Let's face it, the skinny female characters that are Feminist Frequency approved -- Faith from Mirror's Edge, Chell from Portal -- are no more "realistic" to the majority of North American women than voluptuous ones are. We're not currently replacing glamazons with size 16 girls with jiggle. We just got more size 2s. The average American woman these days is 5'3" and a size 12-14, but overweight characters are persistently neglected as options in games that show 110 pound women being able to lift the same amount as a 220 pound man.

Furthermore, Feminist Frequency tends to recommend first person female protagonists. First person protagonists tend to have minimal dialogue and less defined characters than their third-person counterparts. In fact, Chell's gender is nearly irrelevant in the Portal games. That's good in terms of not perpetuating the idea that "male" is the default state, but I can't tell you very much about Chell as a character.

Characters in video games are as much metaphors in their physicality an an attempt to be realistic, especially in fantasy settings, and that's important to remember. Realism isn't always what the creators intend, and we need to keep this in mind when we critique costumes, body types, and in-game roles. Ideally, more than one woman is included in a game, so the women can be different and people can pick their favorites. Again, it's more important, from a feminist perspective, that women are included than that women are protected. Sensing a theme here yet? Good.

Chell in Portal 2

We need bravery when it comes to women in video games from all corners right now, and that's why I'm writing this. I almost bailed out of writing this so many times, but I have to stop being afraid of the Feminist Frequency fan bully hordes. More women in video games deserve to have a voice, but the sheer noise online makes keeping your head down make more sense in terms of self-preservation. However, keeping your head down doesn't make anything a damned bit better. I've always expected to get backlash from anti-feminists and the small number of legitimate misogynists that exist. I was knocked flat by the thought policing by other feminists. I didn't fight for the right to have a voice so I could sound like everyone else.

It's wrong that feminists get labelled "Men's Rights Activists" because we believe that men need to be considered when addressing the gender gap -- many feminists, myself included, have had to deal with pretty withering abuse from MRAs, so saying we are our abusers re-victimizes us. It's absurd to go on about trigger warnings while engaging in this sort of re-victimization. (For the record, I'm not saying all MRAs are bad people. I'm saying that movement has a radical fringe the same way feminism does, and some of those radical MRAs are legitimate vicious misogynists and I happen to have had some particularly nasty run-ins with them.)

A lot of women have been keeping their heads down while Anita Sarkeesian and her cruel online "fans" shame and belittle us. There just comes a point when people can't take that anymore. I don't even think Anita is in control of the situation anymore. I can see the online hordes turning on her if she ever told them that their attacks on other people were wrong.

We're experiencing a period in video games where well-meaning people are demanding art that attempts to influence the opinions of the people who play video games. Art that attempts to influence people's thoughts, feelings or beliefs is propaganda. Even though I'm a feminist, I don't want to play games that seem like feminist propaganda. I just want women in video games to be treated like people who matter instead of props in a story about men.

Sometimes female characters will be hurt and killed - just like the guys. Sometimes they will be heroes, sometimes villains. But the first step is inclusion, and right now, thanks to Tropes vs. Women, inclusion of female characters means heightened, out of context criticism of those characters. Those aren't good conditions for creativity where female characters are concerned.