My Opinion Editorial

My Opinion Editorial Overview:

This following assignment is an opinion editorial paper. As part of this assignment, I had to pick out a topic that was of interested to me and argue a certain opinion or standpoint on it. My topic of choice was discussing how the sexual portrayal of female characters in video games impacts men and women. Furthermore, I argued that the sexual depiction of these characters has a number of negative effects on the minds of both male and female players alike. To support my claims, I provide and quote a number of sources, many of them being scholarly articles, and use their ideas and statements to argue my position. Afterwards, I explain the reason why female video game characters are often portrayed in sexually demeaning ways. Ultimately, I finish off my providing a proper solution to try and end this problem.

By the time I began writing this assignment, I have been the most confident in my writing skills. At this point, I had almost completely freed myself from my "perfectionist" mentality, and now approached assignments in a more curious, fun, and progressive way. I especially felt this way in this assignment as I was writing about a topic that interested me.

Positive Aspects Of This Paper

This most positive aspect of this case is that I am incredibly descriptive in the way that I introduce my op-ed sources, list its authors, talk about the goal of such sources, that all together to my argument. By doing so, I am able to maximize my writing's cohesion. The way I am very descriptive in my introduction of sources is as follows:

This is best explained by “Female Characters from Adult-Only Video Games Elicit a Sexually Objectifying Gaze in Both Men and Women”, by Ross C. Hollett, Helen Morgan, Nigel T. M. Chen, and Gilles E. Gignac, who are all researchers at Edith Cowan University and the University of Western Australia, two prominent universities in Australia. The core goal of their article is to show how men and women gaze at sexually objectified game characters differently. (Paragraph 2)

Although these types of depictions of women are common among all types of media, their presence in video games is especially harmful. This is put into words by “Sex, Lies, and Video games: The Portrayal Of Male And Female Characters On Video Game Covers” by Melinda C. R. Burgess, Steven Paul Stermer, and Stephen R. Burgess, who are members of the Department of Psychology at Southwestern Oklahoma State University. This scholarly article focuses on comparing how male and female characters are portrayed in video games, arguing that while males are portrayed more frequently, female characters are more likely to be presented in sexually objectifying ways. Ultimately, it aims to show how the way male and female characters are portrayed differently can have a negative effect on gamers. (Paragraph 2)

When discussing women’s impacts to being exposed to sexually objectified characters, they’re body image and self-esteem are negatively struck. This is best supported by “The effects of sexualized video game characters and character personalization on women's self-objectification and body satisfaction.” By Marika Skowronski, Robert Busching, and Barbara Krahe. All three authors of this article have written and collaborated on a number of works discussing the impacts of sexual imagery on social media, television, or commercials on people's perceptions on their own body and the bodies of others. The aim of this article in particular, is to inform the reader of the effects of sexualized imagery in video games, and how it can be just as harmful as similar imagery seen on other sources of social media such as television, movies, commercials, and digital platforms. (Paragraph 3)

Another interesting fact is presented by “Effects of the sexualization of female characters in video games on gender stereotyping, body esteem, self-objectification, self-esteem, and self-efficacy” by Elizabeth Behm-Morawitz, a Ph.D. professor and chairperson of the Department of Communication at the University of Missouri, whose work specializes in researching how different types of media media influence people’s perceptions and experiences with identity. The purpose of this source is to discuss the stereotypical and negative ways in which women are portrayed in video games, and how they reinforce gender stereotypes and influence players’ self-esteem, self-objectification, and self-efficacy. (Paragraph 3)

On the other hand, when men look at hypersexualized female characters in games, they are largely impacted by something called the “male gaze”. This is best explained by “Understanding the Male Gaze and How It Objectifies Women” by Sarah Vanbuskirk, a senior health, wellness, and lifestyle writer with over 20 years of experience. The goal of this article is to teach readers about what the male gaze is and how it influences the way women are portrayed across media, as well as how men begin to view women as objects of desire. (Paragraph 4)

 Another effect that men face is explained by a Harvard University study titled: “Bigger Isn’t Always Better: An Assessment of the Use of Hypersexualized Video Game Character Models and Player Preference in Video Games”, written by graduate student Sierra Marie Hall. This study aims to evaluate the impact of hypersexualized character designs on players’ preference for purchasing and playing a certain game, as well as the sociocultural attitudes towards appearance of the player. (Paragraph 4)

Areas of Improvement

As seen in the grade rubric for this assignment, there are three particular areas that are labeled as "progressing" meaning that it could still be better in a number of ways. These areas are the introduction, the use of in-text citations, and the way my op-ed sources are contextualized.

