Journal of Other Forum Analysis (Volume II, Issue 2)

[Boredfrom]

burka thread getting weird about Old Man Leon (actually, old Leon is a feminist statement  )

I don't exactly mind the statement on how they designed Leon based on the female gaze because there just isn't an equivalency between how men are designed for the female gaze versus how women are designed for the male gaze. We're not going to get jiggle physics Leon in a skintight outfit with plenty of creep shots.

What I think we should scrutinize more is how that statement from Capcom has colored the way people react to people appreciating Leon's looks. As far as I'm concerned, Leon has always been designed to be attractive so this is nothing new... but there's a lot of disdain or spite in how his looks have been described now that they've gone out of their way to say it's for the female gaze. The weird little bald Leon movement felt like this big "finally!" moment for people who wanted to counter all the comments on sexism too. I think I am letting Capcom slide a bit because at least there's some level of good intent compared to all the weird stuff people are saying and doing between their Tifa and 2B danbooru searches.

EDIT: corrected phrasing!

That's what I was trying to get at; the upset over Leon doesn't come from him being sexy, it's that them stating that they took the female gaze into that recontextualizes it for insecure men.

Starting with his rebrand in RE4, Leon is sexy, but in a way that boosts a guys ego; femme fatale spends most of her screentime when she's not doing ninja shit to do a will-they-won't they dance with Leon while young college student Ashley spends the game being dependent, flashing panty shots and ends the game by propositioning Leon to go fuck afterwards. Contextualized with Leon as the big strong smooth hero, the women are virtually accessories as far as these men see it. 6 has Ada, Helena and her naked sister boss fight all revolving around Leon's orbit and then RE2R loops back around and he's given high-fidelity chemistry with both Claire and Ada.

Leon's stories all tend to revolve around girls/women, often vulnerable girls/women, which plays into men's egos. Re9 just breaks a bit of the illusion by 'conceding' that ideal aesthetic to women and we know how men get when women have the audacity to have interests or be catered to in any way.

I didn’t see these two guys shitting on The Golden Hawk for having a hate bonner for old man Leon.