Hi, Forte! You mentioned to shoot you an ask if anyone's interested in your thoughts on Riot's sexist character designs, re: Nidalee. As a fan who has p strong views on the subject myself (and cries about the abundant foot fetishism in syndra content), I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Hello,
Yes, this is quite the divisive topic, especially in recent times. Let's see where to start ...
The very first thing I want to draw a line on is the difference between being 'attractive' and being 'sexualized'. I hold nothing wrong to creating attractive characters--arguably, I expect that to be the norm unless it's being broken for a desired effect. Where attractiveness becomes sexualization, however, is when vital components of a character are sacrificed to achieve enhanced sexual appeal for nothing more than just to make them sexual.
Nidalee sits in a super position of being terribly sexual and ordinarily attractive, so arguing for her is funny. She comes from a Jungle Dwelling Tribal trope of design, which can evoke scandalous ideas to many First World minds just in their own natural clothes. She's reasonably attractive, which isn't unsound, but sexualization gets pushed hard in her fetishistic choice of dialogue and alternate skins (Repeat references to being a 'cougar'* woman, fetish maid/bunny/halloween witch wear.) It's hard, then, to believe attractive design points exist reasonably because sexualization pollutes her character and our perception of her. I mean, is she a scary huntress or a waif snow bunny? She plays as one thing and behaves like another.
Syndra herself is a much more hard example of straight sexualization via the strange Evelynn-like bondage wear she has. The sovereign ruler of a nation is dressed like someone who came out of a redlight district? I can open google and find no sane example of anything like that in our world that isn't out of a porno. I could even argue being attractive isn't on Syndra's design priority list - she's presenting and carrying a completely different message, but elements of her design are sacrificed to give naked appeal.
Ultimately, the core problem I have is sexualization sacrifices good character design for frank sexual appeal and nothing more. It is not that it cannot exist outright because some designs (Evelynn, Elise?) deliberately invoke such things to be used, so the effect is 'empowering'. You expect a seductress to dress seductively, but you don't expect the King of a nation to walk into battle wearing nothing but chapless pants and a bulging cod piece. Yet, with the sexualization polluting women so terribly, it has become an expectation that women walk into battle wearing g-strings and bikini armor.
That is about as concisely as I can sum up my position. There are other ideas, like sexualized women teach young girls the wrong ideals to grow up to or how society expects a woman to look and behave, but we get into some very big, deep, and opinionated arguments then. Sexualization is one head of a many headed, diseased hydra that is causing us problems, and it is something I encourage people to research and take a stance on.
Not necessarily mine, but a stance nonetheless.
* Nidalee has a secret passive where she grants bonus Experience to champions lower level than her.
Yes, this is quite the divisive topic, especially in recent times. Let's see where to start ...
The very first thing I want to draw a line on is the difference between being 'attractive' and being 'sexualized'. I hold nothing wrong to creating attractive characters--arguably, I expect that to be the norm unless it's being broken for a desired effect. Where attractiveness becomes sexualization, however, is when vital components of a character are sacrificed to achieve enhanced sexual appeal for nothing more than just to make them sexual.
Nidalee sits in a super position of being terribly sexual and ordinarily attractive, so arguing for her is funny. She comes from a Jungle Dwelling Tribal trope of design, which can evoke scandalous ideas to many First World minds just in their own natural clothes. She's reasonably attractive, which isn't unsound, but sexualization gets pushed hard in her fetishistic choice of dialogue and alternate skins (Repeat references to being a 'cougar'* woman, fetish maid/bunny/halloween witch wear.) It's hard, then, to believe attractive design points exist reasonably because sexualization pollutes her character and our perception of her. I mean, is she a scary huntress or a waif snow bunny? She plays as one thing and behaves like another.
Syndra herself is a much more hard example of straight sexualization via the strange Evelynn-like bondage wear she has. The sovereign ruler of a nation is dressed like someone who came out of a redlight district? I can open google and find no sane example of anything like that in our world that isn't out of a porno. I could even argue being attractive isn't on Syndra's design priority list - she's presenting and carrying a completely different message, but elements of her design are sacrificed to give naked appeal.
Ultimately, the core problem I have is sexualization sacrifices good character design for frank sexual appeal and nothing more. It is not that it cannot exist outright because some designs (Evelynn, Elise?) deliberately invoke such things to be used, so the effect is 'empowering'. You expect a seductress to dress seductively, but you don't expect the King of a nation to walk into battle wearing nothing but chapless pants and a bulging cod piece. Yet, with the sexualization polluting women so terribly, it has become an expectation that women walk into battle wearing g-strings and bikini armor.
That is about as concisely as I can sum up my position. There are other ideas, like sexualized women teach young girls the wrong ideals to grow up to or how society expects a woman to look and behave, but we get into some very big, deep, and opinionated arguments then. Sexualization is one head of a many headed, diseased hydra that is causing us problems, and it is something I encourage people to research and take a stance on.
Not necessarily mine, but a stance nonetheless.
* Nidalee has a secret passive where she grants bonus Experience to champions lower level than her.
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