After Decades Of Making Us Play As Men, GTA 6’s Lucia Has A Lot To Prove

Grand Theft Auto has always had a complicated relationship with women. For decades, it’s been known as the series where you can visit a strip club, hire a sex worker, and swiftly beat her to death in the nearest alley. Violence against women in virtual settings praised for their unflinching realism is frequently turned into a punchline players are expected to chuckle at again and again and again. With the series achieving mainstream global stardom at a time when the medium was still predominantly an archaic boy’s club, it’s no surprise it has stuck around. But with the arrival of player character Lucia Caminos in the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6 later this year, Rockstar has an opportunity to completely redefine the franchise’s problematic dynamic with women and potentially introduce one of the strongest female protagonists this medium has ever seen--but we all know that sticking the landing is easier said than done. People often claim that everybody is an equal target in GTA’s vast and satiristic worlds, but it’s hard to understand that perspective when all the protagonists are men and most female characters around them are used to advance their stories, rather than be a…