Problem With The Introduction:

From what I see, the main problem with my introduction is how according to the rubric, I did not provide context, to give myself credibility to write about this topic. Something that I could have done to show credibility it talk about how I am a gamer myself, and have experienced the negative effects of the sexual depiction of female characters. Readers would have more of a reason to want to listen to someone that has gone through the issues talked about in a written paper, so doing so would give me more credibility and make my message more powerful

Problems With My In-Text Citations:

Looking back at the way I cite quotes, I didn't see any major problems as I introduced, used, and explained in a very descriptive and effective manner. On one of my scholarly articles however, I did not mention where I had gotten a particular quote. This damaged the credibility of that source as me not specifying where it came from doesn't prove that it actually came from that source. The source that I forgot to label where I found is below:

Her work on this discussion states that “women who have played video games with sexualized avatars reported higher rates of victim blaming, rape-myth acceptance, and lower self-efficacy.” (Paragraph #).  (Paragraph 3). 

Like I said, I believe the way I used in-text citations in this this assignment was better than I had ever done so beforehand. I find it unfortunate that this tiny mistake took away from a better grade on the way I cited sources. Even so, this mistake doesn't mean that I am poor at citing sources.

Problems With How Op-Ed Sources Are Contextualized:

The way I contextualize my op-ed sources is something I honestly don't see any issues with. My contextualization of each op-ed matched exactly for how they would get full credit on the rubric. By the way I described and presented the sources above (introducing the sources' name and its author(s), explaining its goal or purpose, and tying the source to my arguments), I think I contextualized these op-ed sources in the most adequate, cohesive, and impactful way possible.

Problems With Paragraph Structure:

Throughout the editorial I tend to put a lot of topics in the same paragraph making, making the structure choppy and not cohesive. This is prevalent in the third paragraph, where I talk about the following three subjects all in the same paragraph: The negative impacts of sexual character depiction on women, how they make them trivialize women's issues, and how the sexual portrayal of female characters in games has a negative effect on both males and females.

this study showed that women being exposed to sexualized female characters is negatively correlated with lower body self-esteem among them, proving that these particular character depictions and players’ self-esteem are directly related. (Paragraph 3)
Her work on this discussion states that “women who have played video games with sexualized avatars reported higher rates of victim blaming, rape-myth acceptance, and lower self-efficacy.” (Paragraph 3)

All in all, the sexual manner in which female characters are depicted in video games makes women more self-conscious about their bodies and makes them underplay women’s issues. (Paragraph 3)

This issue is also present in the fourth paragraph, where I talk about the following topics in the same space: The male gaze, how men exposed to sexualized characters show trivial attitudes towards women's issues, and how male and females both sharing trivial attitudes towards such issues harms them in an even greater extent.

 the male gaze is described as “a way of portraying and looking at women that empowers men while sexualizing and diminishing women.” (Paragraph 4)

 the study states that “men who view images of sexualized female characters and play video games with sexualized female characters have greater tolerance for sexual harassment and rape myth acceptance.” (Paragraph 4)

The significance of this, is how when considering how women who play with sexualized avatars also tend to look at women’s issues in a trivial manner, having exposed men also share this mindset trivializes women’s societal issues to a greater extent. (Paragraph 4)

As it can be seen, I talk about too many topics in a single paragraph, which is the reason why the structure for this editorial was labeled as "progressing".

However, this doesn't take away from the fact that the way I argue my claims, present evidence, and use cohesion throughout this editorial is an embodiment of the way I have improved my writing skills in this class.