cross posted from Steve’s Random Reviews
“We have to talk about how it is humanly possible that something this kick-ass could have actually happened. To do so, we have to understand what it means to have a penis on the Internet.”
-Sean “Day9″ Plott, Computer Jock (speaking of two gamers fighting over the internet, not on this matter
So apparently there are some feminists out there who want some computer nerds dead, nothing to see here. Well, maybe not. Shakesville (a feminist blog) focused its attention to Penny Arcade (a nerd comic place) about issues involving rape, rape culture, dicks, dick-wolfs, and everything in between. Normally, this would just be another day on the Internet; however, this time the attention span of the Internet got a little longer.
Starting all the way back in August of 2010, Penny Arcade produced a comic illustrating quest completion and what that means to those who are left behind (The Sixth Slave). In the strip, the hero rescues five slaves, as his quests demands, and then leaves the sixth slave behind to be tortured by phallic canines. Within one day, Shakesville commences pointing the moral finger of the internet at Penny Arcade, accusing the writers of being insensitive propagators of rape culture. Thus begins, the angry feminists versus angry gamers feud.
I am not going to go into a long description about what happened in between then and now because, frankly, its a lot. I will certainly voice my all knowing/important opinion as well as that of a hardcore, even angrier, feminist (my all knowing/important girlfriend).
My Reaction (a gamer’s perspective):
This whole mess could be pin-pointed to the comic itself; however, as far as things go the reaction to the comic reflects how offensive it really is. Over-exaggerated. Shakesville went on a rampage making the comic out to be an insensitive rape joke when it was not the central focus of the strip. The comic does promote rape culture but you cannot call an English major a moron if he or she cannot do Calculus. The creators of the comic did not know what rape culture is. They most likely associated that with directly being associated with rape and/or rapists. Their reaction was typical of someone who is being accused of something they think they are not.
All in all, the problem is the culture that is wrapped around the Internet, mainly, the bloggosphere. This whole issue could have been reasonably solved if instead of raising a keyboard, Shakesville raised awareness. A simple message explaining and educating about rape culture instead of attacking Penny Arcade would have been more effective in getting the desired results. Unfortunately, this is the Internet. Everyone has an opinion and apparently everyone else needs to know about. Everyone wants to be a super-hero but its much easier when you are safe behind a monitor. Everyone has egos as big as their following of keyboard warriors.
My Girlfriend’s Reaction (a feminist’s perspective):
“I think that the activists who reacted strongly to the PA comic strip were well intentioned. When young women (or men) come to recognize themselves as feminists things that previously went un-noticed become enraging, which is a good thing. We should all be more pissed off about the offensive crap we see and hear every day. However, had that same person seen the comic strip prior to completing her or his WMST 101 course, or reading the wonderful work by experts like Jessica Valenti, Jacklyn Friedman, or Michael Kimmel on the subject, he or she would have thought nothing of it. It is in the least self-righteous and at most ignorantly over zealous to expect the general public to know what you’ve only just learned about rape culture. And while heated discussions are productive, even when misinformed, to learn and express oneself, the internet is not confined to the safety of your Socratic method discussion class. The permanency of blog posts caused what could have been a short, enlightening debate into an epic saga. And in the meantime, victims were vilified, shamed, and silenced.
When we allege to speak up for a victim who is not ourself, we steal his or her voice in an attempt to make a more compelling argument. Co-opting someone else’s experience does not make us more right or our point more clear. And really, that comic is not offensive solely because their might be a sexual assault survivor somewhere in the interwebs reading it, although that may be simplest way to try to gain sympathy. It’s offensive because it perpetuates a culture that excuses violence against women because our society undervalues us, which is reflected constantly in many more spaces and venues than a video game blog. I’m all about subverting the dominant paradigm, but I know that yelling at some video game nerds is not going to get me anywhere, and I’m sure many other feminists learned that important lesson.”
Apparently gamers and feminists can co-exist. Obviously, my girlfriend (the one who minored in Women’s Studies and went onto become a career activist) has more insightful things to say on the matter than I (a computer scientist), but we agree on this matter. What could have been an opportunity to educate turned into a “who has a bigger Internet penis” contest.
One Comment
It’s funny — or maybe just sad — that no one seems to talk about what I thought was the most obvious aspect of the Penny Arcade cartoon in question: the whole idea of treating people (even fictitious people) as no more than occasions to gain points.
I’m one of those people who thinks that how we set up games can’t be treated as unrelated to how we set up our society. If the story line of a game involves rape, even of an NPC, few people here would be satisfied with someone defending it as “it’s just a game.” The rules and backstory of any game are a product of and reinforce the values and attitudes of society.
In the same way, having a game culture where nobody thinks twice about leaving people to suffer so you can get ahead is a product of a culture where it doesn’t matter what happens to people you aren’t close to, as long as you get not only “yours” but more of it than the next guy. And it helps reinforce the idea that the suffering of others doesn’t matter, as well as training you to accept as normal being dehumanized (whether as victim or oppressor) in the same way.
I lived through the era of the Vietnam War, and when my son talks about the enemy races in the games he plays and the ways that he and his side can annihilate them, it is simply too reminiscent of how our leaders and opinion-makers would talk about the Vietnamese — both the North Vietnamese and our supposed allies. (The frequently-repeated phrase “they don’t value human life the way we do” particularly sticks in my mind.)