PART II
CHAPTER 4
Dan Goad
Introduction
Lilith, Grendel’s mother, Elizabeth Bathory, Shelob, Carrie, the Alien Queen. Female monsters are recurrent in mythology, literature and popular culture. Classical mythology, in particular, is replete with female monsters such as Medusa, the Sphinx, sirens, empusae and Scylla. Interpretations of these female monsters are many and varied, but there is a general view that in these monsters are products of phallocentric mythologies. As Jeffrey Jerome Cohen has stated, ‘The woman who oversteps the boundaries of her gender role risks becoming a Scylla, Weird Sister, Lilith […], Bertha Mason, or Gorgon.’1
Cohen himself arguably inaugurated the discipline of ‘monster studies’ with his 1996 Monster Theory.2 Monsters can be studied from a variety of different disciplinary starting points, including psychoanalysis, anthropology, cryptozoology,3 and in the past thirty years, numerous works have addressed female monsters in literature and film.4 It is, however, Barbara Creed’s 1993 book The Monstrous-Feminine that stands out as a seminal work on female monsters. Creed uses the term ‘monstrous-feminine’ to signify that female monsters are constructed differently from their male counterparts. For the monstrous-feminine, gender is a key part of her identity: ‘As with all other stereotypes of the feminine, from virgin to whore, she is defined in terms of her sexuality.’5 Since female horror monsters are generally male constructs, the monstrous-feminine ‘speaks to us more about male fears than about female desire or feminine subjectivity’.6 As Creed notes, ‘All human societies have a conception of the monstrous-feminine, of what it is about woman that is shocking, terrifying, horrific, abject.’7
Her analysis draws first on Julia Kristeva’s theory of the abject, featured in her 1980 Pouvoirs de l’horreur (Powers of Horror), which is, in turn, based on the work of Jacques Lacan. The abject is essentially what separates humanity from their primal, animal instincts that are pushed away on obtaining consciousness. It is to be rejected in favour of Lacan’s ‘symbolic order’, i.e. the prevailing social norms of human societies. The abject is frequently referred to as a border, one that separates human from non-human, subject from object, self from other. Any societal taboo may be abject, from cannibalism to disease to sexual perversion. Bodily waste, such as vomit, faeces, etc. are all examples of the abject, and are subsequently rejected by the human body. For Creed, the origin of phrases such as ‘made me sick’ or ‘scared the shit out of me’ emphasize the relationship of horror to the abject.8 The abject is closely linked with the female since menstrual blood is also abject, an element that is frequently played upon in horror films, both literally and figuratively.9
Creed also utilizes Freudian theory as part of her analysis. According to Freud, men fear women because women are castrated: ‘Probably no male human being is spared the fright of castration at the sight of a female genital.’10 Freud’s phallocentric take on female monstrosity has led to a number of film scholars to analyse female monsters as being phallic in nature.11
Creed takes this view and turns it upside down, suggesting that the female monster is feared ‘not because she is castrated but because she castrates’.12 The primal fear of women as castrator is symbolized in part by the myth of the vagina dentata, i.e. the vagina that castrates, which pervades the folklore of numerous civilizations,13 and speaks directly to the fear of castration embodied in the monstrous-feminine. For Creed, the fanged mouths of horror monsters are representative of the vagina dentata and although they are sometimes present in male monsters (notably vampires), they are not as prevalent as in the female. That is not to say that the castrating monstrous-feminine cannot also incorporate phallic symbolism,14 but she is not the ‘comforting phantasy of sexual sameness’15 that Freud’s phallic woman was.
Despite the growth of monster studies, it remains neglectful of classical monsters. Only very recently has Liz Gloyn attempted a study of the reception of classical monsters, and she suggests this neglect is because ‘monster studies assumes that classical monsters only really exist in the classical period’.16 Whilst Gloyn gives a summary of the psychoanalytic approach of Freud and Kristeva, she does not include Creed in her bibliography. This is perhaps not surprising given that Creed herself is primarily interested in the horror genre, and so does not address classical monsters themselves.17 Gloyn freely acknowledges the limitation of her work and the ample opportunities for further research (not least in the realm of video games).
