https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYqYLfm1rWA#t=170

I find this rather interesting, actually. The fact that male is viewed as the default and that other people have to be differentiated is something that seems unfair. But I have an explanation for this that might either complement or be more accurate than Sarkeesian’s view. (Anita Sarkeesian is a Canadian-American feminist, media critic and blogger)

I think the human mind is simply has its limits. We stereotype because there is so much information we have to sift through. Most of it is not done out of malice at all, but rather because we have to make sense of the world. A lot of the information in stereotypes may be incorrect, and taking measures to correct that in the media is certainly a good thing. However, I do think our limits are partially to blame for how we view the world.

Now, if we’re looking purely at statistics, what type of person would be the most representative of humanity? A Chinese person. However, the vast majority of Chinese people live in, well, China. And China has the largest percentage of the world population. They are a minority in the United States…where most people are white. In contrast, Japan, where a lot of video games come from, the default would more than likely be a Japanese person. Of course, lack of numbers can’t explain the gender gap in video games since there are a roughly equal number of men and women in the world. There is certainly a power differential at work here. But tell me, when you think of a human being, should we think of some sort of featureless blob? Well, no. I think we can imagine what would happen if we did. But can you think of all the variations within humanity at exactly the same time? I doubt you can. You could make a list, but it’s not going to happen simultaneously. And really, would it be any better for say, a Latina woman to be seen as the default? My logic says no, but your mileage may vary on this.

So really, I think having features to differentiate the genders is a very minor issue compared to the stereotypes paired with them. Why not have a female character wearing both lipstick and a bow and be an intellectual scientist? Or a tough fighter? Or a sensitive poet? The personality is what matters, not the superficial features.