Why is it that men who consume media cannot tolerate anything but a pretty woman?

[CupcakeTheDestroyer]

Allow me to explain. This is a phenomena I’ve primarily noticed in the video game community but I think it can apply to all forms of media. Popular games like The Last of Us, Horizon, and Baldur’s Gate 3 all have female cast characters that can be fairly varied and are all designed with the idea of their environment in mind. All cases where these women don’t really have access to make up or cosmetics, or care about them really. And none of these women are ugly. All are natural beauties, maybe with some quirks here and there regarding appearances, especially if it’s not a human character, but all are naturally pretty with button noses and plush lips and good skin. These are not ugly women, they’re just not completely decked out in the looks department.

And yet, there is such a massive outcry from men in the game community that don’t like this. Ellie in The Last of Us should not and does not care about her looks when survival is on the line, but there are mods giving her a full face of make up with a smoky eye that removes her freckles. Horizon: Forbidden West received SO MUCH HATE for giving a minor update to the protagonist’s design by giving her a more realistic face for her body type that happened to make it rounder and give her a barely-there double-chin. I can’t even tell you how many mods there are for Baldur’s Gate 3 to remove the features from the character of Aylin. Aside from some golden cracks in her skin she’s just a tall, naturally pretty woman. And men are up in arms over this and making changes to beautify these women. It doesn’t make any sense in the context of the game to do so.

You also have games that promise diversity in their cast but have no not-pretty women. Take Overwatch for example, their entire female cast is guilty of being same-faced. They’re all pretty, all with make-up, all with winged eyeliner and all with specific, sexy body types.

I just want to try to understand the mindset of why men are like this

[Maybe_Maybe_not]

Obvious trope I can think of is the traditional man to woman objectification, manifested as: "Beautiful woman is a trophy". This has been so much socially engraved throughout History, for men but also for women, that it is still difficult to escape from this trope.

Item found fanfare !

Then we have the gaming world, a traditionally masculine environment since the dawn of video games. While usage became more gender balanced over time, this apparent balance remains questionable to me. It's possible that women, as a whole, are actually audience regrouped in specific genres instead of wandering throughout the whole spectrum of video games. And if that is the case, then it reproduces an environment cluttered with males, with the adverse effects associated, we're back at the trophy trope. As it seems like social spaces featuring gender separation leads to a lot of societal troubles, as it is divisive in nature, it spawns and maintains a lot of unwanted stereotypes, misunderstandings and general incomprehension between genders.

But I'm not going to be pessimistic, even if that is probably more an impulse from the market more than an impulse from ethics, representations are evolving as a result :)

[Maybe_Maybe_not]

Oh and I have made visuals mods a few times for one game. I must confess I did them to beautify. Clearly.

But then what I modded was plates, glassware, limeware and a wall in Balmora

[Luizlemon]

The gaming community tries to deny it, but it's a prejudiced community, simple as that. It's not that female characters can't exist, they can, but only if they fit a standard appearance. The same with black characters. It's not that black characters can't exist, but if they do exist and are better than white men, then it's a problem. A black female character can exist, but she can't be more powerful and intelligent than white men without making white men cry.

[DopeTurtle]

I have no idea, I personally don’t mind if it’s a guy or a woman, just make a compelling and original story with amazing gameplay.


It’s probably because it challenges their perception of women such as the princess in distress.


Not all men have this perception but the ones that do, it’s obvious to notice

[DrPepper12]

Damn! And I thought princess peach was hot in Wii soccer!!

It's fragile lonely discus men who couldn't have the balls to actually discuss ANYTHING with a real live woman. Let em! It just like a guy in a cybertruck - advertising he's got a micro dick and too much time on his hands!

[Astarlessnightsky]

Yeahh, as always this is just a really small portion of the community who is really loud thanks to the anonymity of the internet.

[BetaBucks]

The same reason so many women get irate about hot girls in video games. It's what they prefer, and if they're paying, they want their preferences met.

[Nikki1989]

Brainwashing comes in many forms. This is just another example of it.

[Marathonmama]

Because guys and women like pretty women better

[CupcakeTheDestroyer]

Only if they’re constantly horny lol

[Marathonmama]

No people like pretty people better

[Gengi87]

Because most of them are shallow