Video game studies is also a growing discipline in its own right, but whilst there are plenty of studies on female characters in video games,18 there is limited work on female monsters.19 This chapter therefore represents one way of bridging the gap between classical reception, video game studies and monster theory. Whilst many of the monsters in classical games do not fit neatly into Creed’s categories, they, nevertheless, display elements that are common in the abject and monstrous-feminine. These include the conflation between female sexuality (both carnal and reproductive) and monstrosity; human-animal hybridity; bodily fluids, such as blood, bile, vomit; razor sharp teeth, evocative of the vagina dentata; and phallic objects, such as tongues, tails or weapons. The monstrous-feminine is always an obstacle for the (usually) male hero to overcome, often with a symbolic penetration or castration. The chapter concludes with a suggestion of why these portrayals are so prevalent in video games, not just in classically inspired games but across the medium.
Sirens and harpies
It is a curious fact of gaming that whilst hypersexualization is rampant in video games, actual nudity in games has been relatively rare until recently.20 Developers such as Bioware regularly include intimate relationships and sex scenes in their games, yet this is almost always composed in such a way as to cover sexualized body parts. Japanese games are famous for breast ‘jiggle physics’ and ample cleavage in female characters, yet again hardly ever feature nudity. The exception to this are games where adult content is a selling point, such as Grand Theft Auto V (2013); dark fantasy games, such as Dragon Age Inquisition (2014) and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015); games involving demonic activity, such as the Devil May Cry series (2001–19) and Dante’s Inferno (2010); and games set in the classical world. The first example is somewhat of an outlier, but the other three genres are often closely linked in terms of tone and gameplay mechanics. Indeed, fantasy and demonic games borrow classical monsters regularly.
Female monsters appearing with exposed breasts (or at the very least, cleavage) is so common as to almost be expected. It should be noted, of course, that bare breasts are not inherently sexual, but in the hyper-masculine world of gaming they almost always are, even when attached to a monstrous form. This crossover between horror and historical video games is one of the reasons why the monstrous-feminine is so relevant for classical monsters. Two recurring monsters that often appear bare-breasted are sirens and harpies, which often transcend chronological and geographical boundaries to appear in games across the spectrum of classical, fantasy and horror.
In the behaviour of sirens, games take their cue from popular culture. Whilst in Homer their allure is the knowledge they offer, rather than any physical attractiveness, video games have preferred to emphasize sexual temptation.21 For example, in the first God of War game (2005),22 sirens appear from a distance as scantily clad and graceful women, but closer inspection reveals a rotting face and giant mouth filled with sharp teeth, evocative of the vagina dentata. Other versions of the sirens appear in the other games of the series. In God of War II (2007), there are Siren Widows, which are more corpse-like, emphasizing their abjectness. In God of War: Ascension (2013), the Siren Sybils appear, which are topless, with an even more prominent vagina dentata-esque mouth. Outside of classical games, sirens appear in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. In this, they initially appear as part-serpents, part-naked females, yet when the player draws closer they reveal their fully monstrous serpent form and attack. In both these examples, there is an emphasis on the female monster as deceptive, and she must be vanquished by the male protagonist who does not fall for the deception and rejects her as abject.23
These portrayals of sirens eschew the classical imagery that makes them human-bird hybrids. Early sculpture depicted them as birds with female heads, although later sculpture showed them as having the torsos of women, with bird’s legs or wings, and they became a symbol for dangerous temptation.24 It is likely that this bird-like portrayal is omitted so as not to cause confusion with harpies, that are a similar mix of woman and bird.
One game series that does include the bird-like siren is the Kid Icarus series (1986–2012), where sirens are common enemies. Whilst monstrous nudity in games such as God of War or The Witcher is no surprise, in an incredibly rare occurrence for a Nintendo game, the sirens appeared in the instruction manual to Kid Icarus (1986) as bare-breasted. The pixellation of the game makes it impossible to tell whether they are bare-breasted in the game itself, however when they returned in the 2012 sequel Kid Icarus: Uprising, initial concept art and demos showed them as nude. In the final release, they were given a breastplate, more in keeping with Nintendo and the series’ child-friendly image. Even in the family-friendly world of Nintendo, the dichotomy between female nudity and classical monsters is there.25
Harpies are generally portrayed on classical pottery as women with wings, and are described as such in Hesiod (Theogony 265–7). In video games, they feature as low-level and disposable enemies, often retaining their classical imagery, with the torso and head of a topless woman, and the wings, talons and tail of a bird. Harpies have this appearance in classical games such as the God of War series and Titan Quest (2006), and non-classical such as Nightmare Creatures (1997), the Castlevania series (1986–2019) and Dragon’s Dogma (2012). Some games do lean into the confusion between siren and harpy, such as Dragon’s Dogma, where sirens are a type of harpy. In Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (2001) and Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (2003) sirens and harpies appear in the same way and use the same in-game model, albeit with the colours swapped. In one Japanese children’s game, Pocky and Rocky (1992), a topless harpy featured as a boss villain in the original version. It was replaced by a winged knight for the Western release of the game and, whilst it has never been officially confirmed, it is assumed that this was owing to the harpy appearing topless.
