Gay.com Slams Games Radar For Being 'Misinformed'
Kratos 'accidentally' killed his wife and daughter...therefore he could be gay. Marcus Fenix spent time in prison and wears a bandana, so he must like taking it up the ass. Frank West dresses up in women's and kid's clothing, thus he, at the very least, swings both ways. These aren't my statements, they're Games Radar's Mike Cundy's words in his Are They Gay...? feature. ...and Gay.com (UK) is none too pleased.
In speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Hassan Mirza, news editor for Gay.com, said, "While it's reassuring to know that gamers are interested in the sexual orientation of digital superheroes, Matt Cundy's 'Are they gay?' article relies on a series of juvenile stereotypes and clichés."
He adds, "I can't imagine any homophobic intentions, but it can be dangerous to suggest that looking "camp" means gay, or worse, that gay men hold violent grudges against women. It's a completely misinformed suggestion." Cundy's remarks are just that, juvenile and ignorant. While Mirza does not believe the comments were intended to be homophobic, neither do I, for the record, they only feed poeple's ideas of the stereotypical gay person and seem to justify jokes concerning the LGBT community.
Another gay website, PinkNews.co.uk picked up on the Games Radar article and questioned the point of outing video game characters by asking, "Is this yet another bunch of childish "str8" boys laughing at gay people?" Well, having outed a number of video game characters ourselves, we can tell you that our list was not born out of homophobia or juvenile mischief.
While the 'Are they gay...?' article might not have been homophobic in its intent, the stereotypes it tries to instill are a little alarming. What makes Mr. Cundy think that gay men have a violent disposition towards women and would act upon that to be with other men? Why would he assume that because Marcus Fenix has spent time in prison (and wears a bandana), that he would enjoy the 'non-stop orgy of man-on-man love'...thereby making him gay? Goodness knows what was going through his mind, but I certainly don't appreciate it. If your going to out video game characters, try to do it with a little taste and sensitivity for the referenced group of people. Gay gamers are out there, this and other sites show that we're here and we're not going anywhere.
Are they gay...? [Games Radar]
Gay news site slams "misinformed" Games Radar article [GamesIndustry.biz]
Gamers website outs gay characters [PinkNews.co.uk]
Super Timsy
Posted to Hot Stuff, Video Games on 21 February 2007
· Comments (18)
Other stuff like this: Homophobia, Stereotypes
Wow. It seems like the author was trying to be gay-sensitive, but missed the target. Great piece. Thanks Timsy!
Very clumsy written article. The writer must have known that he was threading out on thin ice.
i wish we coulda had a chance to comment his article, i would of thought of a thing or two....or 20 things to say about his article. >:D
to be honest, i don't think your own "20 gayest game characters" list is entirely innocent of perpetuating stereotypes. obviously it's not just an immature homophobic piss-take like gamesradar's effort, and at least most of the featured characters actually are gay or bi within the games.
those that aren't, though, are equally as questionable as gamesradar's - take tingle, for instance. the game designers have specifically stated that he isn't gay, even if he's as camp as a row of tents - he seems to have been included in the list only because he conforms to a bunch of stereotypes. same goes for the king of all cosmos, cybil bennett and a few others.
I think, though, that GayGamer is allowed to call anything about games gay at any point at all; it's about the only privilege of being a minority.
Wow, the Kratos bit is absolutely sickening. What an idiot.
Oh damn it, man! I Just could get a copy of God of War here in Argentina and i hadn´t reach the part of the story where you find out what happend to Krato´s wife! You spoiled it for me! Jajaja
Great web! I check it out on daily bases
Maybe I missed something. I thought the original article was pretty funny. I'm assuming he was doing the whole thing tongue-in-cheek. My friends and I have probably said the same thing after a couple of cocktails and a few rounds of God of War.
I'm not sure how this is supposed to be anti-gay. Someone mentions that the lead characters in some of the most popular video games may be gay and we're supposed to take it as an insult?!
I tend to side with Ducky here. Sure, the article's definitely a bit juvenile, and it's hard to tell if the author meant to be homophobic or was just being funny (tongue-in-cheek), but it does seem like the kind of thing we gaymers would write, too. Without the stupid "grudge against women" crap, I mean.
