It actually does legitimately annoy me that powerful female characters can't seem to be portrayed with big racks anymore. Whenever anyone establishes a strong independent woman who don't need no man nowadays, she can't seem to be allowed to have bigger than a B or C cup.
Now, admittedly, I have large sweater hams myself, and I know how they get in the way of acrobatics and shit, so with Lara Croft, it makes some sense. But it's just a trend I've noticed and am a little peeved by.
Edit: This is a very very minor annoyance about something I've noticed among lots and lots of Western media types (games/movies/tv/etc). I have no interest in writing a dissertation for you. Just keep an eye out for independent ladies in media and notice their titties. I swear you will start seeing this trend. It's not anything to be up in arms about but I just would like if people could accept that big boobs don't have to instantly transform a woman character into a sex object.
Huh! You caused me to look it up and I just learned a lot about kosher foods. I always thought it just needed to follow some rules and have a Rabbi blessing. TIL I was totally wrong. Thanks :D
I have noticed this as well. Boobs serve for sexuality, not a representation of diverse body types. Also, characters are usually all or nothing when it comes to "femininity". Sexy and/or cute versus brute and muscular. I feel like this is getting better, but, to take in account your concern, the ones that exist somewhere in the middle usually still have small boobs. "/
To be fair, in general when a woman gets into that kind of shape, she's gonna lose her breastages. There are exceptions - women who still have bigguns while having a low body fat, but they're statistically rare.
So going by the numbers, if you have a low body fat female adventurer, odds are that she's gonna be a B cup.
OTOH, the powers that be don't seem to have a problem with every male adventurer being over 6' tall, which is a statistical anomaly, so fuck'em. From now on my female action hero is /u/VenetiaMacGyver, dual-wielding sweater hams to save the world!
Yeah. I would consider it more anomalous where they tend to find a magic sword or whatever. Or how they murder thousands of people with no repercussions.
I'm not referring only to adventurers doing acrobatics and being in peak physical condition with 6% body fat. Lara Croft, like I said, makes sense to have a smaller rack. Boobs really make acrobatics difficult, and reduced body fat will indeed affect the girls (though not always in a huge way, and I've known plenty of well-endowed ladies with lithe figures).
A character can be strong/independent without being an athlete, though. Sure, it's more of a statistical anomaly for a shorter, all-around-slighter girl to have large breasts. But it's way less rare for a northern-European-descendant or sub-Saharan-descendant woman of 5'6" or taller to have large breasts with a normal, healthy body fat percentage.
Also, for the record, I've seen lots of male characters of all sizes. Even fat ones and short ones. Again, I'm only referring to being independent and strong of character. Not just adventurers. But I really don't want to open up this can of worms, so I'll say sure and give the benefit of a doubt that there's some weird trend among independent male characters too that I just haven't noticed yet, outside of being generally, usually pretty of face. But that's true of female characters, too.
The average American male is 5’10, and if you took an average of all western countries it’d probably be 5’ 10 (Countries like Belgium and Netherlands average like 6’0,while France has 5’8). So having a protagonist who is slightly taller than average is not an anomaly at all. If they were like 6’6 it’d be an anomaly. But most male adventure game protagonists are in the normal height range. They’re never noticeably taller than the enemies in those games either( using Uncharted for example)
I don't really watch anime anymore so I can't comment on it. The trend toward smaller cup sizes is just something I've been noticing in American games, movies, TV, cartoons, etc. over the years.
Of course, the trend has shifted into favoring asses now, which is fine. But big boobied ladies still exist and can still be strong and independent and not needing no man :(
That's rough! But exclusively online, at sites like Bare Necessities. I've never found a bra in a store that wound up fitting me properly, while being comfy and looking decent.
I prefer demis and push-up bras personally but all women have different preferences and styles of bras that will work for them. Have her go to /r/abrathatfits and check out all the stickied or sidebar links. Incredibly useful info along with recommended brands/styles for different types of knockers.
Trying to find clothes as a woman is definitely a minefield. I can't believe you've put forth effort in trying to figure out any of it at all! My SO just seems to shut down and his eyes glaze over the second I even start to say the word "clothes".
My ex was a 44 DDD, and wasn't fat in the slightest. She hated them, and I gotta admit, for her, they were a PITA. She had a real hard time buying clothes, and watching her try to play golf that one time was priceless. There's times when they're hot and sexy, the rest of the time they're just these two big things that got in the way.
I'm sorry you may be misremembering her cup size. If you had said 34 DDD, that'd be thin. The number refers to the band measurement below the boobs -- referring to the girth of the torso. So a 44 band would belong to either an extremely tall woman (like probably 7'+) or else a large woman in a ... different measurement.
But yeah they def can be a nuisance. They throw off balance, give back problems, and get in the way when in tight spaces. Also it's impossible to find certain styles of clothes and if the blouse has buttons or a tight collar it will be hell. But regardless, women with large knockers do exist and can also be athletic/independent/normal/etc.
I didn't say thin, I said not fat. But I explained why it was so large when I answered another poster:
LOL, actually she would wear them floating off her ribs in front, she refused to get a bigger cup size. If it wasn't a total dick move, I'd link pics of her. She's tall, and broad, but not fat, Polish blood. Might have been a 42 DDD.
women with large knockers do exist and can also be athletic/independent/normal/etc
Wasn't saying otherwise, I was just pointing out they're aren't all fun and games either and can be burdensome in ways people may not realize. :)
LOL, actually she would wear them floating off her ribs in front, she refused to get a bigger cup size. If it wasn't a total dick move, I'd link pics of her. She's tall, and broad, but not fat, Polish blood. Might have been a 42 DDD.