Archaic mother and monstrous womb
Creed describes two archetypes linking monsters with reproduction, that of the archaic mother and the monstrous womb. The portrayals stem in part from Kristeva’s theory of the maternal figure as abject, i.e. she must be rejected in order for the child to take its place in the symbolic order. It is the mother that teaches the child about their body, and how to cope with bodily waste. At this point faeces and vomit are not taboo or sources of shame, but they become so (i.e. they become abject) once the child enters the symbolic order. In Creed’s analysis, the archaic mother is the horror representation of this primal mother, who is rejected by the child. The monstrous womb meanwhile ‘represents the utmost in abjection for it contains a new life form which will pass from inside to outside bringing with it traces of its contamination – blood, afterbirth, faeces’.26 Both archetypes emphasize that it is not just female carnal sexuality that is abject and monstrous, but reproductive sexuality as well.
Monstrous mothers are a common trope in video games of all sorts,27 appearing across science fiction such as Kerrigan in Starcraft (1998) and the Locust Mother in Gears of War (2006), as well as in fantasy. When they appear in fantasy games these monstrous mothers tend to appear with enlarged breasts and stomach, similarly to prehistoric fertility figures such as the so-called Venus of Willendorf. Examples of these include the Broodmother from Dragon Age: Origins (2009)28 and the Crones from The Witcher 3.
Generally, classical video games do not include these monstrous mothers as such, but they do borrow the imagery of the engorged belly and breasts, often in ahistorical portrayals. However, one example that does have a traditional mother role is that of Gaia in God of War. Creed references Gaia as part of her archetype of the Archaic Mother, alongside Freud’s belief that Gaia and other mother goddesses stem from a time when human society was principally matriarchal.29 In the God of War series, Gaia narrates player character Kratos’ adventures and allies with him against the Olympian gods, before eventually betraying him. She appears as a giant with enlarged stomach and breasts, much like the Venus of Willendorf, only made from earth, with skin covered in trees and other greenery (see Figure 4.1). Her physical shape has more in common with neopagan portrayals as the earth mother, rather than ancient depictions which do not portray her with a pregnant stomach.
The final battle between Kratos and Zeus in God of War III takes place actually inside Gaia, in a cavern around her heart with walls dripping with ooze. We might see this as an echo of Creed’s monstrous womb, similar to her description of the Alien Queen birthing chamber in the movie Aliens, quoting Kristeva (1982): ‘Everything about the mise-en-scène suggests a nightmare vision of what Kristeva describes as ‘the fascinating and abject inside of the maternal body’ (1982: 54).30 At the denouement of the battle, Kratos and Zeus destroy Gaia from the inside out, a symbolic rebirth that destroys the mother.
In the spinoff game God of War: Ghost of Sparta (2010) Kratos finds and meets his actual mother, Callisto. As he speaks to her, she transforms into a horrific monster that Kratos is forced to kill. Whilst this monstrous form does not appear with fertility imagery, it does have a fanged mouth, with two phallic tusks. When Kratos defeats Callisto, he stabs her with his blade, a symbolic penetration as he rejects and defeats his literal mother. This incident is likely based on the nymph Callisto, who also had a son with Zeus. In some versions of the myth (for example, Metamorphoses II: 405–530), Callisto is almost killed by their son, Arcas, after Hera transforms her into a bear.
Figure 4.1 Screenshot from God of War II.
