The Entertainment Value of Rape
by Kelly
Rape has many definitions to different people – to some it’s black and white, to others there are many grey areas. Some define it as violence, others think of it as a purely sexual act. Regardless of these ambiguities (on an individual and societal level), hopefully we can all agree on a few simple things:
1) Rape is bad.
2) If a woman (or man) says “No” or is otherwise incapacitated (i.e. drunk, asleep) and a man persists in penetrating her orally, anally or vaginally, it is rape.
3) Rape is not entertaining.
While these seem like pretty obvious statements, not everyone agrees with them. For one thing, rape is used as a tool of war (even by American troops), so not everyone thinks it’s all that bad apparently. Secondly, many people do not believe that date/acquaintance rape exists, or think that if a woman dresses provocatively or flirts with a man, she is asking for it (and therefore it is not rape). These are all very problematic standpoints. However, at least in American society, I would say that a substantial amount of people agree with statements 1 and 2. Apparently, however, lots of people think rape is entertaining. Don’t believe me?
There is a game that has been around for a few years in Japan called Rapelay. It has gained recent press coverage in the United States because Amazon sold the game through its United Kingdom branch. After customers complained to Amazon, it took the game off its proverbial “shelves” and has issued statements of apology. Of course, the game is available online (with English translations), so it doesn’t really matter that Western stores aren’t selling it.
What is Rapelay you might ask? From the numerous articles written on the subject lately, I gather that it’s a game in which a male protagonist gets out of prison after serving time for – you guessed it – raping and groping a woman (who he later takes revenge on in the game). I’m not too clear on the plotline, thankfully, but one of the main plots of the game is the molestation and rape of a mother and her two underaged daughters. Bonus features include forcing your female victims to get abortions, enlisting friends to gang rape women with you, etc etc etc. Disgusted yet? Apparently this is part of a niche video game genre in Japan called eroge…which means there are more games like this out there. Just when I thought humanity couldn’t reach new lows…
Who the hell plays these games and actually enjoys them? I won’t post the screenshots, but if you click on the links below this paragraph you can see some (slightly disturbing but safe for work) images of the game. It makes me sick to think that someone could spend time raping pixelated women. It truly boggles the mind. I wrote a post about sexism in video games a month ago, but this game takes the cake in terms of sexual violence against women in popular culture and entertainment. That particular concept is the hardest for me to reconcile – the fact that rape is not only commodified in this situation but it is presented as a form of entertainment & cheap thrills.
Here are some excellent articles on Rapelay & eroge:
Slate: And You Thought Grand Theft Auto Was Bad
The Telegraph: Rapelay virtual rape game banned by Amazon
Shakesville: Looking for Rape Products? Try Amazon
Jezebel: Overstock.com, eBay Remove Rape Simulation Game
Thoughts? Rants? Comment below.
- Dollface
I remember when I was in middle school, I used to hang out with the gamer boiz. At first, we all got along really well because, obviously, we all loved to duel Pokemon at recess or whatever. But then I remember one day in my English class the guy behind me said, “Hey, wanna know something funny?”
I said, “What?”
He says, “I found this really funny video game!”
I go: “Really what is it?”
He’s like, “Oh, it’s so funny… okay, so you know how like in other games you get hearts and potions to regain health? In this game, you *starts to whisper* have sex with a prostitute!”
I remember that day and my reaction so clearly. My jaw just dropped and I was horrified. I remember being like, “Why is that funny?”
He said, “Because, you’re, y’know, to get health points!”
Ever since then I’ve become more and more disenfranchised with gaming because it is so obvious a market dominated by misogynist guys. It’s because you hear about games like Rapelay and you’re automatically disgusted and you assume everyone would be, but then you hear people think it’s *funny.* On Feminist Gamers, for example, I learned there’s an HTML game where you basically shoot daggers at a sickly looking vagina. Guys thought that was hilarious too and kept telling everyone to lighten up or that it wouldn’t matter if it were a penis instead (way to miss the point on both counts). It’s like, they just. don’t. get it.
I agree with you dollface. Not everybody agrees rape is bad. People still believe women secretly want to be raped. People enjoy watching women being raped as entertainment. It is disturbing, upsetting, and horrifying on so many levels. Yet, even when games like this *exist*, people deny we’re living in a rape culture. I share your anger over this wholeheartedly.
That’s fucking disgusting. I just showed my boyfriend this post and he made a wtf face and just said *fuck*. Thankfully not all guys are as sick as the pigs who make and play these games.
I feel sick. There is something really, really wrong with humanity.
I don’t even know what to say about that one.
