I've just finished the first two books. And I have to admit, the Witcher games does a pretty good job at replicating the tone in regards to women as they're seen in the book.

On one hand, Yennefer, for instance, is arguably the most awesome character in the book. On the other, -almost- every time a female character is introduced most of the of the focus is on her breasts whereas -most- male characters barely get more than a "he was frumpy looking" description.

In the world itself women are constantly subjected to sexual violence or threats thereof. At the same time, there are extremely powerful, smart, awesome queens, sorceresses and others. So while he portrays the world as inherently misogynist or sexist, he also shows women who break this mold. Though even Yennefer is reduced to a body when they go hunting for the dragon.

To me, the argument "he's basing it on Slavic history" doesn't really work. See, this is a fictional world. It is entirely up to the author/game creator, what they want to see in it. The only rules they are bound by are their own. That's it. If they decided to portray women as half naked sex objects, that's their choice. It's not some otherworldly law that they have to abide just because it's inspired by something. One hundred percent their choice. And besides, this argument is often used to defend things like rape and sexism. But it's rarely used when you look at so, so, soooooooo many other aspects in games/books/movies that are entirely unhistorical. To me it's very hypocritical and a terrible argument in situations like this.

And I think you're entirely wrong if you don't see how this can be problematic. Personally I don't necessarily see a huge issue portraying sexual violence in this game. I find it a bit unnecessary and it really doesn't add anything. It just has a tendency to diminish women in a sense I find kind of pointless. I mean, I don't want to see Yennefer half naked tied to a wagon and some guy promising that the first guy who kills the dragon gets to rape her before the others. To me that adds nothing. It's merely disturbing. On the other hand, I also have some understanding for this choice. It's an extremely easy way to break a character and instill a sense of fear and dread in the reader. I still don't understand why more authors don't utilize this towards men (as is common today and historically as well, often for the same reason as why it's done to women) if they're going to utilize this at all, but I get why they use it. I just don't find it useful.

What I don't necessarily get though, is this obsession with tits. I mean I like tits as much as the next guy, but geez. I can't say for sure here, but to me it almost feels as if the only woman who wasn't described with her tits first Nenneke. And that I don't get. I can't think of many things that are less relevant to the story. I am all in favor of nudity in these cut-scenes we see in the game. Sex and nudity is much easier for me to accept as part of the story than for instance rape. But this casual... I don't know if I should call it sexism, whatever the word. The fact that so many of the women in the game dress up pretty much to show boobs and ass, fuck practicality, fuck the weather, fuck it all. Well, that's just dumb to me. There is very little historical basis in medieval slavic culture for women to dress like pornstars on their way to the next high budget Pirates of the Carribbean porn parody. It's entirely 100% ahistorical. Historically they would have appeared far more similar to today's Amish populations than the downtown LA crowd on a sexy masquerade.

I will give it to the author, and therefore also CDPR, there certainly are nuances to all of this. In a sense I suppose it makes for a more realistic world. So on one hand, super strong women, on the other hand, most women reduced to sex objects with the threat of rape hanging over them at all times. I just don't get why. Creating a realistic world is entirely possible without tits everywhere, without sexual violence being thrown around. To me it doesn't add anything. If they wanted to portray realism rape would not be treated as casually in everyday situations (the punishments outside of war were often quite harsh), men would also be raped on a more frequent basis (happens frequently today, has happened historically but there are fewer sources in regards to this for some time periods). But we're not going for realism, we're going for effect, for shock value, for emotions. And to me sexual violence and boobs are cheap ways to accomplish these goals. Note: I speak specifically of the Witcher series here. There are some books/media that to me portray these things better. The Witcher books/games does so, in my experience, for effect and nothing else.