Behind every great man there is a great woman, and behind every great woman there are a group of people arguing among themselves about why the great woman can't be in front of the great man.
Leaders of western civilization will be quick to remind you that the western world is built upon equality, but the reality is that some are more equal than others. As a white, heterosexual, able-bodied man from a fortunate background I will be considered more valuable by many employers than a black, homosexual, physically disabled woman from the slums, regardless of how many meetings companies hold in order to pretend that this isn't the case.
The power instantaneously thrust upon men from birth to be "the provider" often gives them a minor case of Kim Jong-Il syndrome, wherein they enforce their leadership without having earned the right to do so. This sense of superiority is also what makes men think they can dictate which girls are and are not allowed to play video games.
The underlying animosity some men have for 'girl gamers' is solely due to the elitist belief that video games have and always will be for men. While many facets of the industry point towards this opinion, such as the abundance of big-titted female characters, as the female gamer demographic expands it becomes more evident that this whole gaming thing is no longer "our little secret," and is instead enjoyed by millions of people of different age and gender.
Worse than these stubborn men, however, are the men who believe that they are entitled to decide which females are gamers. They're led by the belief that if a female is attractive there is no possible way that she could also be a gamer because, y'know, attractive women are stupid and they just wouldn't "get it". They will also cry-wank over images of Chun Li cosplayers, who they recognise as sexy but determine that they cannot actually be fans of Street Fighter because, as previously mentioned, unless you're a teenage acne-ridden girl with no social skills and poor hygiene, there's no way that you can possess both a love for gaming and a vagina.
These men are the same men who slander women such as Olivia Munn and Jessica Chobot for presenting gaming shows despite allegedly possessing no knowledge of the subject, despite both stating that they are avid gamers. It's a weird moral ground to take – like a group of straight guys banning attractive women from their house party.
The argument of how females should be represented in video games has been fervently debated ever since Lara Croft and her pyramid breasts debuted on the PlayStation. Lara Croft's ample bosom divided the gaming community, with some seeing her role as protagonist as empowering, while others bemoaned her disproportionate body as another example of the gaming industry's immaturity.
But Miss Croft has recently been given a makeover as the Tomb Raider series is set to be rebooted in 2013, becoming a fresh-faced, reasonably shaped young woman, fighting for survival. However, her new-found vulnerability has not come without its fair share of detractors, with many bemoaning the game's showing at E3, claiming that watching Lara struggling to fend off hordes of male attackers made them feel "uncomfortable". When a clip was released showing a scene where an enemy attempts to force himself upon a captured Lara, the internet then proceeded to collectively blow its shit.
Tomb Raider developers Crystal Dynamics were then forced to release several statements covering their backs, claiming that the scene was showing "close physical intimidation" and that it was not implying that the attacker was trying to sexually assault Lara (it was). Rather than back-pedalling on a brave idea, they should have instead said: "we're sorry we're trying to make Tomb Raider realistic; in the next game we promise we'll just slap a huge pair of knockers on her and dress her up like a prostitute".
The truth is that, as video games have overtaken movies in popularity, gamers and the industry itself should adopt a similar liberal attitude to women. Whether they want their heroines to be big-boobed and guns blazing or emotionally vulnerable, developers should have the right to depict their characters whichever way they see fit.
Likewise, females should not have to worry about their "image" coming in between them and their hobby. If you enjoy playing video games you're a gamer, regardless of whether you have a pee-pee or a woo-hoo.
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