Assistant Professor Teresa Lynch and PhD Students Annie Dooley and Matt Erxleben were published in Sage Journals for research showing that video game characters with more sex appeal are more disliked. Their paper, “Examining How Sex Appeal Cues and Strength Cues Influence Impressions of Female Video Game Characters,” examines the sexualization of women in video games. 

They found that video game characters’ sexiness and strength both influence how players see the characters, but this varies based on how players interact with them.