Leave Chun Li Alone

I remember the first time played Street Fighter II at the arcade. I briefly glanced over the pictures of fighters, excited to see that there was a woman available to select. I loved being able to fight as someone I could relate to, and I always picked her. Chun Li wasn’t weak; she was equal to the men she fought against. She had special moves designed for her, including her powerful kick. I felt that she could do anything the men in the game could do, and I was right. She’s gone on to be more iconic than any of the men in the game, with her being featured and referenced in other media.

As I grew older, I realized others saw things in her that I didn’t. They used her femininity to claim that she was being sexualized because of her body type, but I never thought that. Her body was always covered, but her body was beginning to become an issue because she had an athletic build. It was ridiculous to take such an iconic and powerful character and focus only on the fact that she was drawn as an attractive woman. The people tearing her appearance apart never bothered to investigate her backstory. She was a police officer who wanted to avenge her father’s death. If Chun Li existed, she would have a similar build to what she has in the video game because she’s active.

I noticed the same comparison’s being made to other women in video games, largely by a woman who didn’t play them. I noticed other characters being analyzed only because of their appearance and the clothing they wore. There was never any thought given to the backstories of the ladies being discussed, just their clothes and other physical attributes. I noticed that the same consideration wasn’t given to their male counterparts, who often appeared shirtless throughout gameplay.

I am a woman who plays video games, and I’ve never given thought to what the pixels on my screen are wearing. I’ve enjoyed games others have called sexist, like Lollipop Chainsaw, and I find the mindset presented in these critiques to be toxic. The people presenting these critiques don’t know anything about the game characters, aside from their appearance, and they also leave out characters who are fully dressed because they don’t fit the narrative that they are attempting to present. What about characters like Heather from Silent Hill 3, Ashrah from Mortal Kombat, the women from Final Fantasy?

While I can almost understand the concern of an outsider looking in, I’m not an outsider. I am a female who plays video games, but I may never have picked up a controller if I believed video games to be sexist. A girl or woman looking to start gaming might be intimidated if she were to believe games objectify women. I’ve seen many women turn their backs on the gaming community and label it as something for ‘men’ because of this mindset. One example that comes to mind is a woman that I work with who stated games must be ‘a guy thing’ because someone mentioned a coworker being followed to her car after the release of the new PlayStation 5.

Gaming provides an escape from reality, which is something we need during the pandemic. I can’t help but think these toxic mindsets are keeping others from playing games that they might enjoy. Gaming is a fantasy, and the outfits worn in games are such as well. We shouldn’t strip away the importance of a strong female character, like Chun Li, because of the clothes she’s wearing.