Is Bayonetta sexist?

[patbacknitro]

I have been hearing lately that Bayonetta is a sexist character for many reasons. 1 of which being her sexual attacks and such. But I know without a shadow of a doubt that Bayonetta is not sexist in any way, and infact empowers woman more then it hurts. First lets start off with the major point, her almost nudity.

This is a great point to bring up, however their are several things that take this point down. For 1 compare Bayonetta to someone like Kratos from God of War, or Axe Slinger from Golden Axe. Their are male characters that run around in nothing but their underwear, and yet its not seen as sexist towards men. And yet Bayonetta is almost fully clothed and somehow thats sexist?

To top it off the creator of Bayonetta made some interesting design choices. First off, the creator was a woman, not a man. And second she was a fashion designer, and she had the interesting idea for Bayonettas hair clothing her and useing it for some of the wild stuff she does, like summoning gigantic monsters. So her going nude for summons arent out of objectifying her, its from a creative design standpoint.

That is just 1 of the many points that can be raised. So what do you think? Is Bayonetta sexist towards woman?

 

[Ace]

There is no doubt she is "appealing by design." But her personality is the most worthy. She is a strong and indipendent woman who chooses her own road in life. She doesn't need a male partner like most damsels in distress, that's rare to see in video game female main characters these days. That in my opinion is what we're missing in most VG plots.

 

[Artisan]

It's clearly a game and her attitude is more of the anime I'm bragging and powerful type but she's also mean at the same time. The art style is clearly different and I never consider the art style sexist as it's more of a culture based thing. There are many different art styles in history and how they are supposed to look is based off their ideals at the time or in this case in terms of getting that cash.

 

[18]

The whole idea of making characters attractive being sexist is stupid. They're hot because they're the ideal in almost everything they do, and because we're not going to spend a lifetime with them to get to know them - we've got 20 hours of story with them at best. You can call this shallow, but making a character good-looking makes us identify with them quicker, which saves the developer the trouble of thinking up some overlong story at the end of which maybe - maybe - we'll forgive them for being plain.
Think about it. Characters whom you're supposed to dislike are always ugly or creepy, while characters whom the developer wants to make popular - whether they are a hero or a villain - are always good-looking or at least decent-looking.

If Bayonetta or, even better, Lara Croft or Samus, were stumbling idiots with nothing but a great body who got taken advantage of at every possible moment like in some anime, that would be objectifying. But they're strong and smart and the heroines of their story, and we are supposed to like them, which is all the better if they're hot. Same goes for male heroes who are the ideal of their gender - Dante for example, have you seen the cover of Devil May Cry 3?

The problem is that people have become so narcissistic in the last ten years that they don't see the character as just the dude in the story, they see him or her as a projection of themselves. So playing as a hot character apparently kicks up their misgivings about their own body. Video games are supposed to be an escape - a bit fantastical, and everyone good being good-looking is part of that. The only exceptions are horror games which are the opposite of an escape, and most characters in horror games are rather plain or at the very least, lacking in the exaggerated proportions of other genres' characters, because that makes them look more believable and that makes the horror more believable.

 

[eonia]

anita sarkesian dislikes this trhead because of the answers (?)

 

[Blue Knight]

Why would a fictional character ever be sexist, unless he/she was made to be that way? Characters are just that, written for a purpose on the story and/or as a game mechanic.

By this measure, wouldn't every single housewife be sexist just by definition? Wouldn't every single actress known for hee beauty be, as well?

 

[4362]

Nope.

People should stop trying to claim everything is offensive.
Also,has anyone else noticed that no one complains about male character that were written similair?
A woman is wearing "appealing" clothes in a videogame?SEXISM MISOGONY PATRIARCHY!
A male character does the same?Eh,not something you can make a nontroversy out.
But well,no wonder in nowadays society,where people are seen as heros for witchhunting people they disagree with and calling people out who did nothing bad.
And in that people that can talk hours about nothing without knowing anything are seen as interlectual.There is so much i can say about nontroversy and moral apostel hipocricity but I will keep that for a different thread.

