There has been tons written about Bayonetta’s character, whether she is *gak* “Empowering” or just “Eye Candy.” I wanted to write something different about her, though so many people have done some excellent jobs already, I wanted to talk about how difficult it is to negotiate these waters, as a woman, having internalized ideas about sexuality.
The problem is, sexuality is personal. One gamer’s idea of sexy and fun is another gamer’s exploitation. Who are we, (we bloggers, we feminists, we gamers) to decide what is acceptable? And you know my personal problem in this situation? I can’t make up my mind one way or another.
Bayonetta is difficult to read through a feminist lens. She has absurdly long legs, an outfit that reveals all the appropriate places, she has kooky glasses, a lollypop and a cheeky wink. But, her high heels have GUNS on them, she kills multiple enemies and giant baddies without help, she goes out looking for things to kill, she pays a man to make her cool weapons and, when she gets really excited, her hair creates monsters, AND; SHE’S NAKED! Her nemesis (or friend, who knows at this stage in the game) is another woman. When she meets a child we discover she’s not the maternal type. There’s a guy trying to say he’s her worst nightmare, but he’s less than insignificant to her. The game even passes the Bechdel Test.
Know, what? To some people, that’s cool, that’s video gaming, that’s a female interpretation of a versatile lead character, cos, ya know, women are sexy and sh*t.
Which is, obviously, wherein lies the problem for other people. Dousing our powerful Bayonetta in sexual imagery is part of the old trope. If women are only for two things (sh*gging and ogling), then their agency MUST be to do with their image and performance of sexuality. This, in itself, is problematic, but it’s problematic of society as a whole, not solely in this microcosm of a game and its surrounding discourse. Although I don’t agree with a lot of it, Ariel Levy covered this in Female Chauvinist Pigs, some women are buying into the ideology of sexual performance, to them, it isn’t damaging. They enjoy it. Yes, it’s probably a problem in a wider context. BUT pointing this out to women who are already invested in the ideology isn’t going to improve matters. It puts people on the defensive because it comes off as trying to enforce a different world view that they cannot recognise.
And, I’m sure most people would agree, it’s problematic to demand that women behave in a certain sexual manner that is different to what they know and enjoy.
So, yes, some women are going to find Bayonetta sexy, fun and powerful. At times, I admit it, I find that too. At other times, she annoys the hell out of me. Being English myself, her accent is unbearably OTT, like she’s supposed to be a sexy S&M librarian or something. The gratuitous cut scenes are, personally, beyond the pale – I don’t need to see her with her legs splayed, flashing me her crotch, but, at the same time, it’s so exaggerated that it feels like parody.
Which begs the questions: how much sexuality is applicable for a character? How would it be possible to steer away from the pornographic styling seen here, but keep an air of sexuality? There seems to always be the question of ‘why should female characters always be about sex?’ but how about the question of ‘why shouldn’t they?’
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