A Content Analysis of Female Body Imagery in Video Games

Abstract

The 150 top-selling video games sold in the U.S. across nine platforms were content analyzed to study representations of female bodies. All human females in the games were captured via screenshot and body parts measured. These measurements were then compared to actual anthropometric data drawn from a representative sample of 3,000 American women. The results show that female video game characters at low levels of photorealism are systematically larger than the average American woman whereas female characters at the highest level of photorealism are systematically thinner. This study also found that games rated for children featured females that are thinner than characters in games rated for adults. These findings are discussed in terms of cultivation theory.

What is a True Gamer? The Male Gamer Stereotype and the Marginalization of Women in Video Game Culture

“…Indeed, the lack of aspirational female characters compared to male characters in current video games may indicate that the target audience is assumed to consist mostly of young men (Behm-Morawitz & Mastro, 2009;Burgess et al, 2007;Dill & Thill, 2007;Downs & Smith, 2010;Martins et al, 2009;Ogletree & Drake, 2007;Soukup, 2007;Williams, Martins, et al, 2009). Although it can be argued that this lack of female representation in video games does not deter women from playing (Daviault & Schott, 2013;Reinhard, 2009), it might still limit identification with the gamer label and thus negatively influence women's willingness to perform their gamer identity visibly (Burch & Wiseman, 2015).…”

“…The video game industry continues to create content that panders towards the presumed preferences of a young, male, heterosexual audience. These preferences are reflected in both a lack of female video game characters and hyper-sexualization of the female characters that do exist (Behm-Morawitz & Mastro, 2009;Burgess, Stermer, & Burgess, 2007;Dill & Thill, 2007;Downs & Smith, 2010;Martins, Williams, Harrison, & Ratan, 2009;Ogletree & Drake, 2007;Soukup, 2007;Williams, Martins, Consalvo, & Ivory, 2009). The marginalization of women in gaming also receives widespread attention outside the scientific discourse; for example, Anita Sarkeesian's (Sarkeesian, 2013) video series titled "Tropes versus Women in Video Games" criticizes the stereotypical and negative roles of female characters in video games.…”

Content Analysis—A Methodological Primer for Gender Research

“…For example, Eschholz et al (2002) invoked theories of cognitive effects of exposure to gender role portrayals, Dietz (1998) referenced Gerbner's cultivation theory of perceptual effects of media images, and Milburn et al (2001) cited past research to back the notion that gender stereotyping can affect self-concept, the evaluation of others, and task performance. Other important media effects theories that have served well as bases for content analyses include social cognitive theory (e.g., Cressman et al 2009), agenda setting and priming (e.g., Balmas and Scheafer 2010), framing (e.g., Pan et al 2010), cultivation (e.g., Cressman et al 2009Martins et al 2009), anduses andgratifications (e.g., Ebersole 2000). In sum, theory and past research on message effects may serve as the logical basis for content analyses of suspected influential content.…”

“…For example, some studies of online content have focused on what web users actually attend to, unobtrusively recording their web activity (e.g., Danaher et al 2006;Jansen and Spink 2006;Mastro et al 2002). Further, content analyses of video games have adopted the practice of using a set of recorded gaming sessions as the content, rather than a hypothetical population of all potential content for a given game (e.g., Haninger and Thompson 2004;Martins et al 2009;Weber et al 2009). …”

“…Indeed, perhaps no substantive area has been more thoroughly content analyzed across all media than that of the roles of males and females (Neuendorf 2002). Studies have compared male and female behaviors and attributes for domestic and international content in media ranging from film and television (e.g., Fernandez-Villanueva et al 2009;Smith 1999) to children's books (Anderson and Hamilton 2005), men's magazines (Ricciardelli et al 2010), video games (e.g., Martins et al 2009), radio talk shows (Brinson and Winn 1997), and even postage stamps (Ogletree et al 1994) and birth congratulatory cards (Bridges 1993). Research on gender images in advertising seems to be particularly popular in recent years (An and Kim 2007;Baker 2005;Fullerton and Kendrick 2000;Ibroscheva 2007;Lindner 2004;Messineo 2008;Odekerken-Schroder et al 2002;Uray and Burnaz 2003;Valls-Fernandez and Martinez-Vicente 2007).…”