I know that Grand Theft Auto V, and most every other mainstream game imaginable, is more geared toward the heterosexual male audience. I know that. I wish game studios would open their eyes and see past that, but I've given up on the big name-brand game studios to deliver diversity in protagonist design aside from role-playing games where you can create your own character. Dan Houser sealed the nail on Rockstar's no women in GTA track record by saying:
"…the concept of being masculine was so key to this story."
Well, after he said that, I couldn't wait to see what GTAV had in store for me, especially when it came to the women of the game. When I first got into the series I started with Vice City and then moved onto San Andreas where I really started to embrace the world of Grand Theft Auto. Cruising around for hours on motorcycles, eating cheeseburgers, going to the strip club, going to the gym to work off the cheeseburgers. It was downright fun.
One thing I hadn't realized back then that is more apparent to me now is that I'm more aware of the roles of women in games like these. Perhaps my feminine senses have been heightened over the past few years, and over the past four days playing GTAV, I can't help but feel an emptiness of sorts. This is largely due to the lack of substantial female characters whether it be in a supporting role or a bit part in a side mission.
So I've taken it upon myself to catalog the women I encounter throughout the main story, side quests, and miscellaneous content during this "masculine" quest and share them. Maybe if we examine them one by one we can begin to see their intended, underlying purpose (or non-purpose) in this masculine journey penned by Dan Houser.
1. The Screamer
Within the first five seconds of the game, Trevor throws a female hostage to the ground during a heist. She screams intermittently the entire time she is in the scene.
2. The Human Shield
While pinned down by the cops outside, Trevor nabs a nearby old woman who is scrambling to get away from him and uses her as a human shield. Luckily, she gets away after he realizes fleeing the scene is more effective.
3. Auntie & The Feminists
Franklin's Auntie (Far Left) is apparently an older lady who likes to play the field. She's also a devote feminist who likes to spirit walk with her friends when they aren't having Ya-Ya Sisterhood meetings in the living room and chanting about their vulvas.
4. Little Leila's Cousin
We never learn her name but she is featured in a main story mission while playing as Franklin. On their way to kidnap a rival gang member, Franklin and Lamar find their target chatting her up, but she is clearly unimpressed and seems uninterested in his advances altogether. Maybe if she wasn't wandering around back alleys alone, she wouldn't have to deal with creeps on motorcycles.
5. Amanda – The Cheating Alcoholic Wife
During Michael’s storyline, we discover that his wife is cheating on him with her tennis instructor. Later on when you return home in the game, you can find her in the corner of the kitchen knocking back glasses of wine and mumbling “numbs the pain."
6. Natalia – Angry Mob Lady
After pulling a Lethal Weapon and tearing down her stilt house's deck with his truck, Michael gets a call from Natalia. She screams into the phone that he has been greenlit and is immediately attacked by gangsters and slung into a gun fight. Later on when the leader of the orginization confronts Michael and Franklin we learn her name and that she will be staying a hotel while Michael earns the $2.5 million dollars needed to rebuild her house.
7. Tanisha – Franklin's Ex-Girlfriend
It is made clear early on in Franklin's stoyrline that he is still hung up on her despite the fact that she is adamant about not wanting to be with him. Her primary reason being that he is still a ganster and all she wants is a man who can make her feel secure and cares about more than just himself, something she feels Franklin can not provide, so naturally she needs to continue looking for a man to make her life more complete.
8. Tanya – The Annoyingly Flirtatious “Almost” Clean Ex-Druggie
She is the girlfriend of one of Franklin’s cousin’s. She is annoying, constantly hits on Franklin, and has him fill in for her boyfriend at his job, driving a tow truck. This functions as a side quest where you can earn money by participating in the redundant task of picking up Tanya, listening to her flirt with you, driving your cousin's tow truck, picking up a car, towing it back to the yard, and fleeing from Tanya's annoying banter.
9. Tracy – Michael's Clueless Slutty Daughter
It's made very clear that Tracy is a slut. Her brother Jimmy talks about it, her Life Invader page talks about it, she hangs out with porn filmmakers, and she wants to be a dancer. That is basically a recipe for Whoredom 101. She's annoying (see a theme here?) and fits snugly into the rebellious naive rich-girl stereotype.
10. Mary-Ann – The Manhater?
Michael stumbles upon this spitfire while she is preparing to jog along the beach. Despite being extremely aggressive with him and throwing air-punches in his direction, she challenges Michael to a race and he accepts. Then you get her phone number.
11. The Hairdresser
So far I’ve gotten haircuts for all three protagonists in the game, and it’s from the same NPC, every time.
12. Sapphire – The Stripper
After paying for a relatively cheap private dance and playing the hide-the-hands from the bouncer mini-game, she invited me to go back to her place. After we arrived I was treated to some pan-up-while-characters-grunt-loudly sexy time that lasted about 5 seconds. Afterwards, I couldn't help noting that I probably would have been more turned on while playing it if I got to experience the "seduce the stripper" scenario as a female character.
13. The Fashionista
You meet her while doing a mission during Michael's storyline. You have to buy a specific outfit to sneak into the Life Invader head office. If you try on the wrong things, she will say mean things to you, until you buy the right outfit for the mission.
14. The Jewelry Store Clerk
You have a conversation with her while casing the Jewelry store. That's about it.
15. Hemp Milk Girl
While leaving the Life Invader main office you overhear a girl yelling at two oblivious guys about how someone drank all her hemp milk.
16. Paige Harris – The Other Hacker
When I first saw that I could pick a lady to be a part of my heist team, I was excited. Would she have unique dialog? Would I be able to hangout with various members of the heist team after the job was finished? Resoundingly no. The ability to choose three additional team members for heist jobs adds a nice dynamic to the game, but it's disappointing that they disappear after the job is done.
17. Poppy Mitchel – The Slutty Teen-Icon Superstar
You encounter Poppy Mitchel while doing side missions for Franklin in which he assists a member of the paparazzi with getting lude photographs of celebrities. On one of those missions you sneak into Poppy's backyard as she is getting nailed by another actor. She seems unenthused the entire time and continues texting while he continues to have sex with her. Then they see you and you have to flee the scene.
18. First Sergeant Vanessa
First Sergeant Vanessa appears in the cartoon, Republican Space Rangers. She is mainly there to act as a way for the main characters to address issues with women serving in the military. I only watched about twenty minutes of the show, which I appreciate for being very well-made, but she doesn't seem to have any lines at all.
19. Ashley Butler
A meth-addict who we first see in GTAV when she is having sex with Trevor in exchange for meth. As noted in Daniel's article "Can we talk about GTAV's Trevor?", she was previously seen in Grand Theft Auto IV's DLC, The Lost and the Damned. However, her name is never mentioned in the scene she first appears in so you'd never know who the hell she is unless you played the DLC from GTAIV.
20. Molly
The secretary in the cartoon, Gordon Moorehead Rides Again. If she isn't the one putting herself down, then someone else usually is.
21. The Bartender
So far, she is my favorite female character but I do not know her name because it is not mentioned in this scene or in the subtitles. She is a no-nonsense woman who has a younger husband and doesn't take shit from anyone, including Trevor, which is impressive. She reminds me a lot of Pancho Barnes, one of America's first great female pilots in the Air Force who went on to run a notoriously successful bar called the Happy Bottom Riding Club. If you don't know who I'm talking about, then you probably haven't seen The Right Stuff, where she is portrayed flawlessly by Kim Stanley.