The fact that it ran at all, and is being discussed elsewhere in the media, is a good thing, I think. Let's just hope future articles on the subject actually discuss it in a positive manner.
In all fairness, this site's list isn't devoid of stereotypes either. And I can't say I agree all that much with the proposed characters.
But at least it's not backed by sickening reasons like being gay because you kill your wife and children. What was the guy thinking?
Sounds to me like the guy is channelling some of his own repressed feelings into the list.
First of all, the gay game character list on GayGamer is just as (if not more) full of gay stereotypes in calling nongay (or ambiguous) characters gay. Also gay.com does these sorts of lists all the time with movie characters who are straight yet campy.
Also, we all get our panties in a wad because we assume the guy who wrote this piece is straight. If we knew the author were gay we wouldn't bat an eye at this. Perhaps the author is gay... or even if he isn't, perhaps he got input on the article from his gay coworkers or friends.
I find nothing in the article offensive. It is obviously tongue-in-cheek.
I mean, the first time I played Gears of War, I immediately thought who ever did the character designs had been looking at too many Tom of Finland drawings.
Get over it!
As a gay writer who'd just recently written about some subliminal gayness in these very same characters, I found the list ironic. I did not find it offensive, personally speaking...to me it looked simply like failed humor. I kind of wonder about the guy being lambasted for being a homophobe, when his only real crime was grasping at straws to make a funny. Would the reaction have been as extreme if he'd been hysterical, using the right blend of tongue-in-cheek and turning stereotypes on their heads?
It's not the coolest thing in the world that anyone's ever done for gay folk, but I'm inclined to agree with Mark, above, that it isn't a big enough deal to justify giving this guy free press. And with Nexus, that while we at GayGamer may allow ourselves more freedom to play with gay stereotypes and gay humor, being a gay site, we certainly do just that.
So my house is a lot prettier, and it's built on a solid foundation, but it's still made of glass.
Besides which, the dude unwittingly supported some of my own questions about the unintentional gayness of some of these big Tom of Finland characters. Oops!
"I find nothing in the article offensive. It is obviously tongue-in-cheek. Get over it!"
Other people do find it offensive. Grow up.
I found it distrubing that the author would choose to call a character gay based on violent attacks against his family, even though he didn't know it was his family.
No matter how many times people think they are doing a good thing by pointing out gay characters in video games for gay gamers to play, it still can come across as a misinformed opinion.
I like your gay character list and though it was fun.
I didn't care about anything he said, until I got to the following:
"Just because he's excessively violent doesn't mean he's not gay. After all, one of the Kray twins was gay and he used to kill people for fun"
Just...dumb. When using stereotypes, friendly or not, never mention a serial killer as an exception to the rule. God.
I agree with Tiny Dancer that if the article was funny it would've been a lot more easy to accept. But it felt like he was trying so hard that in some ways that he ended up "mocking" the characters and gay stereotypes (although not intentionally). Even if I found a quote like the one above on a site like this, actually run by the minority, I still would've thought it was pretty stupid.
I agree with Z: (well, save for the bit about Cybil, she would be frakking AWSOME if she were a lesbian).
The list here is pretty much on par with the Gamesradar list. Most of the characters featured are just varying degrees of fucking crazy (Alfred). Or they're lame-ass stereotype fighting game characters(Ash). Or just plain...not gay(The King of all Cosmos). Don't even get me started on why you even mentioned Voldo (seriously, WTF?! do the people who think Voldo has ANY sexual identity also think that the patient demons in Silent Hill are hot?).
Nyeh, some of the comments seem to be going a wee bit to far, others seem just playful and comical while others are 'yeah... how on earth could that guy NOT be gay?'
I think people are getting a wee bit to sensitive lately, but I can understand why they would still respond. Keep in mind though if you keep on whining at someone eventually they'll snap and do whatever they want without concern for who they offend anyways. They've voiced their opinion against the article, great, now I'm wondering if they're approaching the site and willing to open a discourse between the two parties and come to an understanding and see if some form of progress can be made between the two.
... As for the Fenix GOW thing, I can totally see that happening :D He looks like he's carrying a ton of emotional baggage and only the warm loving hug of someone that too has big burly arms can help ^-^;;