Tropes vs. Women in Video Games — Season 1, Episode 1: Damsel in Distress (Part 1)

Episode synopsis

This video explores how the Damsel in Distress became one of the most widely used gendered cliché in the history of gaming and why the trope has been core to the popularization and development of the medium itself. As a trope the Damsel in Distress is a plot device in which a female character is placed in a perilous situation from which she cannot escape on her own and must then be rescued by a male character, usually providing a core incentive or motivation for the protagonist’s quest.

About Tropes vs. Women in Video Games

Tropes vs. Women in Video Games aims to examine limiting, sexist patterns associated with female representations in games, and to illuminate how these patterns reinforce and perpetuate harmful attitudes about women in our culture.

More episodes from Season 1

• E2Damsel in Distress (Part 2)
• E3Damsel in Distress (Part 3)
• E4Ms. Male Character
• E5Women as Background Decoration (Part 1)
• E6Women as Background Decoration (Part 2)
• E7The Scythian – Positive Female Characters in Video Games
• E8Jade - Positive Female Characters in Video Games
• E9Women as Reward
• E10Women as Reward – Special DLC Mini-Episode