The Sims is now trans-inclusive!
Electronic Arts, the gaming company behind the wildly successful Sims franchise, added the ability to give your custom sims double mastectomy scars, tucking underwear, and chest binders in the latest update to The Sims 4.
The new Create a Sim options are available for teen, young adult and adult sims. Teen sims attend high school in the game, so Electronic Arts is subtly promoting the idea of “top surgery” — or lopping off healthy breasts so that females may appear physically more male — for minors. According to one study, chest reconstruction surgeries for minors in the United States rose by nearly 400 percent between 2016 and 2019.
Finally able to give our transmasculine and nonbinary Sims top surgery scars. I love the realism. @TheSims, you have no idea how many people you just helped by being able to see themselves in this game. Imagine all the in the closet trans kids who see this update 🥲 #TheSims4 pic.twitter.com/xCJforMNbt
— T_Sizzler (but with rizz) (@make_it_sizzle) January 31, 2023
Electronic Arts periodically provides free patches or updates to the Sims games over time. Last year, another update afforded players the ability to choose their sim’s sexuality and pronouns — or even create new ones.
Oddly enough, the top surgery scars may only be added to “male” sims, meaning de-transitioners are not represented in the game.
As Electronic Arts works on the next iteration of The Sims, currently known only as “Project Rene”, Cockburn wonders how game designers will continue to stretch LGBTQ+ storylines within the limits of gaming engines. Will there be a trans expansion pack where female sims can go to the hospital and return home with a new penis and accompanying skin graft scar? Will heterosexual male sims still be attracted to trans women so as not to be transphobic? Can teen sims have the option to be prescribed puberty blockers, which slow down their aging process and leave them shorter than comparable sims? So many opportunities!
The Sims isn’t the only major brand attempting to normalize double mastectomies for young women. Burberry, a luxury fashion company, recently launched an ad campaign that featured queer couples kissing, including one individual with top surgery scars. What a time to be alive.
