Video Games and Gender.

My favorite video game growing up definitely had to be Killer Instinct. I remember going over my uncle's house, sitting in front of his television and playing it on the SNES for hours. I actually have a SNES emulator on my computer and play it occasionally when class gets boring or need a study break.

The best part of Killer Instinct was that you could pick your character's outfit color: green, blue, gray, pink, yellow, orange, white, or red. You could pick Cinder, a naked, flame male, and make him pink. Yup. You could pick Spinal the skeleton and make him red. How awesome.

However, the creators of Killer Instinct only included one female character in the game, Orchid. She was scantily clad and was thin with large breasts. As a little girl, I of course always picked Orchid and eventually mastered all her moves and when I got bored of her I masted Cinder, the naked flame man, and made him pink. At least I had some options.

Given the options, I'm sure I would've enjoyed playing other video games if they included female characters. The only other game I remember playing was Donkey Kong Country 2 which also had a female character. Other games such as Mario and Super Ghouls n' Ghost did not interest me as much and I grew bored and never mastered them. Perhaps having a gender option in video games would encourage females to play more.

Pop Culture TV Back in the Day

I was surprised to learn this Wednesday afternoon that homosexuality and cross-dressing has been portrayed in films since the very beginning. Considering American history and the "Roaring 20s", it is no wonder that the film industry embraced homosexuality instead of sweeping it under the rug. From Charlie Chaplin films to movies such as As You Like It and Glen or Glenda, cross-dressing has been featured in films from the very beginning. Viewed as comical and ironic, cross-dressing today is still viewed very similarly . Movie trailers for movies such as Sherlock Holmes: 2 continue to put an emphasis on cross-dressing as comic relief.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHBHMtl9YWw

The fact that homosexuality and cross-dressing continues to be portrayed as a way of comedy says much about a larger issues today: acceptance. After roughly 90 years of film, cross-dressing is still viewed as comical, reflecting upon implied gender roles. Why are men not supposed to wear make-up? Why is it more accepted and even considered sexy when females try to appeal to both sexes? What does this say about the hierarchical gender structure? Will there be improvements for the future?

These are all questions that one must wrestle with on a daily basis in order to change society's perception on gender and sex. One can be what one desires to be.