Other characters in the series that use this fertility imagery are the gorgon Euryale, and Clotho, one of the Sisters of Fate, who both appear in God of War II. Neither of these are described as literal mothers in the game, although Euryale does refer to Kratos as ‘the slayer of children’, which can be interpreted as meaning that Euryale considers the many gorgons that Kratos has slain up to this point in the series as her children, or alternatively to Kratos’ murder of his own children. Clotho appears in the form of a monstrous silkworm, albeit with multiple engorged breasts. The silkworm is in keeping with her role as the sister who spins the thread of human lives. As she has control of their time of birth she does have a link to maternity, in a sense. Her appearance is, again, in contrast to ancient depictions, where she is usually portrayed as a young maiden.
Another monster to contain aspects of the Monstrous Womb, as well as other archetypes, is Arachne in Smite (2014).31 She is portrayed with a normal human torso mounted on monstrous spider legs, repeating the blurred lines between human and animal that is a sign of monstrous-feminine abjection.32 Most of her outfits are revealing in one way or another. One of her original abilities in the game was to lay eggs, from which spiders were released to attack her enemies. This was replaced later with a venomous bite, signalling Arachne’s shift from Monstrous Womb to Vampire. This new role is reinforced by one of her taunts in game, paraphrasing Walter Scott: ‘Oh what a tangled web we weave, when we want to suck the juicy bits out of our enemies!’ As a final symbol of the abject, she has the usual sharp teeth representing the vagina dentata, as well as phallic spider legs and sharp talons.
A notable monstrous mother is Cleopatra in Dante’s Inferno (2010).33 The game is a hack-and-slash loosely based on the Commedia, and features Dante’s descent into hell as he attempts to rescue his wife from Lucifer. Being of the same genre and similar visually to Devil May Cry and God of War, nudity is prevalent throughout. Cleopatra appears in a boss fight as the Queen of Lust, a monstrous giant who taunts and attacks Dante. One of her abilities is to ‘birth’ unbaptized babies from her nipples, which then attack Dante. This is highly reminiscent of the 1979 film The Brood, which Creed uses as her main example of the Monstrous Womb. In the film a psychiatric patient, Nola, creates foetus-like creatures that murder anyone who threatens her. For Creed, this represents the two maternal desires which are seen to be illegitimate: ‘First, the desire – conscious or otherwise – for woman to give birth without the agency of the male; and second, woman’s desire to express her desires, specifically her anger.’34 The same can be said for Cleopatra in Dante’s Inferno. Whilst Marc Antony is present in the game, he does not have power on the level of Cleopatra, and he is in fact kept inside her body, expelled from her mouth when summoned. This, and the fact that the unbaptized babies are birthed from her nipples, suggests an unnatural birth without vaginal intercourse, and similarly they are birthed solely to attack Dante. Like the film’s titular brood, the babies ‘represent symbolically the horrifying results of permitting the mother too much power’.35
With Antony dead and Cleopatra defeated, the Queen of Lust reverts from her role as monstrous womb into that of a temptress, making an attempted seduction of Dante. He does not succumb and instead slays her by stabbing her as she is on top of him, a phallic penetration that restores his own masculine dominance. For the player, both female reproductive and carnal sexuality are obstacles to be defeated.
The many heads of Medusa
In his 1922 posthumously published essay ‘Medusa’s Head’, Freud posits that the myth of Medusa stems from the castration complex; the decapitated head of Medusa is analogous to castrated female genitalia. The boy interprets his mother’s vagina as being castrated, which causes him castration anxiety. However, just as Medusa’s gaze causes a ‘stiffening’ where the observer is turned to stone, so, too, does the sight of female genitalia cause a stiffening of the penis in the male. In contrast to the fatal gaze of myth, Freud states that ‘in the original situation it offers consolation to the spectator: he is still in possession of a penis, and the stiffening reassures him of the fact’.36 It is for this reason that both female genitalia and Medusa’s head were represented on the shields of Greek warriors.
