Takj (Nanako Mori) strikes a victory pose in SOULCALIBUR VI (2018), Bandai Namco
For years, the more terminally online among the mainstream Western video game industry, from developers, to journalists, to even players, have loudly proclaimed that not only are sexualized female characters somehow ‘harmful’ to society, but that actual, real-world women also find such designs outright appalling.

However, according to new research, these pearl clutching claims could not be further from the truth.
Terry Bogard (Chiaki Takahashi) has questions for Mai Shiranu (Ami Koshimizu) about his new appearance in SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy (2018), SNK
Authored by Ohio State University Assistant Communications Professor Teresa Lynch with help from OSU PhD students Annie Dooley and Matthew R. Erxleben and titled ‘Examining How Sex Appeal Cues and Strength Cues Influence Impressions of Female Video Game Characters’, this study sought to examine whether or not a sexualized female character having ‘strong personality traits’ (as in, the Hollywood definition of ‘strong female character’) would help them be more ‘likeable’ by general players.

“I think it’s important to understand how gender socialization and prejudice like sexism inform video game development and player experiences,” said Lynch to PsyPost.org’s Eric Dolan.
Official art of Swimsuit Layer as she appears in Mega Man X DiVE (2020), Capcom
“Sexism pervades gaming,” she argued. “For example, game content overwhelmingly features male characters to the exclusion of central female or gender minoritized characters. Games that do feature female or gender minoritized characters often unfavorably stereotype and objectify these groups. In online gaming experiences, men and boys target women, girls, and gender minoritized individuals with sexist and harassing communication.”

“I want to know more about why, when, and how these kinds of outcomes happen,” Lynch added. “At the same time, many women and girls and people who identify outside of the binary enjoy gaming a great deal. I count myself among them. Understanding why these people enjoy games in spite of (or even because of!) the challenges sexism presents in gaming is fascinating to me. This study is one part of answering those big questions.”

To this end, Lynch and her team proceeded to create, as recapped by Dolan, “four distinct types of female characters using [Bandai Namco’s] SOULCALIBUR VI: each character was customized to represent one of four combinations of sexualization and strength—high sexualization with high strength, high sexualization with low strength, low sexualization with high strength, and low sexualization with low strength.”
Sophitia (Chie Nakamura) readies herself for battle in SOULCALIBUR VI (2018), Bandai Namco
“Characters designed with high sexualization had features associated with previous research on sexualized portrayals: larger breasts, lower waist-to-hip ratios, and revealing clothing,” he further explained of their methodology. “Characters with low sexualization cues, on the other hand, displayed more modest proportions and less revealing attire. Strength cues were also manipulated, where high-strength characters were larger, more muscular, and carried bigger weapons. In contrast, low-strength characters had smaller physiques and less imposing weaponry.”

Using these create-a-characters (CAC), the team ran two separate experiments.

In the first, 239 undergraduate students, all of them between the ages of 18-51 and a majority being women, were shown brief gameplay clips of each respective CAC engaging in a fight and afterwards asked to rate them “across several dimensions, such as perceived sexualization (e.g., if the character’s attire seemed revealing), strength (their perceived physical power), femininity (alignment with traditional feminine traits), and likability (how much participants would enjoy playing as the character),” as well as note whether or not they would ever be interested in actually playing as said CAC in a game.
Mary (Lee Da-eun) takes a break by the beach in Goddess of Victory: Nikke (2022), Shift Up
As a result, Lynch’s team found that while supposed ‘strength cues’, when added to a sexualized character, did little to overwrite said character’s ‘sexy’ perception, at the end of the day,” on the other hand, “characters with high sexualization were viewed as more traditionally feminine, yet they were also less liked, particularly by female participants.”

“Strength cues, by contrast, did not independently influence likability,” they further noted, “suggesting that the perception of likability may be more influenced by sexualization cues than by physical strength.”

But in throwing a wrench into their assumed outcomes, the team also discovered that, when given the choice, it was actually female players who more often preferred characters with “high femininity traits (typically associated with higher sexualization cues)”, while men more often picked “characters that were strong yet less sexualized.”

