Guild Wars 2

I hear this argument a lot when discussing various fictional fembots. I think it’s helpful to keep in mind that what we’re looking at, as some have pointed out in different terms, are not objectified females, but rather feminized objects. In other words, the qualities that ascribe a female gender to them are entirely visual and socially learned — the high heels for example (though men wearing high heels has certainly been a common fashion throughout history and various cultures, so that’s situational) — but there is no actual female sexuality because there is no concurrent biology.

I find it kind of odd that our society — by which I mean America — is so weird about things like this. Liberals will laud the freedom of drag queens to choose their gender identity using the most garish visual cues possible, and then vilify actual women for doing the exact same thing. Right-wingers will tell us a woman’s place is in the kitchen, unless that kitchen is in a restaurant, at which point it becomes a man’s job. And so on.

On the other hand, there is indeed such a thing as white male privilege; men don’t have to go through these sorts of arguments specifically because “male” is the assumed default. Nobody bats an eye at a male robot (I’m looking at you, Asuran golems) because unless a gender is specified — overtly through physical design or more subtly through activity or demeanor — it is not male; it is simply a robot.

On the OTHER other hand, Fifty Shades of Grey sold 60 million copies, mostly to women. There’s certainly a non-negligible slice of society that wants, willingly, to explore objectification. Should they be denied that opportunity? Should they be curtailed from representation?

On the OTHER other other hand, this is art we’re talking about. Do we want to make the argument that certain kinds of art shouldn’t be expressed because some interpretations could be offensive? I’m fairly certain the intent here wasn’t “women are objects”, considering that there are also numerous powerful and strong female characters in this story — Queen Jenna is the leader of all of humanity, remember — and the fact that ArenaNet and NCSoft like making money and are fully aware how many women play this game.

I do think it’s good to bring up issues like this because women still suffer from gross inequalities in our society. But don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. This, to me, is a relatively harmless bit of fun, and possible cheesecake to people with a certain bent, in a larger game world that represents plenty of other options for feminist-minded players.