Many of you fellow Destructoid using fellows will well be aware of the Shakesville website that around a month ago voiced its opinion on the game "Fat Princess", an upcoming PS3 game which will be available via download from Playstation store later this year.


The woman of the hour! The Round Royalty herself! This is what all the fuss is about..?

Several posts have been posted on the website so far. These range from immature rants with pictures of the writer flipping off Sony, to their latest article found here: http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2008/07/more-fat-princess.html
The blog contains an interview with the writer, one Melissa McEwan, conducted by a fine British gaming journalistic establishment (probably)
------------
Could you explain what you find so offensive about Fat Princess?

There are a few things I find objectionable about Fat Princess, but I'll stick with the obvious: The concept is hostile to fat women. The eponymous Fat Princess is an object of ridicule, and the source of her fatness—being fed endless amounts of food by her captors, which she cannot refuse because she has no agency—reinforces the myth that the singular cause of fatness is overeating. Whole books have been written debunking this myth. Of course there are people for whom compulsive overeating is the source of their fatness, which is as serious a psychological issue as compulsive undereating, despite our cultural failure to regard it thus. Anyone who understands why Anorexic Princess would not be considered an appropriate game should understand my objection to this one.

[i]To sum up, her first point is that the Fat Princess character is there as a point of ridicule. Fair enough. That one individual is ridiculous. However, did we not also find other male characters to be funnier? The annoying fan from Oblivion, whose sole purpose is to be killed out of frustration eventually by the player? How about King Bob-Omb, the MALE walking talking bomb of royalty who is so slow and round, that you can run around and grab him, and throw him off the hill? There are thousands of examples. Some fat, some female, some thin, some male, some short, some tall. Anyone can be a victim in a video game.
She then goes on to the discrimantion against fat people, in that the only way the game claims people become obese is through overeating. Fair enough. This is the only way people are shown to get fat in this game. I'm sure there is a solution. How about we make it so that you wait for the princess to gradually gain weight over a period of four years due to galndular problems, and despite a healthy diet? No? Wouldn't that work as a game? Ok then.[/i]

How do you respond to the common argument "it's just a game, and it's not meant to be taken seriously"?

It's a common criticism of feminism (or any similar social critique) that focusing on the "little things" is a waste of energy or resources, as if feminism could run out. The idea that feminism should be kept under glass, broken only in case of a "big" emergency, is predicated on the erroneous assumption that "the little things," like video games, happen in a void, but they don't. Fat Princess is part of the same culture in which the "big things" exist, like fat women making less money or being given sub-standard attention by healthcare providers. And, in a very real way, ignoring "the little things" makes the big ones that much harder to eradicate, because it is the pervasive, ubiquitous, inescapable little things that create the foundation of the culture on which the big stuff is dependent for its survival. It's the little things, the constant drumbeat of inequality and objectification, that inure us to increasingly horrible acts and attitudes toward fat women.

She probably has a point here. But you know what, it's just a game! People playing games haven't come here to recieve information, absorb morals, or get suckered into thinking whatever the developer wants us to think, no matter how much Jack Thompson believes so. The hyperdermic needle theory is an extinct way of thinking. Movies and television are far more influencing to peoples way of thinking. Picking fights with video game developers really want further your fight as much as attacking that TV show with the broad with the huge... career move.

FP's developer recently said the concept art for the game was designed by a female. Does that change your views at all?

No. And the fact that it's being offered as a defense of the game is telling—the suggestion being that if a woman did the concept art for the game, that must mean other women shouldn't have reason to object. "Women" are hardly a monolithic group.

What this essentially translates as; "We will fight them on the beaches, even though there are women in their number, and these women really don't mind being there. In fact, we'll end up fighting the very people we are protecting, but it's for their own good. What if they get fat". For the most part, the only people modern day femininsts are fighting for is other feminists. That's what I believe.

Do you think video games trail behind other mediums when it comes to sexist portrayals of females? If so why?

