But the real question is, does armor HAVE to be functional in order to be gender-fair?
I believe the answer is no. We like to give our artists 'artistic license'. Outrageously spiky armor is one of those things, along with massive pauldrons and tits you cou- waait a sec.
Well, see, full disclaimer, my opinion is that games should have whatever design they want and people should choose with their wallet.
But seeing things from an "ideal" perspective, I think the fair would be like this:
In games where armor is already fantasized up to eleven, with spikes and unnecessary additions, sexualization's fine. You're not going for realism anyway.
In game like MB, full realism means fully realistic armor. You can see this both in MB and DkS.
However, even in "realistic" games stuff like boob plate exist, but I hardly think boob plate is sexist. It's less about sexualization and more about stylization - if you find someone who actually thinks metal curves are "hot", then go ahead and prove me wrong.
Also, about something someone said earlier, that men in loincloth are strong looking while women in bikinis are stupid looking, if you don't think the Barbarian from Dragon's Crown looks strong as all hell we live in different planes.