The majority of games with humanoid characters will use the
standard recognised male and female as the two sexes/genders, primarily because
that is the understood norm in all forms of media and is easy for the viewer to
quickly accept the gender factor and focus on its other features and
personality; this also includes sexuality in game.
There are some games that like to have one or more
characters that warp the gender binary to either create unique characters or to
add awareness on people who do not fit the gender/sex binary.
The book Beyond Barbie & Mortal Kombat (Kafai et al.
2008) has a section that talks about Gender Definitions as Diverse and Fluid
with people today, it talks about how girls and boys today would dress and
style differently which goes against the “traditional” gender dress code of
boys and girls. It’s all about experimenting during their teenage years to
develop their own identity that fits them best, some carry it on into their
later years and some discontinue and revert to the “traditional” gender
binaries after their young adult years.
Some examples gender fluid people would be men may remove
hair from their body, wear tighter clothing or even wear skirt/skirt like
garments to express a feminine side. The vice versa can partially apply to
women who express a more masculine side, however many women openly wear
“masculine” clothing which can be viewed as being slightly tomboyish and is
generally far more accepted to most of society in comparison to feminine males.
Transgender and Transsexual people would also be included in
the gender fluidity spectrum but also stay inside the gender binary because
only their birth bodies do not conform to their true internal gender. Those who
identify as Gender-Queer, Third Gender, Androgyny or some of the other various
genders who also express themselves to best fit to that gender would be
considered outside the gender binary.
One of the oldest characters from games that would reflect gender
fluidity would be Birdo (was mistakenly switched with the name Ostro but later
corrected) from Super Mario Bros 2 on the Nintendo Entertainment System, according
to the manual Birdo “thinks he is a girl, He’d rather be called Birdetta”, the
terminology used here suggests that “he” is transgender without correctly describing
it.
With Super Smash Bros. Brawl has used a different approached
to describe Birdo’s identity by saying “it” has an “indeterminate gender” and
“would rather be called Birdetta”, the big difference here from the Super Mario
Bros 2 is it uses a gender neutral description rather than a badly written
transgender description which creates a different perspective on Birdetta’s
gender.
Another example of a character that exists outside the
traditional gender binary is Makoto from Ubisoft’s Enchanted Arms, he has been
described as a flamboyant transvestite which becomes very suggestive during the
gameplay as his clothes are made up from bright primary colours, wearing a
skirt over his trousers and uses makeup. Makoto’s personality can also be
considered to be effeminate with the way he projects his voice, his poses and
his flirty nature with his crush Toya.
Later in the game Makoto also shows an example of gender
stereotype entrapment by dressing as a macho man. The reason for this he has to
find and save Toya and does not want to let his feminine identity become judged
by his dangerous actions. This is a common negative stereotype associated with
a lot of women that they cannot get involved any dangerous activities and that
men are to take responsibilities for such matters, so in this case Makoto sees
that he cannot be himself while he goes on the dangerous mission to help save
Toya.
Reading from the book Camp by Editor Fabio Cleto it talks
about a song sang by the Kinks from 1970 describing a relationship being a ci
man and a transvestite called Lilo, it talks about a man who goes on a date
with a man that looks like a woman but acts like a man. An example of early
music that depicts about people who live outside the gender binary.
There are some games which has placed some characters in obligated
positions than involves faking the other sex in order to proceed through
certain objectives, this is like a temporary gender bender situation for these
characters as it shows just for a little while in a form of opposite sex until
the mission is completed.
A fine example of this is Cloud Strife in Final Fantasy VII
where he temporary cross dresses as female to get inside a brothel in order to
save his girlfriend Tifa, Aerith comes up with the idea and takes Cloud to various
places to get him different accessories to help with his female appearance such
as a dress, a wig, make up and a tiara, when inside the brothel the character
chosen by the Don for “company” is decided on the materials worn by Cloud,
normally his decision is Tifa.
Another example I have found which involves disguising one
self’s gender into sneaking into an establishment is Rex Nebular and the Cosmic
Gender Bender released in 1992, the game involves a planet entirely inhabited
by women after man and woman had a war there and a valuable vase is said to be
and the Protagonist Rex is sent there to find and take it back. Because the
population is completely female Rex is given the option to temporarily switch his
sex to female so he can go to the planet undetected by its inhabitants by the
Cosmic Gender Bender. The machine is mainly used to allow the female inhabitants
to temporary switch to male in order to allow them to continue breeding.
For me personally I like some of the gender twist scenarios implemented
into games as it gives them a little more edge on some of the character by
giving them an additional persona for a short amount of time in the game making
the characters that extra bit unique.
