Is the Megan Fox Call Of Duty: Ghosts trailer more evidence for gaming industry sexism?
As previously reported by The Inquisitr , Megan Fox is featured shooting up drones in the Call Of Duty: Ghosts trailer .
The focus of the CoD: Ghosts trailer is actually not on Megan Fox. The majority of the time is spent following around four guys who are reliving the best moments in Ghosts’ action scenes. Megan Fox only momentarily shows up near the middle but it’s evident she’s only there as a sexy distraction, with one of the guys immediately trying to hit on her. Even as the guy leaves Megan Fox by jumping off a building he pantomimes calling her.
But Call of Duty: Ghosts has already seen sexist remarks directed it way. It was announced that you will be finally be able to play as a female soldier in Call Of Duty: Ghost’s multiplayer for the first time ever and the response from some people wasn’t praise. Instead, comments were very sexist, saying things like:
“Most female gamers do not even play COD. Nobody asked for this, except a few feminists and annoying liberals who want to force their beliefs on others.”
“Woman and war go together like men and shopping… Just simply no!”
“There had better be a map called “Kitchen” in the multi-player.”
“And you can play as a woman in CoD Ghosts… But only three weeks out of the month.”
Besides the trailer featuring Megan Fox, the video game industry has a long history of using woman solely as sex objects. Fantasy games tend to be the worst since they outfit women with ill-fitting armor that doesn’t make any logical sense and is instead intended to show off as many curves as possible within the limitations of a Mature rating. One game developer even rendered Ellen Page nude for a shower scene in Beyond: Two Souls despite her having a strict policy against nudity in her acting roles. If you go to gaming shows there’s almost always going to be “booth babes” representing the latest action games.
This doesn’t make too much sense since female gamers are everywhere. According to a study by the Entertainment Software Association called 2013 Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry, 45 percent of gamers are women and they make up 46 percent of the most habitual video game purchasers. The ESA also found that adult women represent 31 percent of the video game population and boys 17 and under make up only 19 percent of gamers.
Not In The Kitchen Anymore blogger Jenny Haniver argues that sexism in the game industry can be combated through education:
“And that’s essentially the focus of my blog- the dated, hostile, and sometimes downright weird reactions men, and occasionally even other women, have to interacting with females in an anonymous setting that is considered to be male dominated (online video games, specifically first person shooters). Obviously sexism isn’t the only problem prevalent in online gaming, it’s just the one I’ve chosen to focus on. This behavior is something that most female gamers will have to face at some point if they choose to game online. The aim of my project is education; some people genuinely have no idea this is going on. By exposing this type of behavior, I’m hoping to raise awareness- and possibly push people to remember that it’s a real live person on the other side of that microphone.”
You might argue that Call Of Duty: Ghosts is definitely targeted at the young boys and twenty-somethings demographic so the portrayal of Megan Fox would make sense from a marketing angle. After all, sex sales. That might be so but Call Of Duty: Ghosts game developer Infinity Ward claims about 25 percent of all CoD players are girl gamers .
So, if anything, Megan Fox should have been one of the four people running around throughout the entire Call Of Duty: Ghosts trailer if girl gamers were to be represented accurately. What do you think?
http://twitter.com/Clara__Johnson/status/397394356539125760
Megan Fox’s #CallOfDuty ad is bizarre. For one: how are the guns making sound in space? http://t.co/AJ3Vu6T1JO
— British GQ (@BritishGQ) November 4, 2013
http://twitter.com/therealcliffyb/status/397069102780776449