Sexuality in Mass Effect, or, Icon Very Relevant
........
[sigh]
The problem with something that's really good, but not perfect, is that the better it is, the more glaring its flaws become.
I mean, kudos to you, Bioware, for having a more open minded approach to sexuality, gender and romance than your typical videogame narrative of 'you are manly man, here your womanly woman, you love her because tits.' I like being able to play a strong woman throughout this series, and, and I like having the option to pursue relationships with both male and female characters (and the fact that half of them are sexy aliens is especially appreciated!)
I also like that you appear to have dropped the insultingly flimsy veneer of asari being 'genderless' when they look like, dress like, sound like, and have an entire culture based on stereotypes of women. And treating the asari as an all-female race means that lesbians canonically exist in your game. I like that, too. Mass Effect 2 in general seems more willing to admit lesbian relationships exist, and not just in the context of human-asari couples: female!Shepard can pursue Liara, Samara and Morinth, but she can also flirt with Kelly, and Jack makes a reference to a past relationship with a woman (and her boyfriend!). So yay, women in your game can have a variety of sexualities and they're presented as being equally valid. Woohoo!
So.... when are you gonna acknowledge that gay guys exist too? Cos as far as I know there's no gay romance option for male!Shepard, and no indication of any male/male romance among other characters, even in the background. And that bugs me. It bugs me more than it would if you were like most other games and went for total heteronormativity, because acknowledging queer women but not queer men just makes me feel insulted. And it lends credence to the idea that you're only putting lesbian relationships in the game to titillate the 18-35 year-old males that are the Xbox's primary audience, and not out of any desire for, you know, equality or anything. Cos God forbid you present any form of sexuality that might be troubling to the poor hetero man-folk. You thought the backlash was bad over bare ass in the first game? Just wait till word gets out about two dudes holding hands! Cos that's, you know. Disgusting.
Fuck that. I'm glad to see queer women acknowledged in gaming -- in anything, really -- but if the only reason we're there is to stimulate the boners of a bunch of frat boys who think girl-on-girl is awesome but that all faggots should die? Then I'd rather be invisible.
Of course, now that I've said all that, Bioware, I should add that I don't really think mere titillation is your goal here. You wouldn't put so much effort into having such a deep, detailed universe, full of interesting and varied characters -- male and female -- if all you wanted was to give straight dudes eye candy. I don't think you have a problem with gay people, male or female, at all -- you're Canadian, for fuck's sake. I think you're trying to portray as much diversity as you can, while still keeping the game marketable to the coveted douchebag demographic. I just wish that you could have a game where the male sexuality is as varied as the female, where the hero could be gay and even pursue a relationship with another man, where you could even have a gay couple in the background, and it wouldn't create any kind of controversy or drive customers away. I wish I lived in a world where that was possible.
Feel free to ignore this post, as it really has no point and isn't very well written. I just needed to get this off my chest.
[sigh]
The problem with something that's really good, but not perfect, is that the better it is, the more glaring its flaws become.
I mean, kudos to you, Bioware, for having a more open minded approach to sexuality, gender and romance than your typical videogame narrative of 'you are manly man, here your womanly woman, you love her because tits.' I like being able to play a strong woman throughout this series, and, and I like having the option to pursue relationships with both male and female characters (and the fact that half of them are sexy aliens is especially appreciated!)
I also like that you appear to have dropped the insultingly flimsy veneer of asari being 'genderless' when they look like, dress like, sound like, and have an entire culture based on stereotypes of women. And treating the asari as an all-female race means that lesbians canonically exist in your game. I like that, too. Mass Effect 2 in general seems more willing to admit lesbian relationships exist, and not just in the context of human-asari couples: female!Shepard can pursue Liara, Samara and Morinth, but she can also flirt with Kelly, and Jack makes a reference to a past relationship with a woman (and her boyfriend!). So yay, women in your game can have a variety of sexualities and they're presented as being equally valid. Woohoo!
So.... when are you gonna acknowledge that gay guys exist too? Cos as far as I know there's no gay romance option for male!Shepard, and no indication of any male/male romance among other characters, even in the background. And that bugs me. It bugs me more than it would if you were like most other games and went for total heteronormativity, because acknowledging queer women but not queer men just makes me feel insulted. And it lends credence to the idea that you're only putting lesbian relationships in the game to titillate the 18-35 year-old males that are the Xbox's primary audience, and not out of any desire for, you know, equality or anything. Cos God forbid you present any form of sexuality that might be troubling to the poor hetero man-folk. You thought the backlash was bad over bare ass in the first game? Just wait till word gets out about two dudes holding hands! Cos that's, you know. Disgusting.
Fuck that. I'm glad to see queer women acknowledged in gaming -- in anything, really -- but if the only reason we're there is to stimulate the boners of a bunch of frat boys who think girl-on-girl is awesome but that all faggots should die? Then I'd rather be invisible.
Of course, now that I've said all that, Bioware, I should add that I don't really think mere titillation is your goal here. You wouldn't put so much effort into having such a deep, detailed universe, full of interesting and varied characters -- male and female -- if all you wanted was to give straight dudes eye candy. I don't think you have a problem with gay people, male or female, at all -- you're Canadian, for fuck's sake. I think you're trying to portray as much diversity as you can, while still keeping the game marketable to the coveted douchebag demographic. I just wish that you could have a game where the male sexuality is as varied as the female, where the hero could be gay and even pursue a relationship with another man, where you could even have a gay couple in the background, and it wouldn't create any kind of controversy or drive customers away. I wish I lived in a world where that was possible.
Feel free to ignore this post, as it really has no point and isn't very well written. I just needed to get this off my chest.