Not. Okay.
*Strong trigger warning*
I'm sorry, but how the fuck could a game titled, "Hit the Bitch" be anti-violent?
Apparently the game was created by a Danish anti-violence organization, and allows the user to use either their mouse or hand (through the webcam) to hit this woman virtually enough times to the point where she is so bloody and bruised that the screen tells the person they're a "100% Idiot" and gives some information about intimate partner violence. I don't really care what words you throw out after the game is over - the main message is the game and that message is straight up glorifying violence against women. Jill has more.
If you think this campaign is more damaging that it is advocating, email the organization that created the game and tell them so. [http://www.familievold.dk/english]
oh my god!
ReplyDeleteI agree with the poster this is absolutely the wrong way to go about violence education... completely inappropriate.
this makes me sad. i can totally see some guys playing this thinking its funny and completely ignoring the message behind it. are video games really the best way to reach out to young men? certainly it hits a huge demographic... hmm.
shit, i wanna see a video game called the feminist agenda, where you get to play bell hooks or gloria steinem and go around beating up domestic abusers and rapists and earn points for kicking sexist bastards in the balls and organizing marches & protests & teaching wimmin self-defense. lose points by shaving.
but that's just me.
-kelsey
Ouch! This video "game" is horrifying. Thank you for raising our awareness by posting it here. Please let us know who you are. We want to both acknowledge and be able to identify the folks who participate in this classroom blog space. Many thanks, -Jordana
ReplyDeletenot directly related, but on video games as a whole:
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid i had this game for the Nintendo 64 called Harvest Moon. You have a farm that you work and you have to till the ground and plant the seeds and water the crops and harvest them etc. but another big part of the game was that there were like 6 or 7 girls who lived on adjacent farms or in town or wherever and you could talk to them and give them presents and stuff and there was a little heart that goes from blue to red as you 'court' her I guess and when its red and you guys 'love' each other you can ask to marry her. and when you do you guys have a baby and she stays at home and takes care of it and you still go out and work.
Anyway! I just looked it up and they are still making these games and they made one where you can choose between being a girl and a boy - check out these differences: (The game is made in Japan)
-"The beginning and end are different depending on which character you choose. The boy is a successful Rancher, ...who is asked by the mayor to help a girl on a nearby island run the farm of her father's. The girl's beginning shows her trying to save Harry's farm by taking control of it. She then meets the boy character"
-"the girl starts out with a free cow and a brush, but cannot upgrade tools, when the boy character can. The male also has more stamina than the female."
-"when you marry as the girl, your game ends, but as the boy, the game continues."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvest_Moon_3)
Thats weird. Basically as a boy you are a successful farmer helping a girl and as a girl you are a trying to take over your dad's farm that you work on. The girl is given a handicap and cannot get any stronger, unlike the boy who also has more stamina. The game ends when you marry as a girl, but not if you're a boy. I guess they can't make a world where the boy stays home and takes care of the baby while the girl works. Or maybe they never even considered it and just figured no one wants to play a stay home and take care of the baby game.
At the beginning of this class after we read A Day Without Feminism I called my mom and asked her how much of that stuff she remembered - When I asked her about the job ad being "men wanted" or "women wanted" she said that she could remember it and that they still do it in Japan. I'd be curious to see what women's rights looks like in Japan.
it's addie!
ReplyDelete