Girls just wanna have fun - a rant on the sexualism that exists within the video game industry.

Just a small rant of mine: every time I see that foxtel-xbox 360 ad I die inside a little. Actually I die inside for every girl who has picked up a controller and enjoyed video games.

The basic premise of the ad is four girls – one of who has foxtel on xbox 360. While excited at the prospect of having cable on an Xbox 360, one girl asks “why do you have an Xbox?” The camera cuts to a tanned surfie with washboard abs, as they all exclaim “ooooooh”.

Apart from having foxtel on the 360 (which does sound pretty interesting) the advertisement makes a possibly unintended comment about women in video games. Namely that women can’t have a console, without a man, and probably a man who is a tanned surfie with washboard abs. I’m only 17, but I’ve played enough games in my time, and seen the rise of the industry, to know that gaming is indeed for the masses, and that gaming isn’t only limited to Wii Fit Plus with Helen Mirren. And I know that the industry is getting past the ideal that gaming is only for men.

Apart from having statistics to back that women make up a significant percentage of the gaming population, the rise of video game journalists, designers and competitive players to name a few, debunks the theory that gaming is only for men. Why not look at some of the more recent video game success stories, Jade Raymond’s rise to the head of Ubisoft Toronto and her work on the first two Assassin’s Creed games, the fact that one of the executive producers on Sony’s flagship title – Little Big Planet, was a woman: Siobhan Reddy. On a more personal level, my girlfriend is an avid gamer much like myself, my sister had gaming sessions up till the early hours of the morning playing Final Fantasy VIII.

On RedKingsDream, Evan Stubbs writes about the sexualism that exists within the industry. Out of three factors that he believes contributes to the division of sex in the industry, one struck me the most: the fact that rather than focus on the message being sent, we are ultimately drawn into a ‘pointless discussion about their genitalia and whether they’re qualified to be talking in the first place’. It is depressing to realise that ‘boobs’ take precedent and is an obstacle for women to overcome.

I know this is a discussion that has grown, old, weary and tiresome. The truth is there for everyone to see, yet ads like this foxtel one continually set the idea that women aren’t meant to play video games Attitudes need to change, and until they do, this debate will rage on – for any girl who has picked up a controller and enjoyed video games – they will rage on too.