Recently, Reddit user u/SpongeyGirl asked women gamers to share the sexist scenarios they've seen in their favorite video games. Here are some of the experiences that made them feel uncomfortable and unwelcome in the video game world.
1. "In Paper Mario 64, there's a part where you play as Princess Peach, who is trapped, and the only way to get free is to go to the kitchen and bake a cake. Then you wait for Mario to rescue you."
2. "In Harvest Moon, if you wanted to play as a girl character, your farming career ended as soon as you got married. (The franchise has since fixed this.)"
3. "Any game where you give a woman gifts or help her with a quest and then get rewarded with sex. It's like women only exist to have sex."
4. "My boyfriend plays a game and all the male characters can be normal men, extremely unrealistic buff men, giant unshapely men, or even monsters. I wish it was like that across the board for women, but it’s just tiny waists, long legs, long ponytails, and giant busts and butts."
5. "In the recent Tomb Raider trilogy, the first game is 80% loud moaning, 20% closeups on Lara Croft's boobs."
6. "My problem is how most of the super popular video games have male main characters. Women are fiercely misrepresented in the video game world."
7. "Sometimes in Final Fantasy, its female characters are walking stereotypes — damsels in distress, and mostly white mages or healers."
8. "In Animal Crossing, the personality types are based on gender. The male villagers get to be athletic, lazy, food obsessed, or smug. The female villagers have choices of being pop stars, "normal," or snooty."
9. "In The Witcher, there is an alcoholic guy who abuses his wife. They make it seem like she deserves to be abused because she cheats on him when he's away at war."
10. "In The Witcher, the main character collects cards of women he's slept with."
11. "I hate that in so many games male characters get solid body armor while female characters just get tiny bikinis."
12. "In Saints Row: The Third, there's a mission where you rescue a group of prostitutes and then get the option to either sell them back to their captor or become their new pimp."
13. "In Fire Emblem: Three Houses, I don't like the way female Byleth is portrayed compared to the male version. Male Byleth has a look of determination, while female Byleth has empty doll eyes that make her seem less smart. Also, her clothes are sexualized and she stands with her knees pointed inward to look dainty and fragile."
14. "In The Bachelor: The Videogame for Wii, you play a single woman vying for the bachelor’s attention, which you gain by completing mundane tasks like baking a soufflé or inflating volleyballs. It’s like the game producers thought women players couldn’t handle anything more difficult."
15. "In Resident Evil, you can play as either Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine, but Jill Valentine is considered 'easy mode.'"
Some responses have been edited for length and clarity.