Unfortunately, rather than view this result as a positive – as in, ‘the discussion over sexualized characters is all but non-existent, let’s move on to a new topic’ – Lynch instead felt that they instead showed just how ingrained ‘social beauty standards’ were in the minds of younger women.
Ultimatel Gley (Laurence Bouvard) dashes forth in The First Descendant (2024), Nexon
“I wasn’t surprised by the fact that participants in our studies disliked the sexualized female characters,” Lynch told Dolan. “I think, especially among younger generations who have grown up with social media and intuitively understand how media perpetuate impossible beauty standards, there’s increasing scrutiny and critique around sexual objectification.”

“That said, I was surprised to see that in our first study women still selected the most sexualized character when asked which character they would choose to play,” she continued. “It’s important to remember that this character was also rated as the most feminine, so it’s possible that women were just selecting the character they most identified with.”

“However, this finding highlight why this research is so important,” Lynch continued. “If women are conflating sexual appeal with femininity, then can they disassociate those two concepts? And, if entertainment media like video games continue to portray female characters by emphasizing sex appeal, how does that shape expectations of women and women’s value in society?”
Tiffany Lords saves Hinata from danger in Project Justice (2000), Capcom
With these findings in hand, Lynch’s team conducted a second experiment, this time asking 438 undergraduate students across the same demographics to offer their thoughts on the four CACs after playing a match with each of them, rather than just watching clips of them in action.

According to their responses, “high-strength” characters were “rated as more competent”, but also “less warm” personally.

Further, “Female participants viewed high-strength characters as more competent compared to low-strength characters, while this difference was not significant among male participants” (This last finding is particularly notable because it torpedoes the idea that men do not like ‘strong female characters’, instead showing that such qualities are not as important to male players as a given character’s personality or play style).
Ann (Nana Mizuki) puts an end to the fight in Persona 5 Royal (2020), Atlus
Putting a bow on her team’s work, Lynch told Dolan that the main takeaway from the study was “that playing video games positions people with a different orientation to the content on-screen.”

“It can involve you in a way that simultaneously makes you feel like you’re part of the content and game, that you are the character,” she explained. “So, if you are a character that has attributes that you appreciate and enjoy embodying, then you probably will experience some positive outcomes and interpret the experience similarly.”

“And, because games require you to engage in action, you may find distinct things enjoyable in games compared to less interactive experiences like watching movies,” said Lynch. “Instead of just seeing a hero defeat a horrible villain on-screen, you feel part of the experience of vanquishing that villain. That can be really awesome.”

“But, if the character has attributes that aren’t so great — maybe they are sexually objectified or portrayed as cute, but helpless — then that stands to diminish you in the same way that the heroic portrayal elevated you,” she further argued. “Our findings suggest that people are paying more attention to the powerfulness of female characters who they can play as, whereas this factor wasn’t so important when they were just watching the game video. Being able to translate those characteristics of the visual portrayal into actions the player was actually taking shaped the experience.”
Tifa (Ayumi Ito) and Aerith (Maaya Sakamoto) arrive at Costa del Sol in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (2024), Square Enix
“One big point is that we know that other content elements such as backstory and narrative can influence the way that people understand a character’s portrayal,” she posited. “This study didn’t get at that, so it’s possible that if these characters were more fleshed out that would affect the results of the work.”

“In the long term, my lab group and I are trying to understand longer-term effects of interactions with female characters in games,” the assistant professor asserted. “We’re interested in understanding beyond initial impressions and looking at how distinct interactions with characters through story or varying modes of play might disrupt or strengthen effects.”

Concluding her thoughts, Lynch affirmed, “We’re also very interested in understanding the positive impact of female characters on players, not just the drawbacks or negative side. People play video games because they like them and find the experiences entertaining, but also because they have meaningful experiences. We’re exploring that side of things because it’s all part of the same question.”
Cammy (Miyuki Sawashiro) dons her classic outfit in Street Fighter VI (2023), Capcom
While Lynch seems dedicated to truly delving into this topic until the research aligns with her pre-determined assumptions, for general players, these results should be taken as proof positive that the entire counter-debate against ‘sexy female characters’ is, for the most part, fueled less by reality and more by self-important pearl-clutching.