Why I think Riot's Apology was warranted

With about half the front page's active threads being centered around Riot's apology for Kai'Sa's "V-Neck" for the past few days I felt the need to post my thoughts on the matter.

First let’s get some things straight:

Everyone is influenced by the media they consume, often in subtle and nuanced ways, which is why people are and have been calling for more diversity and better representation, and games are not an exception.

Yes, male characters are sexualized as well, but in different ways and at a disproportionate rate compared to female characters.

Sexualization is not the same thing as objectification, though they often come hand in hand.

Low-cut outfits and long flowing hair isn’t the only way to make a character attractive (i.e. Taliyah), and showing skin is not necessarily sexualizing (i.e. Jinx).

Kai’Sa’s exposed cleavage is problematic because there is no reasonable explanation for why it’s there other than the long tradition by artists to make female characters eye-candy. The issue with sexualizing characters when it’s not part of who they are is that it makes the work seem shallow and makes it about the viewer rather than the character, thus objectifying them.

Much of the community challenged Riot to explore different ways a woman can be attractive or disgusting, to show us all the different kinds of women that exist in Runeterra and they indicated that they would. They showed us they can come up with new, more original designs like Rek'Sai, Illaoi, and Zoe. In comparison Kai'Sa seemed like a disappointing step backward from what they previously promised so the apology was warranted.