March 30th, 2012Top StoryMaxim Has a Weird 'Gamer Girl' FetishBy Jason Schreier
Clearly the magazine doesn't realize that this is 2012. Now on one hand, picking on Maxim for objectifying women might be like picking on a dog for licking its own feces. It's just what they do. On the other hand, this is more than just objectification. By turning the idea of Gamer Girl into a sexual fantasy alongside the likes of common dreams like Sexy School Girl or The Girl Next Door, Maxim is fetishizing the 42% of gamers who happen to be women. Girls who play video games are no longer human beings who enjoy a certain form of entertainment. Now they're caricatures. Can you imagine a full-page spread on "Girls Who Read Books?" Would Maxim readers get off to "Filmgoing Vixens"? I have absolutely no problem with girls showing their skin in Maxim. It's empowering for many models and enjoyable for many readers. But this idea that Gamer Girl should be a category of its own, that the girls who enjoy video games should be placed on some pedestal and treated like a precious unicorn to be captured and worshiped by men everywhere, is absolutely sickening. Check out the comments on Maxim's piece. Some readers are hilariously acerbic; others are actually interested in the contest:
The most disgusting part of this whole thing? High-profile gaming publisher EA supports this. Casting Call: Maxim Gamer Girl [Maxim via EA] (Photo (C) Bryan Sikora / Stockfresh) |
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