Subtle Sexism: Analyzing The Witcher

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Written by BuckGB on December 14th, 2008

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And I'm not saying that everyone who plays it and collects the cards is doing so intentionally thinking about collecting trophies of sexual conquest, or to target women in the game to conquer (the way some gamers I've read on chat boards do). I know my friend is doing it just to play the entire game. I don't understand this drive, since I'm not myself a gamer, but I have read others comment that that is important in completing a game:

I'm a big fan of collecting minigames; if you give me a magical McGuffin to go, after I'm going to track down every last one. Remember the packs of cigarettes in Chronicles of Riddick ? I was all over those.

But just because not everyone plays it with that intent, doesn't mean that that's not the perspective on women's sexuality that the game is taking. Not everyone playing the game may be sexist in doing it, but the game itself is still sexist and reflects a sexist ideology that pervades society.

I'm writing all this less to draw attention to the game (although I am getting some game frustration off my chest) and more to draw attention that even in the absence of capital-O Obvious Objectification, there remain ways that in our everyday representations of women's sexuality in entertainment and even in speech, sexist attitudes continue to be normalized.

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