Why the Mass Effect 3 FemShep Vote Was the Wrong Move

At least, that’s what Destructoid’s Sophie Drell argues in a one-page editorial, in which she describes the Facebook poll to choose the canon appearance of the female version of Commander Shepard as a beauty pageant that absolves BioWare from “any responsibility for perceived prejudice for FemShep’s appearance”. Here’s a sampling:

Forgetting any ideas regarding misogyny or sexism, it’s just plain inconsistent to allow fans to choose, democratically or not, the look of FemShep that will be used for marketing. The world of Mass Effect was constructed and designed. Garrus, Miranda, and all of our Normandy crewmates were constructed and designed. Despite being based off Dutch model Mark Vanderloo, the face of John Shepard, whom we’ve come to associate with BioWare’s epic space opera, is constructed and designed. BioWare chose Vanderloo’s face. They picked him specifically and without fan help, presumably because they felt his look would best represent the sci-fi hero saving us all from ancient machines which lurk beyond the dark void of knowable space.

That’s why the choice to have FemShep’s public appearance voted on is so grand, so affecting. All of the above are internal decisions, made by people who, you know, do this shit for a living. But this particular design wasn’t. Sure, each of the contestants was brushed to life by an artist, but BioWare isn’t having the final say as they have with the other elements. Not only that, but there has been no reason given as to why. Why now? Why FemShep? It’s a line of questioning that leads only to dead end debates about patriarchy and the inevitable declaration that whoever doesn’t like it is just some feminist with their panties in a twist.

Which, by the way, I am. And yes, they are.