Creed disagrees with Freud’s interpretation, claiming he emphasizes the phallic symbolism over the vaginal. Instead, she suggests that the multiple fanged snakes represent a particularly monstrous version of the vagina dentata. For Creed, the Medusa myth is therefore ‘a narrative about the difference of female sexuality as a difference which is grounded in monstrousness and which invokes castration anxiety in the male spectator’.37 Gloyn has also pointed out the use of Medusa imagery in misogynistic attacks on female politicians, their faces superimposed onto statues of the decapitated gorgon, and that she therefore ‘becomes a symbol of female power stepping outside its bounds, yet brought to heel’.38
With this symbolic background, we therefore see why Medusa and the gorgons are frequently featured in video games. Of all the classical monsters, they are the most omnipresent (alongside the Minotaur). Every ancient game or series that I’ve mentioned here features a gorgon in some capacity. They transcend games set in the ancient world, to appear in other series such as Castlevania, Final Fantasy, Persona, The Witcher and Castle Clash. In these portrayals, they display a number of the hallmarks that we have seen of the abject monstrous-feminine.
The gorgons of the popular imagination are very different from their classical portrayals, a full rundown of which is out of the scope of this work.39 There are, however, broadly speaking three eras of gorgons in art.40 The first two (eight to fifth century and late fifth to late second century BCE) emphasized the ugliness, with wide staring eyes, a broad grin and sometimes a beard. In the third stage (fourth century BCE onwards), the gorgons become less monstrous and more woman-like. Fangs and beard are gone, and Medusa, in particular, is often shown sleeping. By Roman times, ‘the Gorgon was no longer a figure of terror, but rather one of pity’.41 In all stages, the gorgons are portrayed with wings, as they are in some written descriptions, for example Apollodorus 2.4.2.
The gorgons of video games do not fit neatly into one of these categories. The emphasis on sexuality and womanhood belongs to the third stage, but their monstrosity is of the first and second. Instead of these ancient portrayals, video games, as they so often do, look to popular culture for their inspiration. Video game gorgons are therefore usually portrayed similarly to their appearance in Clash of the Titans (1981): rather than human bodies, they have human abdomens only, with the phallic snake tail for their lower half. Gloyn has pointed out that the Ray Harryhausen design of Medusa in Clash of the Titans ‘has become iconic, with her snake tail now taken more or less for granted when considering what a Medusa should look like’.42 This appearance gives an increased focus on the human-animal hybridity that is a symbol of the abject.43 Gorgons are often bare-breasted, or at least in a revealing outfit, and they never appear with wings, despite their prevalence in ancient portrayals.
They appear this way in both the God of War series and Titan Quest. These games feature gorgons as low-level repetitive enemies, as well as Medusa, Euryale and Stheno as named bosses. An enlarged and grotesque Medusa appears in Rise of the Argonauts (2008).44 She has a snake-like tail and appears to be wearing only a bikini-like top. It is explained that her vanity has caused her to become a gorgon and the player may choose to kill her or free her from the curse. If freed she transforms back into a beautiful (and scantily clad) human and joins the Argonauts. Her feminine vanity and the elements that made her physically abject are removed, and she becomes desirable and useful once more. Medusa is also one of the playable Greek gods in Smite,45 appearing once again with the phallic tail. In contrast to the other portrayals, she does not appear topless, but does have a variety of outfits emphasizing her décolletage. Her abilities also highlight her abjection, with the phallic and penetrating Viper Shot, in which she shoots snakes at her enemies, and an Acid Spray. All of these versions display the fanged vagina dentata mouths.
Figure 4.2 Screenshot from Kid Icarus: Uprising.
Again, the Kid Icarus series is a relevant example here. Medusa appears as the primary antagonist in the first game and a secondary antagonist in the third game, Kid Icarus: Uprising. She originally appeared as a monstrous green-skinned cyclops with blonde curly hair in addition to her snakes. She sports the traditional fanged mouth, evoking the vagina dentata. For the third game she was given a new form by Hades. Now looking much more human, she no longer has a single eye, a fanged mouth and taloned hands, although she still has snakes for hair. During her battle with Pit, she transforms into a more monstrous form, with the ability to detach her head from her body and a single eye and fanged mouth returning (see Figure 4.2). It is in this form that she is most akin to Freud’s Medusa, with both the fanged mouth and eye with a vertical-slit pupil both evocative of the vagina.
The other female monsters
It would be remiss of me to present these examples without highlighting recent games that go against the sexualised trope. All four examples were released from 2018 onwards, and perhaps signify a change to the way the monstrous-feminine is portrayed in video games.
Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey (2018)46 is generally embedded in the real world, but features a backstory involving the Isu, powerful ancient beings who were worshipped by early humans as gods. The Isu experiment on humans and turn them into monstrous creatures, such as a gorgon, the Minotaur, the Sphinx and various cyclopes. Whilst both men and women can be turned into these monsters, it is notable that the only transformed humans that are given identities are both female: Ligeia, who is transformed into a gorgon, and Lyra, who is turned into a werewolf-like creature. Neither of these monsters are portrayed sexually (indeed, the werewolf is not noticeably female) and the gorgon features neither the vagina dentata teeth, nor the phallic tail. Her clothing is modest, even by the standards of Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, let alone other games discussed.
The virtual reality game Medusa and her Lover (2019) takes the unusual step of including Medusa as a playable protagonist. A cooperative experience, players take control of either Medusa or Gaios, the titular lover. Gaios is armed with a sword and is controlled with a gamepad, whereas, in a unique use of the VR mechanic, Medusa uses the gaze of the player to turn enemies to stone. Since Gaios can also be turned to stone, players must work together to progress. Medusa is therefore turned into a tragic figure, doomed never to see her love. Visually, she is the most human of all the representations discussed here. Developed in Japan, the game uses a traditional anime style. Despite her romantic nature, Medusa is not sexualized, and wears a simple dress with a high neckline.
Hades (2020) has a cartoonish style and, whilst some characters are sexualized (Aphrodite, for example, appears naked), the monsters are not. The only female monsters to appear are gorgons, which are portrayed as floating heads. Owing to the art style it is difficult to make out any detail on these characters, but a gorgon named Dusa is seen in detail. Far from being a monstrous enemy, she instead works as a maid in Hades’ palace, holding a feather duster with one of her snakes. It is implied that she is the decapitated head of Medusa, if from nothing else by the fact she is the ‘maid Dusa’. Her face resembles a snake’s more than a humans, with green skin, snake-like eyes and two fangs. Whilst the player can attempt a romance with her, they will be rebuffed.
Immortals Fenyx Rising (2020) features harpies and gorgons, both as low-level enemies and as named bosses. Both examples emphasize the monstrous over the feminine. The harpies, while humanoid, are much more bird-like. They are covered in feathers, and have bird heads as opposed to human. In fact, it is not clear whether they are even female. The gorgons meanwhile are female and share the snake-like tails of Clash of the Titans, but are obese in the manner of God of War II’s Euryale. In another throwback to the monstrous-feminine, these gorgons do have the razor-sharp teeth. Whilst they display a hint of a bosom, it is much less sexualized than God of War’s version. Medusa appears as a boss, but has a very different design to the other gorgons. She is thinner, in keeping with the more traditional portrayals. Her design, however, is much more animalistic than human. She has two small tusks protruding from her bottom lip,47 glowing snake eyes and spikes on her head (in addition to four snakes). Her torso gives a faint impression of hips, but there is no bosom to speak of. Whilst these examples could all be branded as abject due to the emphasis on animal-human hybridity, they do omit any hint of sexuality in their design.
Gamers and the fear of female sexuality
Gaming is still seen as a male-dominated hobby, despite there being in reality a 50/50 split in the player base,48 and misogyny is rife within the community. This is demonstrated clearly in gaming narratives, as protagonists are still most likely to be male. Whilst this is changing, with female protagonists in games such as Horizon Zero Dawn (2017), Gears 5 (2019) and The Last of Us Part II (2020), there are often vocal backlashes to these titles. What is notable is that these are all in games where combat and violence are the focus of the gameplay. Narrative-driven games with female protagonists, such as Gone Home (2013), Life is Strange (2015), What Remains of Edith Finch (2017) and The Suicide of Rachel Foster (2020), do not evoke this reaction.
It should be noted that all of the classical games mentioned in this chapter feature a male protagonist, with the exception of Titan Quest, Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey and Immortals Fenyx Rising, which give the choice of either male or female. This emphasis on male characters and perspectives is one clear demonstration of the male dominance of the gaming sphere, and how game developers’ decisions can often be led by worries about a misogynistic backlash. Indeed, despite the game’s progressive approach to female monstrosity as described above, it was reported that the female option was envisaged as the sole protagonist in Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey until executives at Ubisoft demanded a male option.49 Whilst male dominance of the player base has proven to be an incorrect assumption, the executive level of game development and their decision making is still very much male-led.
