clerkenwell wrote...
I always find internet discussions of feminism to be fascinating, often a little horrifying. It's been my observation that the general awareness of what feminist ideas are (and how widely those ideas vary) is pretty darn low. But no one has any trouble dismissing feminists en masse, calling them stupid or ****s or what have you. The main point that I think a lot of people would benefit from realizing is that most feminists regard gender inequality/objectification of women to be a self-perpetuating problem; the situations/products/characters/ideas that it creates in turn normalize inequality and objectification, paving the way for more material that is offensive in their eyes. What this means, is that for many feminists, Miranda's ass isn't just a symptom of the problem, in many ways it IS the problem, as are Jack's boob straps and Samara's cleavage and so on and so forth.
I think that there is a degree of validity to that perspective, but ultimately it leads to a way of viewing society that requires examination of everything in terms of its relationship to gender inequality. This, I think, can be a problem. Should all art be feminist-conscious? I would say no, I would say that is an unrealistic expectation. And yet many feminists can't NOT see the world that way; it is the lens through which they view the world. And that's fine. We all have our lens. But it's unfortunate that some people will never be able to appreciate what some art has to offer because of where it fails to address or live up to their world view.
The really ironic thing with this blogger, however, is that her feminist lens seems to be preventing her from engaging with the characters who best address certain feminist issues.
Let's take Miranda, for example. First of all, I agree with her skin-deep analysis. Miranda is the clearest example of deliberately designed male eye-candy yet found in a Bioware game. I hope she keeps that title. But if you can look past that, and examine Miranda's CHARACTER from a feminist perspective, something rather interesting emerges. Miranda herself can be seen as a microcosm or allegory of the feminist "narrative" (so to speak). She was literally crafted to perfection (or man's vision of female perfection) by a man, and not just any man, but her literal patriarch. A man who then keeps her captive, tells her what she can and cannot do, and isolates her from the rest of the world. Ultimately, she breaks free from her confinement to become a strong, self-possessed, and empowered individual. And when the man tries to do the same thing to someone else, she swoops in to liberate her, her literal sister, and commits herself to never permitting the man to take control of their lives again.
And what about Jack? I couldn't disagree more with the blogger's assessment of Jack. First of all, she doesn't conform at all to the typical standard of feminine beauty. Yes the boob straps are pretty absurd, but I don't see how one could construe Jack as being sexualized in the game itself. Yes, it's mentioned that she has a casual attitude towards sex, a trait that is very consistent with her character as a whole. We learn through talking with her that in the past she has been objectified, time and time again, both sexually and as an object of scientific curiosity, but the game itself treats her wholly as subject, and her development arc is all about Shepard being the first person to finally treat her as a person and not a thing to be used for killing or sex. It's true that she has done horrible things and his little if any moral compass. But why is she like that? It's because of the way she's been treated, the systematic objectification of her being, a tool, or at best a wild animal kept on a leash. And in the game you can help her to break down that complex by showing her what its like to be treated as a person, a journey that is obviously going to be fraught with intense emotion. And yet, the blogger objects to her showing vulnerability? Honestly, if there's any character in Mass Effect that I would think that a feminist should care for and empathize with, it's Jack.
Well, sorry for the wall of text that I'm sure most people will simply scroll right past. 
For the record, I'm a straight male feminist.
You raise very good points. I think the term 'art' is big enough to explore important societal issues in a greater context if backed up with a comprehensive body of knowledge. Of course, there will always be debate--but generally speaking, it is for the most part healthy discourse. Men and women are socialized early in life to acclimatize to social norms--what is acceptable, what is not. But there is nothing saying, you can't be more or less of those norms. Some of the top fashion designers in the world are men for example.
The stigma of games is that they are meant for the most part escapist media. People don't necessarily want 'issues' in games. It is really up to the developer to decide if discussing such issues are relevant to their art.
Now that games are now part of the mainstream, it is quite amazing to read what people are saying about games. Not just game mechanics or better project management here, but the content.
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and I'll have to think about it. I do agree with parts of it. I just don't like to generalize that all feminist should do this or that. 
