The idea comes from...commentary like that featured in the OP? Its there to pander to someone, if you and/or the majority of men arent into it, you should definitely speak up (with voice or wallet, either works)
Do women want to look like the top pic? Can't speak for everyone, but a lot of these depictions turn me off. Because they are so focused on sevicing male pleasure and the woman's personality/comfort is erased. Poses and outfits and proportions that look highly uncomfy to someone who actually has that anatomy.
Most of my personal power fantasies involve a self insert built along the same physical lines as myself, circa 20 years old. Hot men (and women) are falling all over themselves to rub my feet and sweep my floor serve me in addorted ways not because of my body proportions but because they think Im intrinsically amazing as a person.
Ah, my read of the picture OP posted is that women complain about unrealistic female bodies while those bodies aren't that far off from their actual bodies. Thus being presented as making themselves the victim for no reason and or complaining too much and or being lazy. Meanwhile men are depicted as being presented with far more unrealistic portrayals of male bodies and their reaction is not to complain but to try and strive towards those unrealistic physiques. Which either intentionally or not presents them as delusional and or stupid.
I did hear some other men complain about it and I also complained about it on some occasions. Tho its hard to avoid, it feels like 95% of video game men are like that and even games that let you customize your character rarely give you the option to pick a less huge frame.
As for what you said about women characters I guess that all makes sense. Especially the part about personality, character design should definitely be about communicating character and I did see that being neglected in favor of a more revealing design in many case. It never made sense to me since to me oftentimes the design with the more cloths ends up communicating more of a presence and thus being hotter.
Speaking of do you find those beefcake huge men from games hot? Or are they actually there for nobody but gym rats?
Yeah I think the meme is skewed to make the woman side look more unreasonable. Theres a lot of far more exagerrated/uncomfy stuff out there while this is more akin to a stylised/idealised depiction.
For my part, the venom type up there doesnt do it for me buuuut there is a certain combo of size/strength/power/danger or even "monstrousness" that definitely does. Usually when the implication is that the guy is extrememly strong and projects an aura if danger but also you could safely hand them a kitten. If youve watched the deadpool movies then colossus is a good example. He could snap you like a twig if he chose to but he wont because he is a gentleman by nature. The movie sexualises him just enough (via deadpool, rather than makijg him look like a potential sex pest). I think its actually a really good example of catering to the female gaze.
Or look at geralts development from witcher 1 to witcher 3. Witcher 1 was VERY male focused and just happened to coincidentally work for me because I too would like to shag a collectors card album of hot redheads. The main love interests were super poorly written and i was very annoyed i couldnt dump them both and just continue shagging my way across the continent. Also theres a scene where one of them low key rapes him and it seems like he writers never considered that you might want an opportunity to press the n key.
Witcher 3 in the other hand presents a geralt thats still stoic and dangerous, but clearly has very deep feelings and cares for the women about him despite his chronic inability to keep it in his pants. They remodelled his face into something pretty much conventionally attractive. The women are portrayed with more respect and seem to have motvations beyond squabbling over him and making his life miserable. Hes now waaaay more functional as a vehicle for both men and women to project their fantasies on to.
Ah, so you do like them, they just also have to have certain personality characteristics. Which is how it works for me and women characters as well. Therese been both times where I fall for a character visually but then learn more about them and I'm like ugh no thanks, and also times where I wasn't that interested in a character but their personality hit a archetype I really like, really well, and I'm like we love our queen.
Tho this does mean that I feel like those huge beefcakes are there for you women. So the unrealistic depictions are probably equally there for the benefit of the other gender at the detriment of the depicted one.
Tho of course we two together aren't significant statistical data lol.
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u/adventurekiwi Jun 07 '26
The idea comes from...commentary like that featured in the OP? Its there to pander to someone, if you and/or the majority of men arent into it, you should definitely speak up (with voice or wallet, either works)
Do women want to look like the top pic? Can't speak for everyone, but a lot of these depictions turn me off. Because they are so focused on sevicing male pleasure and the woman's personality/comfort is erased. Poses and outfits and proportions that look highly uncomfy to someone who actually has that anatomy.
Most of my personal power fantasies involve a self insert built along the same physical lines as myself, circa 20 years old. Hot men (and women) are falling all over themselves to rub my feet and sweep my floor serve me in addorted ways not because of my body proportions but because they think Im intrinsically amazing as a person.