Mass Effect: Andromeda Finally Gives Us Indestructible Lesbians

What does a lesbian bring on a second date? A U-Haul…..

But, what should a fictional lesbian bring to a second date? A bulletproof vest.

Such is the state of sapphic representation on television that fans expect their favourite bi and gay ladies to be killed off the second they’re introduced.

Finally get a love scene with your dearest? Prepare to take a stray bullet less than five minutes later! Get bumped off for the sake of a male character’s emotional discovery! Poison your wife, killing her, and then end up being poisoned by your wife’s former business partner and dying yourself! (I promise you this example isn’t even hyperbole.)

So yes, TV is mostly garbage and what little mainstream gaming representation isn’t great either. The only lesbian in Dishonored 2, for example, is an antagonist who you must assassinate. Lo and behold, Mass Effect: Andromeda is here to save the day with its indestructible sapphic ladies.

mass-effect-andromeda-companion-peebee — This is new squad mate Peebee. I don’t know her but she’s probably LOVELY.

A Deathless Future

Developer BioWare has confirmed that Andromeda’s companions will not die, meaning there will be no ugly Paragon vs. Renegade sacrifices or cutscenes that send them to virtual heaven and send you into a fit of tears.

Now, you and your SSO (Significant Sapphic Other) can roam the Andromeda galaxy without a care in the world. Make an intergalactic toast to those who took on heteronormativity and the patriarchy so that you didn’t have to. Smoosh booties and celebrate your love any chance you get, taking comfort in the fact that no room of straight male writers will ever deem your story arc ‘unnecessary’ and fridge you for it. Find a new planet for all of the species on the Ark Hyperion to live on, making lesbians and bi women the literal saviours of humankind (and co.!)

With bad guys and not-so-friendly new alien races ready for a bust up at every turn, your character and their squad mates will never be able to completely stay out of harm’s way. Though, after years upon years of traditional media doing gay and bi female characters dirty, this is a Good Something and I honestly can’t wait to fight the galaxy with my beautiful alien gal pal when Mass Effect: Andromeda is released on PC, PS4 and Xbox One in early 2017.

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Jasmine Henry

Staff Writer at New Normative

Jasmine Henry is a games and technology writer from the UK who has been playing video games since before she could tie her own shoelaces. She is also a serial games hoarder (thanks Steam sales!) and dreams of a day when the representation of women and minorities in games is no longer debated and is simply just the ‘norm’.

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Comments

One response to “Mass Effect: Andromeda Finally Gives Us Indestructible Lesbians”

Fearful Queerful

March 22, 2017

Yeah, lesbians being put on a pedestal isn’t anything new. Tell me the last time you’ve seen a gay guy in fiction treated with half the respect and acceptance as all the different lesbians and bi girls in fiction outside of stuff specifically targeted to gay men? (Or more like stuff specifically targeted for straight women who fetishize gay men……)
Don’t go praising Mass Effect Andromeda for anything when it does such a bad job of portraying gay male romances and pretty much sweeps them under the rug. If you do that, you’re insulting the LGBT community as a whole.