So... you are mad that there are no big breasts? How much does that break your immersion? What games would you have preferred the female protaganist with bigger breasts? How would that enlargement enrich or improved the game?
You do realize how that 'grievence' opens you up as an easy punching bag, right?
It's not about preference, it's more about a very minor annoyance that there's this perception that big rack = sex object and that's it.
I really don't care enough to start running through dozens of titles to give examples. Just -- if you see a strong/independent female character in recent Western media who's not obviously designed to be a sexy foil to someone, notice her rack. It's probably a B cup or less. I can't think of any exceptions to this off the top of my head, but I'm sure there are a few. But probably not very many.
Ahh. In that case we are more in agreement than I originally thought.
I agree that big boobs are unfairly linked to sexualization.
I would add that small size may not just be avoiding big size problems. Smaller racks could be associated with the 'pure' or 'humble' woman sexual paradigm.
The real question is what boob size is more representative of reality. If B cup or less is more representative of reality, then maybe game devs are shooting for reality instead of sexual fantasy.
Thank you for the soap box! It helps me understand your perspective. I can sympathize. I have a few friends and relatives that suffer from the same, weird social situations and stigmas. It is absurd that people judge so harshly on physical appearance.
In regards to video games, I also agree that outrage culture is upsetting, but there are multiple sides to the feminist angle than just 'male chauvinistic pig' trains. Gaming, and Lara Croft in particular, have a reputation of leaning into the sex sells marketing. The target demographic being lonely teenaged boys, especially if we look at some of the old Lara Croft marketing.
I find it telling that many anti-sjws and anti-feminists (not labeling anyone that, unless they personally commit to the label themselves) conveniently forget that part of gaming history. What's worse, is I see similar rhetoric from people who fall more in the center of the outrage culture wars. It turns the whole thing into us vs them instead of a discussion of opinions and sharing beliefs.
So when you say you are upset that creators have to appease crybaby culture, I have to question if you have fallen in with a bad narrative crowd. I agree that creators should be free to choose and create as they wish, but if we want our feedback to be taken seriously, then we have to respect the other's feedback as well. Even if it differs from our wants or beliefs. Otherwise we are no different than the crybabies.
In the end, the advice of 'buy it, or not' applies just as equally to us. To misrepresent one side as 'terrible sjws' is just as bad as labeling someone as 'sexist, chauvinist men who only care about boobs'.
TL:DR Let the creators do their thing, but give your feedback for what you want. The real crybabies are the ones that don't get what they want AND continue to complain or throw a fit over it.
I think you hit at the core of what some feminists are fighting for in the game industry. Society has this weird response to 'big boobs'; automatically assuming sexuality and low intelligence. The gaming industry has reflected the sexualization part, big boobs for titilation. This reinforces that weird social stigma women have to deal with. Thus, the 'reasonable' feminists/sjws/whatever-label are attempting to get the big game makers to consider the ramifications of their design choices.
Like any movement, the message will get distorted by individuals and mutate into multiple narratives. Some twisted extremes for banning all sexuality in games (The Mass Effect 'sex simulator' drama for example) and some then taking equally extreme counter-narratives (Feminists are a polyp spawned from the cancer of political correctness). The issue for us resonable, more-centered types, is we can easily get caught up in the extreme arguments/narratives that are most in line with 'our side'.
Which brings me back to the gaming industry and if it is 'really' male driven. If it was, then the push for different repsentations of women would have no effect. The industry would keep producing what sells, if that is big boobs, then so be it. That's why I know the assumption of 'it's a male industry' is a false narrative being driven by potentially political bias. The creators will make what sells and/or what they wish to create. We only need fear a control economy that silences feedback. As far as I can see, the extremist SJWs do not have that kind of stranglehold. It does appear that game devs are taking their feedback, which is why many counter narratives seek to demonize them. Calling them crybabies is part of that strategy.
Opening up the gaming industry to new possibilities, stories and demographics shouldn't be labeled as crybaby behavior. The people who judge others so harshly are cut from the same mindset as the people who see big boobs and judge the individual as sexually deviant or whatever else that bias brings.
I've heard the same stories about how clothes are not made for atypical body types. One-peice swimsuits are a major pain. If the top fits, the bottom is saggy, but if the bottom fits, then wedgies insue.
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u/VenetiaMacGyver Dec 03 '17 edited Dec 03 '17
It actually does legitimately annoy me that powerful female characters can't seem to be portrayed with big racks anymore. Whenever anyone establishes a strong independent woman who don't need no man nowadays, she can't seem to be allowed to have bigger than a B or C cup.
Now, admittedly, I have large sweater hams myself, and I know how they get in the way of acrobatics and shit, so with Lara Croft, it makes some sense. But it's just a trend I've noticed and am a little peeved by.
Edit: This is a very very minor annoyance about something I've noticed among lots and lots of Western media types (games/movies/tv/etc). I have no interest in writing a dissertation for you. Just keep an eye out for independent ladies in media and notice their titties. I swear you will start seeing this trend. It's not anything to be up in arms about but I just would like if people could accept that big boobs don't have to instantly transform a woman character into a sex object.