Dear League Players (Sexy Men Nao)

So I was involved in a thread for a "stripper" Draven skin a while back and a lot of the responses got me thinking...

The most common response was "but there's already tons of shirtless guys, why is anybody even complaining!"

This brings to mind something that I thought was really interesting that most guys that play League don't seem to get - that comes down to what is actually SEXY and what is a power fantasy.

Most of the female characters in League that are "sexy" are sexy as a result of a male fantasy - small clothes/not very many clothes, large breasts, etc. This is a fantasy targeted primarily at male gamers and while some girls like these skins too (or I guess people who aren't into girls like these skins?) because they can be "cute" while also being sexy (like, I don't think Battle Bunny Riven is overly sexy, even though it's clearly targeted at a straight male demographic, I like the skin because bunny ears.)

Then look at someone like Pantheon. In a lot of his skins he is shirtless! This must appease the female/non-straight male gamers that play League, right? Except Pantheon is ALSO a male fantasy - but instead of a male sexual fantasy, he is a male POWER fantasy. He's shirtless to show off his ripped muscles and his strength, not his sexuality. The only character so far that I could really consider "sexy" that also shows skin is Varus, because he's shirtless but he's not the ripped musculature that you generally see out of a male power fantasy.

I'm not trying to degrade these skins in any way - there's absolutely nothing wrong with male power fantasies existing! And I feel Riot has put some real effort into releasing some diverse characters lately (Rek'Sai is an example of a female power fantasy - she's the QUEEN, and that makes her a badass, BECAUSE of her gender not despite it, Sejuani got reworked to be less babe on boar) but there is a distinct lack of "sexy" skins that target non-hetero males. There have been some great skins lately that are targeted at female champions without being "sexy" (Order of the Lotus skin line is a great example of primarily female champs getting skins that I would consider more graceful and elegant than sexy), but there hasn't been a sexy guy in a skin designed to be SEXY aside from like... Heartseeker Varus. And then, what, Pool Party Graves?

We have so many good candidates too! Jayce is a good example of a champion that could easily be "sexy" - put him in a costume from a male revue or something! He's got the build for it, and hell, make it a 1350 skin and give him some voice lines or something. But for some reason these suggestions are met with statements like "having them be actual sex workers just goes too far".

But releasing female characters with big boobs wearing skintight outfits doesn't? Just because their names aren't "Prostitute Zyra" or what have you doesn't mean they aren't really suggestive.

Again, I would like to point out that I think Riot is taking steps in the right direction and releasing more males AND females of differing body types and styles, but let's get some mancandy! And if that makes you uncomfortable, try to imagine how it feels to be on the other side, where you're constantly being told by the community that these skins are "inappropriate" while they clamor for more Ahri skins because she's a sexy female and her entire character is designed to be seductive, or that you should just be happy with what already exists because x, y, and z male characters TOTALLY aren't wearing shirts and that means they're sexy!