How Does Princess Peach Play In Video Games Lead To Sexism?

Since it began, the video game industry has been extremely dominated by men. Due to this, games are geared towards men in their young teens, early twenties. It was shown that video games where one can be someone they have a low chance of being in the real world are favored. Video games allowed men to be gang members, war heroes, soldiers, major sports stars and even aliens or elves. However, the overabundance of masculinity and testosterone led to sexism in games through the sexualization of women as well as male dominance in almost every aspect. Assuming that sex sells and the largest consumers of video games are men, video games as a result have become more misogynistic and sexist in games ranging from Legend of Zelda to Grand Theft Auto.

Only in one of the games, Super Mario 2, is Princess Peach a character that can be played (Arteta, 2016). This trope promotes the idea that women are frail, weak and cannot protect themselves. While this is the same concept in most children’s bedtime stories, this teaches young girls the idea that they are helpless and weak, making the idea carry on into younger generations. This trope or idea also brands women as objects that are seen as rewards for male character’s task accomplishments. Even in games where women aren’t seen as the damsel, they are still extremely sexualized which, in turn, objectifies them. One series of games in particular is the Grand Theft Auto series. In the video game, the player is free to do anything they could desire, like kill pedestrians, steal cars and exploit women for sex. The game even features strips clubs and sex workers on street corners. This promotes the thought that women are simply sex objects, their only purpose being serving and satisfying men which in turn demeans and degrades women. The violence against sex workers in video games is an accurate portrayal of the violence sex workers experience in

Though there are a few games which feature women as the main playable character such as Silent Hill, Lara Croft and Tomb Raider, these games are extremely overshadowed by games featuring male main characters. Even though games may have female characters, they can still be sexist. Lara Croft, for example, has a disproportionate body with large breasts, a small waist, large hips and is wearing shorts, a cropped tank and gun holsters. Not only is she a strong character, but she’s beautiful too, making her ideal to be marketed toward young men. This shows that in order for games to include female characters, they must have features similar to that of Jessica