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Can Mortal Kombat Ever Bridge the Gender Gap?

Can Mortal Kombat Ever Bridge the Gender Gap?

Mortal Kombat and fighting games like it are unappealing to women gamers because they are marketed and socialized as “just for boys,” feature the hyper-sexualization of both sexes, and add unnecessary sexualization to “finishing” moves. This is particularly frustrating because if this game wasn’t like this, I would be more than happy to button mash my way through a gruesome fight.

Marketing is often the cause of this gendered gaming, perpetuating a stereotype through the most heavily sexualized advertising in America. “Cool” and “masculine” are probably the two best words to describe most video game advertising. Take the Mortal Kombat X poster for example, where Scorpion is poised in his tell-tale yellow armor. Out of all the many characters in Mortal Kombat , they picked the most iconic. Scorpion, along with a few other reoccurring characters in the series, defines the game series by his overbearing stature. His muscled physique is that of a body builder and his pose is clearly ready for combat. The poster says everything about the game that a woman needs to know – the over-the-top masculine figure and the fighting stance speak to the needless aggression and strong competitive attitudes that the game epitomizes.

The hyper-sexualization of both sexes does not appeal to most female gamers. These characters are not realistic enough to be considered seriously, as some female gamers see this as a “silliness” that is just part of the series. For some, this is appealing. These ladies will laugh at every flexed bicep and floating balloon boobs. For some, like me, it’s appalling. The huge muscles imply, to me, a violence that makes me extremely uncomfortable. In a game series that promotes the ideology that violence solves all problems, the latter is a dangerous implication.

The worst sin of all in Mortal Kombat is the way in which it sexualizes murder. Every fatality move against the female characters, and sometimes the male ones too, is sexualized in some way. For example, one of Mileena’s fatality moves, in Mortal Kombat X , against another female character is tearing at her mid-section until there is nothing left. The very act of focusing on there and the separation of chest and ass, focuses attention on the sexual organs of breasts, ass, and vagina. Sexualizing murder isn’t a new concept, however that doesn’t make it any less wrong in Mortal Kombat .

Can Mortal Kombat Ever Bridge the Gender Gap?

German painter Otto Dix expresses the wrongness of sexuaqlized murder more eloquently than words can. For Dix, the female sex is the object of a savage and murderous primitivism. One such image, titled Lustmord , translating literally as ‘sex murder,’ portrays a dead, prostrate female figure with her genitalia bloodily mutilated. The composition’s savagery is echoed in Dix’s heavy, expressionistic hand, effectively scarring the metal plates upon which the image is etched. The crime recorded by Dix is two-fold, the brutal slaying second only to the sex act itself. The cramped nature of the brothel room, combined with a distanced perspective and forensic manner, evoke an almost staged snapshot of real life. This image puts Mortal Kombat ‘s sexualized murders in perspective, reminding us that the subject matter is deadly serious; not at all fun.

The posters that scream for men and boys to play a totally awesome fighter game, balloon boobs, terrifying body builders, and the savage sexualization of murder all sums up to the Mortal Kombat series. It is no wonder why this fighter game series is unappealing and even “toxic” to most women gamers.

Image Credit: AsherWarr

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