Samus' removal of her armor isn't meant to 'reward' the player by showing her off. It's meant to surprise them by showing that this badass bounty hunter you've been kicking tail with was a woman all along thereby imploring that women can be just as tough as men and don't have to appeal to the sexuality of the player to be relevant. Furthermore, I see no problem with characters dressing provocatively or displaying their sexuality. It just goes to show that they're human. The problem isn't that too many female characters are sexualized - it's that we as a society tend to expect women to be sexualized and men not to be. Characters like Jin Kazama, Solid Snake, Leon Kennedy, Snow (Final Fantasy), Dante & Vergil, the eponymous Prince from PoP, and even Link and Captain Falcon have been swooned over by gamers despite not being depicted revealingly or outright sexually. Furthermore, even women who aren't sexualized purposefully will be somehow sexualized by gamers. For instance, Alyssa of Clock Tower 3 for simply wearing a schoolgirl uniform. The same for fighters like Ling Xiaoyu and Lili de Rochefort. Carla, from Indigo Prophecy, is depicted as tough and focused more on her work than a relationship while dressing head to toe, but because she has a shower scene she is suddenly considered a sex symbol. But if the male characters had the shower scene no one would think twice. We look at Ivy from SoulCalibur as a sex symbol because of her revealing 'outfits' yet we forget that Voldo is basically dressed in bondage gear! Yes, Lara Croft's boobs were designed to be too big but she doesn't do anything sexual in the games and the most revealing she gets is short shorts and a halter top. She also happens to kick ass. Sonia from Mortal Kombat wears more clothes than Johnny Cage or Liu Kang but god forbid she bare her midriff! Seriously, we need to 1) learn to sort the good from the bad. Dead or Alive for example purposefully designs women characters as nothing more than sex icons with bouncy boobs. Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, and Street Fighter feature strong female protagonists who are also sexy and not afraid to show it but they don't rely on their looks to get them places. 2) stop assuming that just because she's a woman that she's a sex icon, and 3) stop assuming that just because he's a man that he can't be. You wanna know some other female protagonists who aren't sexualized? How about Ellie from The Last of Us, Alex Roivas from Eternal Darkness, or Chell from Portal. My final thought: no matter whether the character is meant to illicit sexual feelings or not they're probably going to anyway. Hell, I've read posts from people who think Professor Oak and Lt. Surge are hot! End of rant!
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