Aside from misogyny within the games there is an abundance of it in the gaming community itself. Virtually every female gamer has a story to tell about this, whether it is via unwanted sexual advances or from misogynistic abuse.50 A particularly vicious line of attack is reserved for female gamers who are perceived to use their sexuality for advantage and to exploit male gamers.
The rise of game-streaming platforms such as Twitch has given a new visibility to female gamers, and with it an increased level of misogyny.51 Female streamers are branded as ‘twitch thots’ (short for ‘that ho over there’), ‘titty streamers’ or ‘booby streamers’. They are instructed not to wear clothing that shows any cleavage, or that is seen in any way as being provocative. At the more harmless end of the scale, this has led to petitions calling for them to be banned.52 More seriously, it has led to harassment, threats and doxxing.53 Some male gamers see female streamers as using their sexuality to exploit other vulnerable males, as evidenced by this Tweet:
Hot take
Female streamers are inherently predatory. This extends to idols, vtubers, and any other form of entertainment that uses women as bait
Lonely, low self esteem guys are especially vulnerable and unfortunately don’t receive support in the capacity that other victims do54
Another way in which female gamers are accused of exploiting men is through the website OnlyFans. The website allows women or men to share nude or provocative photographs with subscribers. In effect, it has allowed an easy and safe way into sex work for anyone who wishes to. Whilst not limited to gamers, it has become a popular way for streamers, cosplayers and others to supplement their income. OnlyFans have themselves recently attempted to distance the site from sex work by banning sexual content from their creators, supposedly owing to banks blocking payments to the site. The policy was reversed after only six days following pressure from creators and consumers of the site.55 As with streaming, OnlyFans is seen by some as exploiting ‘vulnerable’ men and again, this attitude can be seen on Twitter:
Why would a man pay money to an OnlyFans or Premium Snapchat if he has an infinite variety of porn available to him for free? Because these women provide an illusion of intimacy & personal connection. They’ve found a way to monetize male loneliness & exploit it for personal gain?56
It is therefore not a stretch to say that some male gamers find themselves exploited and even attacked by female sexuality, and it is this that makes the monstrous representation of female sexuality in games so appealing to them. Much like the sirens, titty streamers and camgirls are portrayed as luring in unsuspecting men, in order to rob them of their money, their viewers or simply their attention.
Against this background, it is not surprising that female sexuality has become so commonplace as a monstrous obstacle for the hero to overcome in video games. As feminist video game commentator Anita Sarkeesian has noted, ‘when male heroes defeat them, their victory is often explicitly gendered, emphasizing that the male protagonist has overcome the female threat and reinserted his dominance and control’.57 The monstrous-feminine therefore plays a similar role in classical video games as it does for Creed in horror films: ‘a[n idealogical] project designed to perpetuate the belief that woman’s monstrous nature is inextricably bound up with her difference as man’s sexual other’.58
Nevertheless, the different portrayal of the monstrous-feminine in games such as Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, Medusa and her Lover, Hades and Immortals Fenyx Rising perhaps demonstrate a changing attitude to women in games. Indeed, the fact that their femininity is not a crucial part of their monstrousness perhaps discounts them from being the monstrous-feminine, as opposed to simply being female monsters. This attitude change can be reinforced by the games mentioned above that not only include female player characters, but ones that are not defined by their sexuality. Since Creed wrote The Monstrous-Feminine, the horror genre has diversified immensely, and, whilst it has a long way to go, it is to be hoped that the same is happening in gaming.
Notes
1.Cohen (1996: 9).
2.Gloyn (2019: 7).
3.For a brief overview of the various approaches, see ibid., 7–25.
4.The list is too long to reproduce here, but some notable texts include Doane (1991), Grant (1996), Caputi (2004), Wood and Schillace (2014), Santos (2016) and Harrington (2018).
5.Creed (1993: 3).
6.Ibid., 7.
7.Ibid., 1.
8.Ibid., 10.
9.Creed’s two principal examples are The Exorcist (1973) and Carrie (1976). See Creed (1993: chapters 3 and 6 passim).
10.Freud (1997: 206).
11.Creed (1993: 156–8). See also ibid., 20–1 and 126–7, for examples.
12.Ibid., 22.
13.Although not, it should be noted, classical mythology, at least, not explicitly. See Creed (1993: 105–6) for a brief summary of other cultural instances and below for the linkage between the Medusa myth and vagina dentata.
