And unless there’s a good pre-approval process, it’s pretty rude to the exhibitors too. As puerile as we may find them, hiring and costuming booth babes is still a professional business expense, which has to be scheduled and budgeted in advance. Now they have to worry about the ESA nixing their display at the last minute because, say, Sen. Clinton has a public hissy fit about games again? That seems unprofessional to me. The ESA is supposed to do what’s in the best interests of its members: having clear, consistent rules about what goes on at E3 seems like it would be far more useful than this vague, mealy-mouthed pronouncement of theirs.

That said, I can’t see this as anything more than a cynical, paranoid, reactive, post-Hot-Coffee, ass-covering blanket the ESA has thrown over itself. The rules are so vaguely worded - “materials?” “sexually provocative?” “partial nudity?” WTF? - that they basically give the ESA carte blanche to toss out anything vaguely sexual which gives them the willies. Rather than having a mature debate about the proper place of sexuality in gaming, they’ve simply said, “We’re going to stuff sex into the closet this year; and we can shut you down if we think you’re drawing the wrong kind of attention.”

Which is pretty typical of this industry: they spend most of their time acting like nothing’s wrong with the way things are done; until there’s a media uproar and suddenly the violator du jour is hidden out of sight until people lose interest and move on. The fact that there is no similar emphasis on violent content is proof of that - because, hey, killing hookers? That’s so 2001.

X-P

This doesn’t represent some industry-wide shift towards a more mature, respectful treatment of sexuality (and, not incidentally, women) in gaming. It’s just a temporary surge in faux puritanism until videogames come out from under the media’s baleful Eye once again: the business equivalent of hiding a Playboy under your pillow when your mom suddenly walks into your bedroom.

It also has to do with the perception of female devs and industry professionals being anything but additional anomalies at the convention. I’d like to go and not have to fight through the crowds of slavering fanboys and see the games and if I happen to speak to a booth babe (who is hopefully really a hostess /host or spokesperson for the game) I’d like to think they KNOW about they game they represent and are dressed to represent it as well.

This isn’t about sex. This is about professionalism and an appropriate environment for everyone to do a little business and still have a good time.

“We can't afford to make the same mistakes the film industry did when they pushed sexual content out of the mainstream and marginalized it to the "porn industry" which has proven disasterous for sex-positivity and sexual health in our culture.”

Social and legal controls had more to do with that than the “film industry,” which like all businesses is essentially amoral and will gladly sell anything they can get away with.

“When we say something is only allowable in private or in a ghetto back alley sort of second-rate status, THAT is an ethical and social values judgment. That is sex negativity almost in a nutshell. :) Nasty, gross, humiliating things are private matters.”

So are sacred, intimate and cherished things. To claim that people who don’t want the public square to be an open-air sex bazaar are “sex negative” is EXACTLY the kind of thing I was referring to with my early Baby Boomer / faux-liberationism comments.

“Things that are obscene and indecent must be kept out of respectable stores and public forums. The arts challenges this notion but people have started to realize (through the anonymity and safety of the internet mostly) that exploring sexuality and talking openly and sharing sexual experiences IS healthy for people.”

See previous remark.

“Compare a hooker's life in Detroit and a hooker's life in the regulated legal prostitution cities of the world and you'll understand that it's the negative, judgmental and disrespectful attitudes we have toward sex that actually harm people the most (not the sex, sex entertainment, or sex work itself).”

That’s a highly contested view, to put it mildly. Also, I rather think being part of a criminal underworld makes quite a difference regardless of the actual work you do.

“We can agree to disagree but I see integrating honest depiction and respectful exploration of sex into mainstream media as a progressive step in the right direction. I feel the social price of ostracizing sexual content is too high.”

That’s quite a jump. “Sexual content” covers all sorts of things. And one might well argue that Booth Babes and their associated baggage are the polar opposite of the honesty and respect you are seeking.

“People who see a "booth babe" (or attractive sexually alluring woman in general) as exclusively an object for teenage boy fantasies are just parroting cultural codes that scandalize, trivialize, and look down upon sex (and to a greater extent sexy women"¦ the virgin/whore dichotomy is alive and kicking ass on this thread).”

Oh, puh-leeze. Decorum = repression, is that it? So one’s ability and desire to relate to (and with) women as equals on a respectful, non-sexual level is actually erotophobia? Being able to appreciate women beyond and apart from sex appeal is the very antithesis of “the virgin/whore dichotomy.” Do you regard all men of your acquaintance as either father surrogates or objects of sexual desire?

“Damn, now you've made me go all Women's Studies 101 in public. But seriously, why are booth babes so intimidating, infuriating, annoying, and disrespectable? They are doing their jobs (to attract attention) well if you even notice them and frankly, you don't know jack about them from the way they appear at work in their silly sex kitten outfits. At the end of the day they are just people doing their job like every other industry person at the show"¦ why does everyone gotta be a hater???? ;p”

…because the job of the other “industry people” is to showcase the work of their minds and hands, as opposed to having their sexuality exploited?

PS - As far as “parroting cultural codes” go, you might want to take a second look at the recent one which tells women it’s ok to be used, so long as they’re unapologetic and proud of it. ‘Cause when it’s YOUR boot on your neck, it’s not really so bad, is it!

Kelly, such great points. As for booth babes, I think it’s a complicated issue. Like sex workers, booth babes are often either seen as beautiful bodies or suffering souls, when, like you say, they’re real people who can make decisions for themselves and don’t themselves deserve to be judged. I’ve certainly critiqued the existence of booth babes in the past, but I suppose my main issue with them is the way that other community members react to them. Their presence represents E3’s, and the games industry’s, boys club status. Of course, that’s nothing to point a finger at them about, just the people who hire them and drool over them, but I understand that often the anger gets misdirected.

We can’t afford to make the same mistakes the film industry did when they pushed sexual content out of the mainstream and marginalized it to the “porn industry” which has proven disasterous for sex-positivity and sexual health in our culture. When we say something is only allowable in private or in a ghetto back alley sort of second-rate status, THAT is an ethical and social values judgment. That is sex negativity almost in a nutshell. :) Nasty, gross, humiliating things are private matters. Things that are obscene and indecent must be kept out of respectable stores and public forums. The arts challenges this notion but people have started to realize (through the anonymity and safety of the internet mostly) that exploring sexuality and talking openly and sharing sexual experiences IS healthy for people. Compare a hooker’s life in Detroit and a hooker’s life in the regulated legal prostitution cities of the world and you’ll understand that it’s the negative, judgmental and disrespectful attitudes we have toward sex that actually harm people the most (not the sex, sex entertainment, or sex work itself). We can agree to disagree but I see integrating honest depiction and respectful exploration of sex into mainstream media as a progressive step in the right direction. I feel the social price of ostracizing sexual content is too high.

People who see a “booth babe” (or attractive sexually alluring woman in general) as exclusively an object for teenage boy fantasies are just parroting cultural codes that scandalize, trivialize, and look down upon sex (and to a greater extent sexy women… the virgin/whore dichotomy is alive and kicking ass on this thread). Damn, now you’ve made me go all Women’s Studies 101 in public. But seriously, why are booth babes so intimidating, infuriating, annoying, and disrespectable? They are doing their jobs (to attract attention) well if you even notice them and frankly, you don’t know jack about them from the way they appear at work in their silly sex kitten outfits. At the end of the day they are just people doing their job like every other industry person at the show… why does everyone gotta be a hater???? ;p

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=62593

“This is nothing new, since for many years the ESA has issued instructions along these lines. However, most exhibitors have simply ignored them in the past - hence the appearance of more and more booth babes with each E3 that passes.”