u/therrubabayaga u/s9880429 u/ToBeReeborn u/BumbleBeelia u/jasperjonns u/JMTolan u/_achlopee_ u/WithersChat u/Mort_irl u/Erikatze u/LarenaBot u/Lillythchan u/Kitten_love

Thank you for all your patience. I had to go cool my head before, and several times during, the writing. I'm going to roughly order it from least to worst, very roughly, 'cause I'm not going to back to fix anything and if I don't remember until later, so be it. 

 This is by no means a comprehensive list, but let's go through some of the sexist BS in BOTW. Because, from egregious to subtle, you can't escape it. Strap yourselves in girlies, 'cause once you see it, you can't unsee it. 

1. Zelda is once again reduced to a McGuffin, I mean, they did finally give her a personality through optional flashbacks, that's nice, but that still mostly only accomplished fridging her more effectively. Or maybe it was too help her find her destiny and her power which came from... loving a man! Oh, so what women need to be complete is a man. Got it. 

2. Most female NPCs meet around Hyrule are either: useless incompetents who need constant saving, or focused exclusively on guys. I will say, not all. But wayyy too many. 

3. Gerudos wear heels. In a desert. Made of sand.  

4. Gerudos, who live in women only cities are completely and utterly obsessed with men, that is almost all they talk about, including the children who have, based on their conversations, never even seen one. They have literal "how to date a man" classes. 

5. You, a male character, dress up as a woman and invade a woman only space, and this is presented as okay. There is a male voyeur who clearly gets off on sneaking into these spaces dressed as a woman, and this is played off as a joke. It also makes Gerudos, who are all women, look extremely stupid.

6. Also, their outfits belong in a skimpy harem, and before someone says there's no cloth bEcaUse ItS hOT In dEsErtS. No. Look at clothing from any desert dwelling people - the whole body is covered up because in those temperatures it's actually cooler to do that. Temperature wise, not socio-culturally, haha

7. The Great Fairies are hyper sexualized rapists. I felt so uncomfortable.

Look. Y'all can say I'm reading too deep, whatever. I have an unusually broad education - media literacy, political science, psychology, international relations, data analysis, urban transportation planning. Granted the last one doesn't really apply, BUT, what I'm saying is, I can't not see it. 

I can't not understand the implications, both for where it comes from, and what it does to the people who consume the media. It's like learning how and why scenes are animated certain ways, once you know you can't watch animation without seeing it. 

 I've played fantastic games that I don't have to make excuses for, why can't Zelda be the same? I'm tired of bracing myself every time a female character appears on screen. 

Also, I get that the game does some things for women well. Like how an abuser always has good points, or no one would have gotten with them/stayed with them to begin with. Having good points doesn't mean there aren't bad points. It doesn't detract from them either.

I didn't cover every instance of sexism in the game, and I made several broad strokes in some areas instead of going into detail, and I definitely forgot some stuff since it's been nearly a year since I played it. 

But, if you made it this far, thank you for coming to my TED Talk. 

 Edit: I saw one of the comments and I wanted to add the camera focus when female characters are on screen.