In the covers of two out of ten video games marketed in Spain in 2015 appear a woman with the role of sexual object. It is one of the conclusions of the study carried out by the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) that analyzes the female presence in these covers from 2011 to 2015. The work of the researchers Noelia García Castillo, from the Research Group on Agent-based, Social & Interdisciplinary Applications (GRASIA), and Tamara Bueno Doral, from the Faculty of Information Sciences, both from the UCM, has been published in the journal Prisma Social.

The rate in 2011 was of 24.5% of covers with hypersexualized women. This figure dropped to 19.4% in 2015 but, according to the researchers, is still high.

“The fact that now roles of sexual object or dependent woman continue to spread for youth and children’ audiences is still alarming,” says Noelia García Castillo.

Of the total number of covers analyzed in which women appeared in 2015, 16.1% showed them dependent on another character, usually a man. The proportion of self-sufficient women (which is the most common in the covers) declines slightly, from 66.4% in 2011 to 64.5% in 2015. The work also shows a decrease in violence in female characters, from 29.1% to 24.7%.

“In video games, women appear in a much lower percentage than men, and when they do, they are more likely to be hypersexualized as sexual or subordinate objects to a male character,” says Tamara Bueno Doral.

The slight improvements in the treatment of women observed could be due, according to the researchers, to the complaints of consumers. These are increasingly opposed to these gender stereotypes, both in the content of video games and in advertising.


Reference: Noelia García Castillo and Tamara Bueno Doral. Women’s image on video game covers: a comparative analysis of the Spanish market (2011-2015) . Prisma Social, n. 1, May 2016. ISSN: 1989-3469.

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