For some time, it has been a common worry that sexualization of female characters in video games may be a cause for increased body dissatisfaction amongst female players.
However, despite what many have chosen to believe, a recent study has shown that that is not the case. Psychology of Popular Media Culture is a recent Journal study that was published at Stetson University, and the results they have say otherwise. They did not find that sexualization in video games caused aggresion towards other women, nor does it cause increased body dissatisfaction in female players.
The current study involved assigning female players randomly to play a Tomb Raider game with a more or less sexualized avatar. While the players reported on their body dissatisfaction and self-objectification, as well as aggression and hostility to other females, the results showed that there was no direct influence from exposure to a sexualized avatar.
As a whole, these results appear to say that there doesn't seem to be a correlation between sexualized avatars and aggression or image issues with women, and overall it seems like media influence from video games on women seems to be minimal.
This is just another report that has come out with reasearch that speaks positively towards video games, and we can hopefully look forward to learning more about the connection between them and us as human beings.
What do you think of this study? Did you expect anything different? Let us know in the comments!