14.In particular, the xenomorph from Alien (1979). See Creed (1993: 21) and Chapter 2 here passim.
15.Creed (1993: 158).
16.Gloyn (2019: 8).
17.The Medusa myth is frequently referenced, but as a psychoanalytic concept stemming from Freud, rather than addressing portrayals of the monster. See below for more.
18.For example, Dietz (1998), Beasley and Standley (2002), Burgess, Stermer and Burgess (2007), Jansz and Martis (2007), Miller and Summers (2007), Williams, Martins, Consalvo and Ivory (2009), Kondrat (2015), Lynch, Tompkins, van Driel and Fritz (2016), Trépanier-Jobin and Bonenfant (2017) and Tompkins and Lynch (2018).
19.A notable exception is Sarah Stang, who similarly applies Creed’s monstrous-feminine to video games. See, for example, Stang (2018 and 2019). Other examples include Santos and White (2005), Spittle (2011) and Sarkeesian (2016). Trépanier-Jobin and Bonenfant (2017) also touches on this.
20.There is, of course, an extensive history of erotic video games, going back to the 1980s. See Brathwaite (2007) and Fabris and Helbig (2020) for further analysis of this genre.
21.Gloyn (2019: 195). Also, see ibid., 73–4 and 134–5, for similar portrayals of sexualized sirens in O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) and Doctor Who (2011), respectively.
22.For an extensive analysis of the God of War series, see Clare (2021: 38–57).
23.Sarkeesian (2016) and Stang (2018: 26).
24.John William Waterhouse’s 1891 painting Ulysses and the Sirens was seen as controversial as the sirens appeared in their classical birdlike form, rather than with their established feminine appearance. See Bonollo (2014).
25.For more on the Kid Icarus series, see Chapter 1 here, p. 17.
26.Creed (1993: 49).
27.And also found in closely related activities such as tabletop roleplaying in Dungeons and Dragons. See Stang and Trammell (2019).
28.Starcraft’s Kerrigan, the Broodmothers of Dragon Age Origins and the monstrous-feminine are discussed in Stang (2019).
29.Creed (1993: 24).
30.Ibid., 51.
31.For further discussion of the female deities in Smite, see Chapter 8 here passim and pp. 123–4 for discussion of Arachne specifically.
32.Creed (1993: 10). Monstrous female human-spider hybrids are also common in video games, examples include Doom 3 (2004), Diablo 3 (2013) and Middle-Earth: Shadow of War (2017).
33.This encounter with Cleopatra is also discussed by Jane Draycott in Chapter 11, pp. 168–9.
34.Creed (1993: 46).
35.Ibid., 47.
36.Freud (1997: 202).
37.Creed (1993: 2).
38.Gloyn (2019: 143).
39.See Wilk (2000: chapters 2 and 3) for a comprehensive examination in ancient literature and art, respectively.
40.Wilk (ibid., 31). He is citing the three stages theorized originally by Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher in 1896.
41.Wilk (2000: 35).
42.Gloyn (2019: 144). See also Clare (2021: 108).
43.Creed (1993: 10).
44.For a more detailed discussion of Medusa’s role in Rise of the Argonauts, see Chapter 6, pp. 98–9.
45.Medusa’s portrayal in Smite is further discussed in Chapter 8, p. 123.
46.Other aspects of the game are discussed at length in Chapters 13 and 14 of this volume.
47.A detail that does appear in classical descriptions and imagery. See Wilk (2000: 21, 37).
48.Yee (2017). Females actually make up the majority for some genres, RPGs for example (Conditt 2014).
49.As noted in the Introduction to this volume, pp. 4–5, this is against the background of deeper-rooted sexual harassment and assault claims against a number of Ubisoft executives (Schreier 2020).
50.See, for example, Consalvo (2012), Salter and Blodgett (2012), Assunção (2016) and Harrison, Drenten and Pendarvis (2017).
51.For a qualitative analysis on this sort of abuse, see Ruberg, Cullen and Brewster (2019).
52.Change.org.
53.Alexander (2018).
54.Claggett (2020).
55.Baker and Akhtar (2021).
56.ADIIES (2020).
57.Sarkeesian (2016).
58.Creed (1993: 83–4).