Video Game Characters Rendered as Realistic Women (VIDEO)

By Dondi Tiples, Christian Post Contributor Monday, July 27, 2015

A website on eating disorders recently posted Photoshopped images of female video game characters portrayed as "average" women with realistic proportions.

Bulimia.com, an eating disorder-centered site, shared a "make-under" of female video game characters, showing them with more body-positive images for females.

Video game characters like Christie Monteiro from "Tekken 5" or Tifa Lockhart from "Final Fantasy VII" promote unrealistic ideals of body image for young and impressive girl gamers, according to Bulimia.com. They published several renderings of popular female characters from video games with more realistic proportions corresponding to the average woman.

The website pointed out that these characters, such as Cortana from "Halo 4" or the red bikini-wearing blonde from "Grand Theft Auto V," with their enhanced chests, tiny waists, and skimpy clothing can send a skewed image to girl gamers of how the female body is supposed to look, and can lead to a negative body image if their own bodies don't subscribe to the female gaming ideal.

The website stated that negative body image can lead to eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia among impressionable female gamers who are may likely strive to emulate their favorite game character's highly sexualized proportions.

Using Photoshop, the website rendered classic female game characters with curves, bigger arms and legs, and thicker waists and hips to represent what the average woman looks like, while emphasizing the ideal body type was neither supremely thin nor fit, but possessed more realistic proportions based on the measurements of the average American woman.

Bulimia.com, which acts as a support group for people with eating disorders, hoped to bring more awareness of body image issues with its presentation of re-imagined female video game characters, despite comments criticizing the move as "thin-shaming," Forbes.com writes, pointing out the unrealistic transformation of fit and active body types by endowing them with unhealthy body fat.