The Grand Theft Auto has not had a lot of gender problems because of the fair representation of female and male characters in the past series. However, the development of the Grand Theft Auto series to GTA V led to skewed representation of femininity and masculinity. Surprisingly, the GTA V video games represents masculinity as an ideal gender for interpreting the game, with popular protagonists in the video game being male characters and excluding women as possible targets for attack. The masculinity gender values of toughness is represented with how male characters in GTA V are allowed to use all sorts of weaponry to wipe out people which in most cases happens to be women. Interestingly, GTA V comes with the ability to customize gender of the main character. The video game utilizes the use of radio calls and mobile calls in promoting sexist comments. The females in the online game are depicted as weak characters over their protagonist male counterparts, with women allowed to make fun of the male characters, who afterwards pursue the mission of attacking them or simply make sexist jokes against them.
I don’t think the representation of gender in GTA V reflects a broader social norm. However, this does not underscore the fact that different cultures and societies have different perceptions in regard to gender, with GTA V offering a new understanding of the same. GTA V simply presents the undertones of female stereotyping that may be concealed in our modern world but in the real sense do exist in the manner men perceive women. Additionally, the video games embody the violence against women and objectification of women in the contemporary masculine world.
According to Nakamura, the artificial identity of video games characters is redress the burden of physical “handicaps” such as gender, race, and age (319). This relates well with GTA V console that can enable the gamers to customize the gender of their main character, giving them the liberty to swap genders with time when they deem fit. Notably, the online representation is a choice that one can make in which the opposite gender for the real-life one can be chosen (Schaap 237). Interestingly, Schaap’s assertion resonates well with the reality embodied in GTA V coupled with its additional feature of customizing the gender of the main character, which supports gender swapping.
Questions
- If you have ever played GTA V, did you ever change your gender in the game and what could have influenced you to change into an opposite sex?
- Do you think that GTA V maintaining a neutral approach to gender could still make it better by avoiding sexism?