Selina Kyle, the Catwoman of ‘DC Comics’ fame: a master jewel thief with notable fighting prowess, proficiency with a variety of weaponry and infamous cleavage. Her complex character often sets her apart from other members of Batman’s Rogues Gallery’, her obsessive self-interest is often at odds, much to her frustration, with her reluctant morality. Her interesting and unique characteristics, which lend themselves to a versatile ‘anti-heroic’ character, perhaps shine light onto her popularity and longevity as a character. The result of said popularity and longevity is innumerous appearances in a variety of media, ranging from comic books, TV shows, cinematic films and Video Games. 

Whilst Video Games based off of Super Heroes have gained a reputation for being fairly unremarkable, the series that changed all of that was ‘Batman Arkham Asylum’ developed by Rocksteady and released in 2008 to such critical praise that ‘The Guinness Book of World Records’ dubbed it the, “Most critically acclaimed superhero game ever”. However, defying expectations, the sequel, ‘Batman: Arkham City’ usurped that title and introduced Catwoman as a mainstay in the series. 

In ‘Batman: Arkham City’ (her most notable appearance and the one I shall focus on) Catwoman supplements the main plot (in which, to no surprise, you assume the role of Batman) in four missions accessed through DLC, making her the first playable female character in the series. Her story focuses on her quest for self-interest and revenge, which is at odds with her conscience and genuine care for Batman. Throughout these missions and the main story, Catwoman is shown to be self-sufficient, driven and powerful. Although she does find herself in need of Batman’s aid on occasion, the aid is mutual and reciprocated. Catwoman is integral to the plot of ‘Arkham City’ and brings a variety of combat and gadgets to the gameplay as well as an extra dimension to the story.

However, upon replaying ‘Arkham City’ recently, I found myself feeling rather uncomfortable with the presentation of Catwoman herself. Undoubtedly, the most noticeable of these was her bodily proportions. Her waist smaller than her head, slender frame and huge breasts and hips give her an unnatural hourglass-figure which seems less akin to an actual woman than it does a sex-doll. Her costume, a catsuit (naturally) with a dropped v-line neck accentuates her humongous bust, large hips and buttocks (not to mention the seemingly built-in thong and perpetual wedgie). Her physical design is unarguably that of a sexual being, her purpose in the game-world is to appear as such to the player, a role (in many games) solely burdened on the female characters. Her sexualised poses on the box-art and promotional material for the game send a clear message to gamers that this character invites a sexual gaze. The game only encourages this gaze through its use of angles which focus and linger on her buttocks or breasts and a slide animation which throws her breasts into the air and into centre screen. Even her movement is not exempt from this overt sexualisation, as she walks her hips sway unnaturally from side to side (which is sometimes a side effect of balancing in heels, but heels do seem impractical for acrobatic feats across the Gotham City rooftops and beating down wave after wave of thugs) the swaying motion draws attention to, once again, her buttocks. The game constantly encourages the player to look at Catwoman as a passive sexual objection, this fact becomes unsettling when you take into account the fact that Catwoman is completely at the whim of the player controlling her every action. And no matter how powerful a character she may be, she is always a passive object to be viewed, objectified and controlled by the gamer. 

Catwoman’s physicality seems completely designed with sex in mind, which, although may be uncomfortable for anyone outside of the intended audience (a straight male gamer), does not necessarily undermine her success as a powerful heroine, as, of course, actions are surely what define us as people – a rule which I can only assume extends to video game characters. Yet her actions in game seem equally defined by her sexuality, her sultry voice and endless flirtatious dialogue, even her speech makes it clear that Catwoman, despite her multi-layered morality, exists solely to draw connotations of sexuality to the player. The grossest offender of this overt sexuality is her ‘counter’ in which she kisses the enemy, which is frankly unhygienic.

Clearly, Catwoman’s entire character is defined by her sexuality. Whilst this may not be a problem in itself, for example, Samantha from ‘Sex and the City’ is an incredibly sexual  character yet her sexuality is offset by three more complex and varied female characters. In ‘Arkham City’ Catwoman is one of four female characters of note. Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy and Talia Al Ghul. All three suffer from similar bodily proportions to Catwoman, cameras lingering on their breasts and buttocks. Talia and Harley are each found tied up or taken hostage at several points in the game and all are defined by their sexualities and relationships to male characters: Harley Quinn, her obsession with the Joker, her lover, Talia, the feud between her father and lover and Ivy controls the minds of vulnerable men, unable to resist her feminine charms. My point is, unlike ‘Sex and the City’, ‘Arkham City’ suffers from a lack of diverse female characters, and the few that there are become the sole representatives of their gender. All of the female characters in the game represent a specific type of woman, which appeals to heterosexual men, the developers are sending a message to gamers that this game is intended for said heterosexual man, the female characters are not intended to represent a diverse, interesting look at real world women, they are merely sexual objects intended for the ‘male gaze’. The male gaze is a phenomenon especially pervasive in the video games industry which asserts that all objects and characters within that gameworld are intended for and marketed to a young, straight male (the intended target audience for most Video Games), thus female characters are often subjected to the age-old mantra that ‘SEX SELLS’ and are designed merely to appeal to said straight, male gamer by way of their sexuality. However, the inclusion of female characters, solely to appeal to the ‘male gaze’ is not only poor marketing but potentially damaging to the 45% female player-base of video games in the US.

According to Fredrickson and Roberts in 1997 ‘Objectification Theory’, “Sexual objectification occurs when a woman’s body, body parts, or sexual functions are isolated from her whole and complex being and treated as objects simply to be looked at, coveted, or touched. Once sexually objectified, the worth of a woman’s body or body part is directly equated to its physical appearance or potential sexual function and is treated like it exists solely for others to use or consume.” In recent years, overexposure to sexual objectification in the media has been linked to mental health and eating disorders in women, so the implications of this are very real. The female character intended for the male gaze, like Catwoman, becomes merely a sexual object within the gamesphere and constant exposure to sexual objectification in the media has been proven to lower self esteem in women, reduce productivity  and can be a precursor to eating disorders and depression, in both genders, it encourages misogynistic beliefs and the treatment of women as sexual objects in the real world.

Whilst Catwoman, on the surface, may seem as though a powerful female character and a strong role-model, one simply cannot ignore that her intended role within the game was to titillate and entice the straight male gamer into purchasing this product. I would argue that her role as a sexual object intended for male consumption has far too many negative implications for her to be considered a feminist icon or role-model. I would propose that the most feminist character in ‘Batman Arkham City’ is ‘tech-wiz’, Oracle, her aid to Batman in the story is invaluable and not undermined by sexual objectification. 

Although I chose to focus on Catwoman in this specific game, it only takes a sweeping glance of the video games industry to see that this type of sexual objectification inflicted upon female characters is symptomatic of the industry. From ‘Metal Gear’s’ ‘Quiet’ to ‘Street Fighter’s’ ‘Chun Li’, the list is ongoing and seemingly never-ending. In our current political climate in which representation has never been so important yet industries still hark on the ‘tried and true’ heterosexual, white male, we must demand to see strong reflections of ourselves on TV, and in films and Video Games, for the sake of us and generations to follow. Nothing will change unless we make it so.        

#INeedDiverseGames