Gamers With Jobs has an interesting article that explores how not just women, but many of the non-young male characters are objectified in games. Even better, the article is written by a female gamer, a rare specimen indeed.
“Unless you’re a wise old martial arts master guy, you better not age. And when I say age, I mean at all. Remember Sir Auron from Final Fantasy X? Great character. Kicks butt all over the place, and even gives good story. All through the game he gets crap about being an old man. If you do the math from the facts in the game, he would be 33 years old (if he wasn’t already dead but if you’ll follow the immutable point). How does it feel to know that you’re really old, guys? At least he’s there. I tried to think of a female equivalent in age and story role, and got nowhere. I have come up with a theory about grown women. I think they morph into crates once they turn 26. They wrap themselves in a wooden chrysalis and change into their final form. The next day they emerge and shake out their skirts as 80-mumble year old NPC’s and shuffle off to live in a random village in the nearest jRPG. It would explain why those things are all over the place and there’s no grown women in sight, wouldn’t it?”
Link! (Gamers With Jobs)