How the Lara Croft video game made me gay – the proof in photos

WHAT if Lara Croft has been a man? What if the creators of the 1996 video game Tomb Raider had made Lara Croft a man?

What would it have changed?

In 2008, the judge at Maidstone Crown Court looked at Ryan Chinnery in the dock and noted the “worrying mirror of conduct” between the accused and his enjoyment of Grand Theft Auto and other video games. Chinnery had sexually assaulted four female strangers. But no links between his game playing and cimes were ever investigated, let alone proven. Chinnery is a dangerous man imprisoned for eight years who, like many young men, played video games. Unlike most other young men, he went out and attacked women.

After Adam Lanza had murdered 20 children and six adults in Newtown, Connecticut, the Sun lead with: “KILLER’S CALL OF DUTY OBSESSION”. He played in his “BLACK OPS BUNKER”.

Eurogamer noted:

In a preview published in September The Sun said Black Ops 2 was “set to be the shooter of the future”.

On 9th November The Sun ran a piece plugging an Activision event in London that let Call of Duty fans play Black Ops 2 ahead of release. “Thousands will be able to do battle through Multiplayer mode, as well as checking out the arsenal of new weapons and drone attacks on offer,” The Sun said.

Then, in a report on the game’s launch on 13th November, The Sun delivered its verdict on Black Ops 2, saying, “Graphically, the game is sublime, something the series’ reputation is built on. It’s not subtle or tactile. It’s pure, unadulterated warfare.”

So. Maybe the kids don’t copy video games. Maybe only the males do?

In this study, it was found:

There were no female characters in 41% of the games with characters. In 28% of these, women were portrayed as sex objects.

We then learnt:

Moreover, visual portrayals of females tend to highlight physical attributes (e.g., through clothing) or exaggerate female sexuality (e.g., Beasley & Standley, 2002; Downs & Smith, 2005; Schleiner, 2001). Although such content characteristics presumably attract male players, they may repel females from playing, because observing such gender stereotypes could impede identification with the female characters or even cause cognitive conflicts and annoyance (especially if the subjective construction by the player involves a feminist self-concept; see, e.g., Cassell’s discussion of Lara Croft, 2002).

This researcher asked:

Lara Croft: Feminist Icon or Cyberbimbo?

This expert opined:

A male hero might get the girl, might defeat a femme fatale, might establish dominance over sexual power in many ways, but he’ll almost never be allowed to play with sexuality, or enjoy it, or make it a part of his personality. What Buffy does for girls, no Arnold Schwarzenegger character could possibly do for boys. But if a boy allows himself to identify secretly with her, Lara Croft can do it very well.

It’s all a bit confusing. If video games can determine you, maybe video games can make you gay?