 

[Zukrad]

I have been hearing lately that Bayonetta is a sexist character for many reasons. 1 of which being her sexual attacks and such. But I know without a shadow of a doubt that Bayonetta is not sexist in any way, and infact empowers woman more then it hurts. First lets start off with the major point, her almost nudity.

This is a great point to bring up, however their are several things that take this point down. For 1 compare Bayonetta to someone like Kratos from God of War, or Axe Slinger from Golden Axe. Their are male characters that run around in nothing but their underwear, and yet its not seen as sexist towards men. And yet Bayonetta is almost fully clothed and somehow thats sexist?

To top it off the creator of Bayonetta made some interesting design choices. First off, the creator was a woman, not a man. And second she was a fashion designer, and she had the interesting idea for Bayonettas hair clothing her and useing it for some of the wild stuff she does, like summoning gigantic monsters. So her going nude for summons arent out of objectifying her, its from a creative design standpoint.

That is just 1 of the many points that can be raised. So what do you think? Is Bayonetta sexist towards woman?

Ok, before I start typing, I need to make clear that, everyone that said that Bayonetta is NOT sexist... should start to pay more attention to stuff (aka, not being dumb)


Bayonetta IS really sexist... and that's the hole point of her character!!!!!!!!!!


Bayonetta's character design is mocking the sexist steriotype, by being so sexist that it is impossible to take it seriously. That's the main point of Bayonetta, saying that sexist characters are something dumb, and mocking them by exagerating the aspects of sexists characters, in a way of saying "This is how dumb your sexist characters look!!" in the funniest and ironic way possible

 

[18]

Ok, before I start typing, I need to make clear that, everyone that said that Bayonetta is NOT sexist... should start to pay more attention to stuff (aka, not being dumb)


Bayonetta IS really sexist... and that's the hole point of her character!!!!!!!!!!


Bayonetta's character design is mocking the sexist steriotype, by being so sexist that it is impossible to take it seriously. That's the main point of Bayonetta, saying that sexist characters are something dumb, and mocking them by exagerating the aspects of sexists characters, in a way of saying "This is how dumb your sexist characters look!!" in the funniest and ironic way possible

Ha. I'd completely agree if you had said this about Juliet Starling (Lollipop Chainsaw is as silly and grindhouse as a game gets). Bayonetta is - only slightly, yes - taken a bit more seriously. She isn't silly enough for that excuse to be made for her.

 

[Zukrad]

Ha. I'd completely agree if you had said this about Juliet Starling (Lollipop Chainsaw is as silly and grindhouse as a game gets). Bayonetta is - only slightly, yes - taken a bit more seriously. She isn't silly enough for that excuse to be made for her.

I actually was going to mention Juliet Starling (but I forgot her name while typing lol) as an example of another of these type of characters, but even more exaggerated, in both design and personality.

While Bayonetta is "sexist" only in character design (because getting naked to make an attack is somethign I should take seriously), in personality she is normal, which works in a way to contrast her "sexism"

 

[Ace]

I actually was going to mention Juliet Starling (but I forgot her name while typing lol) as an example of another of these type of characters, but even more exaggerated, in both design and personality.

While Bayonetta is "sexist" only in character design (because getting naked to make an attack is somethign I should take seriously), in personality she is normal, which works in a way to contrast her "sexism"

Who cares? if we had to nit pick every detail of every character in design or personality, then everyone will find something wrong in the simplest games. (like how there aren't people of color in Mario kart, or women act too girly or are too large breasted in anime, things like that.)

Videogames for me, don't have to be socially accepted because I know they aren't depicting real life. They're my escape from the issues that occur in real life, and have helped me through some hard times.

 

[4362]

Who cares? if we had to nit pick every detail of every character in design or personality, then everyone will find something wrong in the simplest games. (like how there aren't people of color in Mario kart, or women act too girly or are too large breasted in anime, things like that.)

Videogames for me, don't have to be socially accepted because I know they aren't depicting real life. They're my escape from the issues that occur in real life, and have helped me through some hard times.

