In this back to school edition of Speak Up on Kotaku, commenter Paradox me wants to know what the big deal is about a scantily-clad high school cheerleader flashing her panties while taking out zombies with a chainsaw.
Kind of surprised that folks are upset about Lollipop Chainsaw. Well, not really surprised, but still.
Sure, Juliet isn't exactly the most tasteful portrayal of a woman, but who cares? She's a character in a video game that boasts an absolutely ridiculous premise. Are the actions of a fictitious girl truly detrimental to the image of females everywhere?
Now, I'm a man, so I'm sure it's easier for me to brush off scantily clad females in games and other forms of entertainment, but men are also portrayed by video games in a number of ways that are not flattering or cool whatsoever, regardless of what 12-year-old boys may think.
To me, it isn't much different than the racism claims in Resident Evil 5. Majini were not accurate representations of black people, not all Italians are turtle-hating plumbers, and women in general are not chainsaw wielding, underboob/panty flashing cheerleaders yelling obscenities as they cut zombies in half.
Perhaps we should focus our attention not on a video game character, but on real men and women that are sending the wrong messages, or even parents that let their children leave the house dressed like Paris Hilton. Turn on the MTV, or just about any channel these days, you'll see what I'm talking about. Video games are the least of our worries.
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