Women video game characters given a “realistic” makeover

It’s the women of video games like you’ve never seen them before! And why do they look so different? It’s because they’ve been given a “realistic” makeover.

Bulimia.com, an eating disorder treatment site, has taken on the way women’s bodies are portrayed in video games.

Using Photoshop, they altered the images of such characters as Laura Croft from Tomb Raider and Bikini Girl from Grand Theft Auto V to represent the average American woman’s measurements.

“The difference between the original video game heroines and their more realistic interpretations is hardly subtle,” the website’s staff wrote in a conclusion. “In these images, unfeasible waistlines expand and arms and legs grow wider. Perhaps the changes are especially noticeable since most of these characters are so scarcely dressed.”

All of this is to raise awareness of the connection between the unrealistic body image depictions seen in these games and eating disorders.

The staff added, “Girl gamers — especially young ones — could develop a skewed image of how the female body should look. This might mark the beginning of obsessive thoughts about their own bodies, and self-questioning as to why they don’t align with their perceived ideal.”

Read more about it and see the rest of the series at Bulimia.com.