No—they're about on par with popular film and television, for example. The general lag is attributable in large part, as with other media, with insularity and lack of diversity in production. Genuine diversity necessitates actively recruiting women, LGBTQIs, and people of color who have a problem with the way women, LGBTQIs, and POC have been traditionally represented (or underrepresented) in games and want to infuse them with new visions, not just serve as tokens who put a new face on the same old shit.


Unfortunatly, most film projects which include LGBTQIs as a large part of the staff where the outcome of the project is noticeable eventually come out as unentertaining movies to straight males (and females). I'm all for equal rights, and would not mind LGBTQIs on the staff of my favourite game producer, but as long as they didn't turn it into a pretentious arthouse flick. I know there are gay people of all descriptions in the entertainment industry who entertain us all, but her implication is that we should all sit through arthouse trash which simply isn't entertaining to the majority of the public. And for video games? No thanks. The fact is, Brokeback Mountain would not make a fun game. Where's the gameplay? And no, no one say quicktime mini games in the tent!

Do you have a negative view of gamers who play video games containing sexist portrayals of women, even if they're playing the game in spite of such portrayals?

That's not really a yes or no question, because "sexist portrayals of women" is such an inexact phrase. There's clearly a fundamental difference between a game which merely fails to offer a comprehensive selection of female body types and a game in which only a male character can be played and the storyline tacitly or overtly encourages sexual violence against female characters.

Do you think it's possible to be a gamer and a feminist at the same time, given how hard it is to avoid games that sexualize their female characters?

Yes. I'm a gamer. My husband is a gamer. Many of our friends are gamers. I know plenty of other feminist gamers—women and men. But our choices are pretty limited—and no wonder, given the response to my original post on Fat Princess.

Basically, she doesn't like playing many games, because too many of us play them. What she fails to see is that sexist games are, by themselves, dying out. Tomb Raider 1 and 2, which made no huge deal of the playable characters figure, were fairly good in their day. Then, as Lara was made sexier, the games deteriorated. Game developers would soon learn that nice norks couldn't save a turkey, because it would still be a dead bird wearing your grandmothers bra stuffed with toilet tissue. Tomb Raider would eventually learn its lesson, and would focus more on gameplay, with Tomb Raider Legends being a pretty good game in my honest opinion.
---------------
However, it is not this articles which has brought on a critipue of http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com. It is the response by the members of the site. A bunch of trolls if ever I saw. Feminist vultures hover above , waiting to pick clean the bones of any outsider who ventures onto their site to voice their opinion, and nudging the remains towards a large banhammer named Paul (who must only be a member of this site because he's looking for some feminist booty. You know the sort' the weedy kid who would join the feminist society, waiting until they all got drunk after a night of heavy debating before making his move. In my town, his name was Peter)

Before I go, here are some quotes from the fine people at Shakesville. (Jebussaves88 will not be held responsible for any small amount of sick you bring up in the back of your mouth)

---------------------------

Let's see if the irrational, petty, overly sensitively, humorless pack of gamer bigots can put together a single cogent thought on the actual topic. $10 says no.

Has somebody fired up the ovens for a big heaping helping of Pathetic Anger Bread?

Considering the harassment and discrimination women face in the video game industry, I doubt that "girl" had many options to do anything but go al ong with the status quo if she wants to keep her job. I think someone is still living in the sixties...

Look, our first concern troll!

Fair Warning to Trolls: Comments will be deleted, and trolls will be banned, without explanation, warning, or apology. (FYI, troll means anyone who writes ANYTHING they don't like)

Seriously great interview. If it sends another wave of gamer-boy trolls this way, we'll just have to smack them down again. (Easy for you to say luv, we'd need an oar to smack you down... I love cheap humour)

Here's the thing I genuinely don't understand: what the hell is up with people coming into the thread and being all "But why can't people just make up whatever games they want, and then if you don't like it, don't buy it! You're trying to control free speech!" This argument makes no sense. (It's easy... if you don't like it, don't hand over that paper the wall gives you after you've been to work for a month)

First image in google when you type in "feminist" is:



Apologies to any righteous women who were harmed in the making of this blog.