And yes, I did think Grand Theft Auto was bad. What I thought was REALLY bad was when a bunch of my 16 year old students (all female, it was a girls’ school) felt the need to argue with me about whether Grand Theft Auto – including the prostitute scenes – was problematic. They jumped to its defence because it was ‘funny’ and ‘just entertainment.’ These were not stupid girls. There were articulate and savvy and THEY just. don’t. get. it. I went home and cried after that class.
something else to consider-
i’ve read A LOT about this game, and talked to some of my ‘gamer’ friends as well. i think this game is marketed/intended as porn, not a video game you sit down after school and play with your friends. the eroge genre is a pornographic subset of video games, in much the same way that pornographic films are a subset of american films.
this understanding of the game, not as a worse version of grand theft auto that a bunch of kids sit down and play together, but the video game of equivalent of a rape fantasy film that a rape fantasist plays alone, is (in my opinion) more accurate. of course, this is not without problems, including:
-whether or not you believe porn is generally acceptable
-whether or not you believe bdsm porn or rape fantasies are acceptable
-whether this game clearly establishes that it depicts only fantasy. true bdsm porn shows the actors smiling and introducing themselves as consenting adults at the beginning and end of the film. does this game have a similar reminder that porn/video game simulations are not to be conflated with real life?
-what if this game does get into the hands of the average gamer, they decide it’s funny, and play it with their friends. this is the original understanding most people have of the game, that justifiably caused so much concern.
Personally, I’m ok with porn, bdsm porn/sex, and rape fantasties (which, when enacted, involves two consenting adults and is very different from rape where there is no consent). I think this game could do a better job of reminding fetishists/rape fantasists who enjoy it that in video games you can do lots of things to pixel-people that you can never and should never do to real people. I also have SERIOUS concerns about this game “leaking” outside of the porn/eroge genre and being played by average mainstream gamers.
That is so sickening! I can’t believe someone would spend hours actually making or playing that game.
I was actually just thinking about the misguided conceptions of rape, especially in the media.
I’m in a comedy group and I recently wrote a satirical piece called “Lady Rapist.” It is about a woman who drugs a man, drags him back to her apartment, and forces him to cuddle with her. Her rationale is that he was wearing a big, fuzzy sweater and smelled like clean laundry. “He was practically asking for it by wearing that.” I had a lot of people (both men and women) come up to me after the show and say that they appreciated seeing a feminist sketch in a largely male-dominated comedy show.
The point is that rape is never justified and when we turn the tables around (switch the genders) we reveal the underlying sexism in our culture. If this video game depicted a woman going around and sexually harassing men, she would be regarded as psychotic.
@Jessica–I like your point about this game being more about porn than about recreational gaming. I think you’re right about that. However, I still find something creepy about interacting within this kind of gaming world. Creating/viewing rape or bdsm porn seems to be different. I don’t think playing this game with breed rapists among our youth (Halo hasn’t bred alien killers in our midst) but I do think it reinforces the idea that sexual violence against women is permissible and, as the main post states, entertaining.
It was so shocking reading about this game. To think, there are people out there who think rape is actually a game!
You think it cant get worse for women and there you find someone with a more warped mind.
Thank you for bringing it to light.
Isn’t there something we can do as a group against companies that manufacture, promote and sell these products?
Let us find a way out.
One way I can think of is to find out who are the owners of these companies and then send them hate mail, highlight their names on the net, kind of shame them.
Let us do something. Collectively we can make a difference.
there are worse things to worry about than someone’s sexual fantasies you people are far too adsorbed by such a miniscule facet of perversion. Besides, it’s not as if you’ll do anything about it.
Women and girls are allowed to do whatever they want in our culture. They can (even preteen girls) dress like sluts, show thier asses, cunts, little tities in tight, sluttish, whorish clothing, and men are not allowed to get sexually aroused? And then, after having to endure this for how ever long, when they lash out in sexualy frustration & frenzy and rape these girls to satisfy the lust they had to eddure, it then is onlt the man’s fault? That is bullshit. Go to a mall sometime, look at the 7, 8, 9, etc. year old girls that dress like only whores would have 20 years ago, and then tell me something isn’t wrong with little girls dressing sexy. And that is what they are doing too: dressing sexy. The main stream media has sexulized little preteen girls, and thus little girls dress like they are looking to get fucked. What is a guy to do? He can only take so much. I’m not going to say what i have or haven’t done, but i would love to rape & sexually torture one (or two, or three, etc.0 of these sexy little preteen cunts. Sorry folks for being so not P.C., but look around, look at these girls, who is it that is letting them dress and act like this?
Women and girls are allowed to do whatever they want in our culture? No they cannot. Women cannot show the tiniest bit of sexuality withpout being called sluts or whores while men can walk around naked, sticking their dicks in everything, and be PRAISED for it-women get stoned for being rape victims, they get called bitches for speaking their minds…
There is nothing wrong with getting aroused. However, as a man myself, I know that we ARE NOT the beasts who have no control over their actions that you claim we are. I can look at a woman that I am attracted to and it is NOT DIFFICULT to not touch her.
That’s like saying “well I was hungry and there was a food store in front of me, so why wouldn’t I steal?” That’s like saying “They can (even preteen girls) dress like rich people, drive nice cars, and poor people are not allowed to steal from them?”
Or saying “And then, after being insulted how ever long, when they lash out in anger & kill these people for calling them names, it is then only the killer’s fault?”
People like you are pieces of shit. Go die in a fire-coming from another MAN.