Really? I felt exactly the opposite (actually lol I did a presentation in my Female Icons class on her in which I argued that the reboot was the most feminist version of Tomb Raider.

The basic argument is that previous versions of Lara fit squarely into the Strong Female Character/Fighting Fuck Toy tropes. The Strong Female Character is strong in a typically masculine way -- physically strong and emotionally stoic. She's not complex or well-developed. The Fighting Fuck Toy is a Strong Female Character who may be at the center of the story and driving the narrative, but she's hypersexualized and objectified -- she exists to serve the male gaze. Even though the Fighting Fuck Toy is supposedly physically strong, she still has the ideal feminine body: slim but curvy with little to know muscle bulk despite her strength.

The first two video game versions of Lara Croft (the first is from 1996 to2002 and the second is from 2006 to 2008) both feature a hypersexualized Lara (extremely curvy, extremely slim) with an extremely limited emotional range. The first Lara is practically the only woman in her whole world; the second Lara encounters a few other women who end up being villains. Lara's femininity and sexuality are winked at throughout these games -- they're basically jokes.

The new game features a radically different Lara. She's still very pretty, but her body has realistic proportions, and I didn't feel that she was sexualized at all. There is a diverse cast with multiple women, all of whom react differently to their circumstances. Lara experiences a range of emotions, fear, excitement, doubt, remorse, pride, pain, outrage. She's emotionally (and physically) vulnerable at times, especially early in the game, but this doesn't mean that she's weak; instead she's a more realistic woman, emotionally complex. She grows and develops throughout the game, becoming a "Strong Female Character" that is strong in a more genuine way. Her main motivation in the game is saving her friend, Sam, and the centralization of the female friendship in the narrative is SO new to the series and so important.

I'm just totally here for games with less sexualized, emotionally complicated, well-developed, sometimes vulnerable but in the end ass-kicking female video game protagonists.

Thank you so much for this. I broke up with my (beautiful, wonderful, kind, giving) partner of two years because my partner realized he was polyamorous (or at least he wanted polyamory at this point in his life), and I couldn't do it. We tried opening up twice, but our open relationship was just for casual sex -- I wasn't comfortable with him pursuing emotional or romantic intimacy with his sexual partners. He never violated any of my boundaries or rules, but he did want to be able to pursue all kinds of intimacy with other people. I couldn't even be okay with him pursuing sexual intimacy, let alone the rest of it.

I read the Ethical Slut to see if maybe I could be okay with polyamory, but in the end, it's not something that I can do or even something that I want, so we had to break up -- it was the healthiest decision for both of us.

The break-up and the Ethical Slut left me with this feeling, though, that I don't want or can't do polyamory because I'm not evolved enough. My politics aren't radical enough, or I'm not mature/self-confident, or I'm too jealous and possessive. I keep feeling like if I was a better, stronger, more progressive person, then I'd be polyamorous. I keep feeling like my desire for monogamy is a personal failing.