After reading Luke McKinney's The Zen of Gaming Sexism I considered this line near the end of the article: "People ask why fewer girls play games, and this is exactly why they don't." Particularly I considered how my gaming habits over the years have been impacted by how the product treats women.
Generally I roll my eyes and ignore the most blatant instances of sexism. ( Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden "tits on a wall" ad falls into this category for me.) Sometimes moments can be harder than others to ignore though. Case-in-point, a friend and I became addicted to Virtua Fighter 5 last year.
She and I would play at least once a day and it was during those dorm room marathon sessions that we created a tradition of having "slut fights". Basically we would pick the two characters with the most slutastic costumes and battle. This never got old and we reveled in the confused looks we received from our neighbors when we yelled "slut fight!"
A part of me felt that I should be offended by the ridiculous character design, but when supposed fighters are wearing leather bikinis I have to laugh.
No, what bothers me more than scantily clad warriors are the more subtle forms of sexism. A friend recently observed that I rarely if ever use Chun-Li while playing Street Fighter. I felt kind of pathetic admitting that the reason is I absolutely can't stand seeing her victory pose.
You know the one; she jumps up and down while acting like a tween who just spotted a Jonas brother. The Street Fighter story line wants me to believe that this is a woman working for Interpol who can hold her own in a fighting tournament. Yet when she wins a fight she acts like a child.
Maybe I'm too sensitive but I find that more grating than even the most shameless application of boob-physics.
My feelings about Chun-Li basically sum up the way that I view sexism in games. When I find a character or game irritating I just avoid it, sometimes reminding myself that most games are made for and marketed to men. As a female gamer there's not much else I can do.
