Tropes vs. Women in Video Games

tv show

poster for Tropes vs. Women in Video Games

18 total episodes

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2 seasons

First Aired March 07, 2013

Overview

Tropes vs. Women in Video Games aims to examine limiting, sexist patterns associated with female representations in games, and to illuminate how these patterns reinforce and perpetuate harmful attitudes about women in our culture.

Sinister Seductress poster unavailable

Sinister Seductress

Season 2 - Episode 6 - 0h 0m

Air Date

September 28, 2016

Overview

This episode explores how female villains in games very often function to demonize femaleness itself, drawing on patterns of female representation that have roots in creatures from myth and folklore which reinforced misogynistic attitudes about women in their own time. We look at Grotesquely Female characters: those who communicate that femaleness is abhorrent and disgusting, and at Sinister Seductresses: those who suggest that female sexuality is inherently threatening and misleading. We then explore characters who blend these two notions, initially appearing attractive and alluring, only to have their true form revealed as monstrous and deadly. Finally, we demonstrate that it’s entirely possible to have great female villains who don’t serve to reinforce false, misogynistic ideas about women as a whole.