The Alyx Effect^A) is a pretentious term to refer to a trend in artwork/media that became dominant around the mid-90s and was near the height of its popularity in the 2010s. It’s currently (rightfully) dying. I also believe it originated with SocJus, though that’s just my intuition and a guess speaking.

I’ll keep this article quite short and simple for now because I just want to explain (in brief) what this is. I’m also fully aware that, in its current form, it might come off as unhinged, but it’s me simply naming a trend that is obviously there.

The Alyx Effect is named after Alyx from Half-Life 2. Not because she started it, but because I think she exemplifies it perfectly.
Basically, it’s a trend where women/girls are depicted without skirts and, generally, with clothing that tones down their femininity…actually, the whole point is to depict women in such a way that tones down their femininity. And sexiness.
Alyx is the best example because: she has short hair;^B) she wears non-tight jeans; she wears a hoodie and jacket over her shirt,^C) contributing to a baggier appearance; she wears boots.
Though I will note that generally ‘tight’ clothing is still largely a thing. So in that regard the feminine figure is still mostly preserved (as we see in Alyx; her silhouette still screams ‘woman’).

Now, besides Alyx, I’ve noticed this in Chronicles of Darkness, World of Darkness and a number of other properties that I can’t remember just yet. Outside of media, it was the dominant ‘fashion’ for Generation X and Millennial women (especially those leaning progressive/feminist/left, though it applies generally). So-called Zoomers don’t seem to be into it as much.

There are any number of reasons that could explain why this trend exists. The obvious one is ‘feminism’ which actively aims to suppress femininity. A less political explanation could be that it was just something people liked. I personally think it’s a mix of both.

Am I saying it’s bad? Not necessarily, though kinda. It can be.
On a personal level, I prefer skirts, dresses and short shorts. I don’t really like pants or leggings. That’s probably why I noticed and why Alyx never held the position of ‘waifu’ for me. Though, notably, Chell did.
So I personally don’t like it but I do think there are situations where it just doesn’t make a lot of sense. Such as in Kiss of the Succubus - Daeva, which is about seductresses…which I’d associate with skirts and dresses. Yet the Mekhet Clanbook (at least from a skim) seems to have more skirts and dresses.
Though this is a side-note, I think this is a general issue with the artwork in Vampire: The Masquerade. At least that’s the impression I got from the V20 edition. It could be different for the 5th Edition.^D)
Outside of the WoD, I’m not a particularly big fan especially if I know the real reasons behind a given design. I don’t think that Alyx was designed the way she is because Valve thought it was most appropriate for her character and the setting, for example. I think it’s fairly obvious they did it to score political correctness points, even if that wasn’t a huge factor back when Half-Life 2 came out.^E) In this situation though, I wouldn’t say that this makes Alyx’s design bad because – despite what I just said – I think her design does mostly match her character and setting. Someone we could also argue about is Mossman. But I’ll leave that for much later.

The reason I attribute this to SocJus is because – as I said with feminism – their goal is to suppress femininity. And because I really like femininity I really can’t get behind that goal.
Another way of putting it is that if you start from the same-ish assumptions as they do, you will inevitably end up with an Alyx. Or an uglier girl. I’m not quite sure what dictates the ugly/cute girl at the end, though I’m guessing it’s related to Queer Theory or Advanced Feminism™.

A particularly egregious (and unambiguously bad) example would be “standard woman look”, which I’d place under this.
You know the one: tight white t-shirt, bright blue skinny jeans (which of course exposed a bit of the ankle and calf), white socks that end just below the ankle and white sneakers. The one part that doesn’t match would be the hair, which is typically long and straight.
This look is most common in advertising and stock images. It’s so common that there are minor variations of it (usually the white t-shirt is replaced with another color).

I also realized just now that this doesn’t just apply to appearance but can also apply to the personality of characters. But whether it does would require more thinking on my part.