Talking about no people of color in mario kart,that reminds me of another problem.
If there are "special pandering" characters inserted in a videogame,it always goes wrong.
Out of something that only was called racist by spoiled rich elite college graduates that can talk for hours without saying anything with no grip of reality that sadly think they are helping anyone,might become something legitimate racist.
If there is like lets say a transexual character that is well written,I have no problem,but most people want characters that represent them in best light possible in everything as fast as possible.So there will be a horribly written chracter that is nothing but a stereotype in the game,because of the makers being forced into doing it.This also results into a opposite problem:Videogames that are really boring and forgetable that get seen as master pieces just for not being politically correct.
Also the irony is,that if no one would get offended at videogames,no one would see point in making intentionally offensive videogames.

 

[Ace]

@Eightcoins
Yeah, you don't need some danglin' unmentionables to enjoy the super mario brothers. (I just wish the rest of the world thought that way... but no that's impossible.)

 

[MindzEye]

Talking about no people of color in mario kart,that reminds me of another problem.
If there are "special pandering" characters inserted in a videogame,it always goes wrong.
Out of something that only was called racist by spoiled rich elite college graduates that can talk for hours without saying anything with no grip of reality that sadly think they are helping anyone,might become something legitimate racist.
If there is like lets say a transexual character that is well written,I have no problem,but most people want characters that represent them in best light possible in everything as fast as possible.So there will be a horribly written chracter that is nothing but a stereotype in the game,because of the makers being forced into doing it.This also results into a opposite problem:Videogames that are really boring and forgetable that get seen as master pieces just for not being politically correct.
Also the irony is,that if no one would get offended at videogames,no one would see point in making intentionally offensive videogames.

I've said this before, and agree with this version: if the character has an aspect written in well, good for them. If, however, a character is included to cater to a pushy, self-entitled, and politically correct majority, the point of creating a character seems phoned-in and nil.

 

[25110]

^ This, people aren't tokens.

 

[MindzEye]

^ This, people aren't tokens.

Or chessmen, or marks, or notches, or just that stupid.

 

[patbacknitro]

I actually was going to mention Juliet Starling (but I forgot her name while typing lol) as an example of another of these type of characters, but even more exaggerated, in both design and personality.

While Bayonetta is "sexist" only in character design (because getting naked to make an attack is somethign I should take seriously), in personality she is normal, which works in a way to contrast her "sexism"

Her design is sexist? Exactly how so? Just because her design is sexual it doesn't make it sexist. Again pulling up krator who plays the entire trilogy in his underwear, and actually bangs woman in his games. While Bayonetta isn't even as bad as that. Being sexual doesn't make her sexist.

 

[Zukrad]

Her design is sexist? Exactly how so? Just because her design is sexual it doesn't make it sexist. Again pulling up krator who plays the entire trilogy in his underwear, and actually bangs woman in his games. While Bayonetta isn't even as bad as that. Being sexual doesn't make her sexist.

Did you even read my original comment?

Ok, before I start typing, I need to make clear that, everyone that said that Bayonetta is NOT sexist... should start to pay more attention to stuff (aka, not being dumb)


Bayonetta IS really sexist... and that's the hole point of her character!!!!!!!!!!


Bayonetta's character design is mocking the sexist steriotype, by being so sexist that it is impossible to take it seriously. That's the main point of Bayonetta, saying that sexist characters are something dumb, and mocking them by exagerating the aspects of sexists characters, in a way of saying "This is how dumb your sexist characters look!!" in the funniest and ironic way possible

 

[25110]

"kratos doesnt wear much"

Please tell me more about how he wiggles his plump butt to the camera? :^)

I don't think any of them are sexist either, don't get me wrong, but people not wearing much isn't really comparable to actively trying to be sexy to the audience.

 

[eonia]

"kratos doesnt wear much"

Please tell me more about how he wiggles his plump butt to the camera? :^)

I don't think any of them are sexist either, don't get me wrong, but people not wearing much isn't really comparable to actively trying to be sexy to the audience.

well, kratos isnt intended to be sexy if some feminist say that bayonetta is sexist (because according to them the game is saying that not sexy woman arent human beings) then the same could it be said for kratos because men must be strong and manly and blahblahblihbloh (but it seems that the male sexism dont exist for the feminist)
but...SURPRISE, the games dont affect to anyone on real life, and the feminist who says that the game are sexist are only jeaolus of fictional characters