, underwear that looks like a bikini, or clothes that fall somewhere in between.
Even if bikinis, undergarments, and skin-tight outfits were sexual, Samus is only shown wearing such minimal clothing in very specific contexts in games that last hours. It is clear that she is primarily presented as an effective bounty hunter. Of course, there is nothing sexually objectifying about portraying a male or female character in minimal clothing on a regular or constant basis to showcase their body, as wearing minimal clothing is not sexual and objectification is nothing other than an intentional, total dismissal of all aspects of a person's existence besides their sex appeal or sexual usefulness.
Moreover, a video game, film, or image cannot objectify someone because it merely shows a person, real or fictional. People can objectify other people, but entertainment and other media have nothing to do with the objectification process. For multiple reasons, the portrayal of Samus in relative states of undress is utterly unrelated to objectification--not that bikinis and other sensual or revealing clothing for women or men are themselves sexual in the first place. Nothing in any Metroid game has the power to reduce a fictional or real person to nothing but their sex appeal!
For an example of a female video game character who is far more consistently shown wearing little clothing, see Ayumi from Blades of Time. Her default costume resembles a bikini, but the emphasis is almost never on her appearance itself. Her adventurous impulses, concern for her friend Zero, and skills with diverse weapons practically always take the lead. Even so, the fact that she is only wearing a bikini-like outfit would not signify any sort of objectification even if the game emphasized her appearance more than many other aspects of the character and gameplay.
There are other women in video games that sometimes wear revealing clothing, whether or not they chose to in the context of their story (Rachel from Ninja Gaiden 2 seems to have been forced to forgo most of her clothing when taken captive). In none of these cases does the exposure of a woman's body objectify the character. A work of entertainment cannot objectify anyone simply by portraying them in a certain way, regardless of how sexual or nonsexual it may be. There is still an important aspect of this issue having to do with the intent of a game's creators, but that will be saved for a future article.
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