Researchers look at 31 years of female characters in games
Four Media School students are authors of “Sexy, Strong, and Secondary: A Content Analysis of Female Characters in Video Games across 31 Years,” published online June 30 in the Journal of Communication.
Doctoral students Teresa Lynch, Jessica E. Tompkins, Irene I. van Driel and Niki Fritz analyzed in-game content from titles released between 1983 and 2014 featuring playable female characters. They found that sexualization has diminished since an observed height in the 1990s. Traditionally male-oriented genres (e.g. fighting) have more sexualized characters than role-playing games.
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