Game devs’ love for heels is damaging female gamers

By Francesca Ricciardi

Female characters in video games are often portrayed with an outdated concept of femininity. Why is that?

Almost half of the female characters on Overwatch have been designed to wear heels. And while a few of them have been spared some pain with kitten heels, other female heroes such as Symmetra are expected to run around the battlefield with Lady Gaga-esque stilettoes – and how unrealistic is that?

Photo credits: Blizzard Entertainment Inc.

The same applies to other well-known games. Take The Witcher’s co-protagonist, Ciri, for example. Yes, she’s wearing high heels, too.

The video game industry clearly harbours unrealistic expectations of women from all backgrounds. Does not wearing heels make a woman less of a woman, simply because it does not serve the hot-blooded heterosexual male gaze? Does not wearing heels necessarily make a woman more of a tomboy?

In the United Kingdom, countless women are victims of workplace discrimination everyday, as many employers are not above forcing them to wear heels as part of the company’s dress code.

“The portrayal of female characters in video games is a product of what a male audience desires and does not necessarily represent what women like,” says Giulia Calio, a shopping assistant at CeX and nerd culture fan.

In fact, playing on a console or PC is still regarded as a male-dominated activity, despite women making up about 46 per cent of gamers in the UK.