01.01.70

Opting to minimize as a transsexual is handled with no narrative sophistication by a game noted more for its comedic antics than its complex characterization. The band leader of the Saints Row Saints merely adopts a female body and existence goes on with few, if any, references made by other characters about the change, nor does the main loony ever confront this change him- or herself. Instead, what we end up being treated to is a kind of explicit exposition of the typical mishandling of gender and sexual identities in terms of something unequivocally simple: a game's art assets.

Watching the female protagonist of this courageous (like many others that offer a male/female choice of characters) makes it remove that character animators had a default male character in mind for the most part, as the "female" in keeping walks with squared off shoulders and generally moves as a man would, not a woman. The masculine verve of this body language is likewise mirrored by plot sequences that emerge to be clearly written for a stereotypical male criminal character, motivated in his field as a criminal by "typical male desires," like fast cars and soundly women. Seeing the female lead kick back with her "boys" to have herself at a party full of strippers is not an impossible narrative circumstance, but it is surely a less credible one than not if I necessity to believe in an authentic and familiar representation of gender. The developers of Saints Row incontestably gave up on writing a female gangster and simply provided the recourse to play as a character that follows masculine gender conventions that can look either like a man or like a maid.

Source: Kotaku