Target Aus Pulls GTA V From Shelves, For Its "Violence Against Women" - Update

[Steven Bogos]

Target Aus Pulls GTA V From Shelves, For Its "Violence Against Women" - Update

The soccer mom brigade has convinced major Australian retailer Target to pull Grand Theft Auto V from its store shelves.

Update: Kmart Australia (another major Australian retail chain) has joined with Target in removing the game from its store shelves nationwide [http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2014/12/k-mart-also-pulling-grand-theft-auto-v-from-sale/], again stating the depiction of violence against women as its reasoning.

Original Story: Target Australia - which while eerily similar to Target America isn't part of the same company - is one of Australia's major retail chains, selling everything from clothes, to candy, to video games. But, as of December 3, you won't be finding Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto V, which was recently re-released for the PS4 and Xbox One [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/trailers/9888-GTA-V-PS4-and-Xbox-One-Launch-Trailer], in the video game section. The reason? Target claims that many customers complained about the game's "depiction of violence against women."

Target General Manager Corporate Affairs Jim Cooper said the decision was made following extensive community and customer concern about the game. "We've been speaking to many customers over recent days about the game, and there is a significant level of concern about the game's content," Cooper said. "We've also had customer feedback in support of us selling the game, and we respect their perspective on the issue."

"However, we feel the decision to stop selling GTA5 is in line with the majority view of our customers."

Cooper added that Target will continue to sell other R-rated DVDs and games, stating that "While these products often contain imagery that some customers find offensive, in the vast majority of cases, we believe they are appropriate products for us to sell to adult customers."

So there you have it. Violence against women in R-rated movies = okay! Violence against women in R-rated video games = won't someone please think of the children! Glad to see that Target can make the decision for me of what is appropriate for me to consume.

Source: Target Australia [http://www.target.com.au/medias/marketing/corporate/PDF/media-release/GTA-Media-Release-v2.pdf]

Permalink

 

[R.K. Meades]

"...the decision to stop selling GTA5 is in line with the majority view of our customers." Somehow, I doubt that. Do Kmart and Target have much market-share anyway? (in the context of video-games)

 

[Reed Spacer]

Yeah, but this is Australia; they'll ban a game if a character swears too often.

 

[totheendofsin]

https://www.change.org/p/target-withdraw-grand-theft-auto-5-this-sickening-game-encourages-players-to-commit-sexual-violence-and-kill-women?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=191536&alert_id=KLNsvVtEZm_2TAy7BLyrLkl4FVen4Dx6jdEOfc5jWmiunbPseoBVpQ%3D

Here's what I keep seeing as held up as what led to this decision (whether or not it actually played a part in this I don't know), keep in mind it misrepresents the game to a laughable degree

 

[ZiggyE]

The soccer mom brigade has convinced major Australian retailer Target to pull Grand Theft Auto V from its store shelves.

Soccer mums? No.

The reason the game is being removed isn't "violence", it's "violence against women". Smells more like radical feminism to me.

 

[Zontar]

They aren't coming for out games, they said. No one's trying to censor anything, they said. Man this was upsetting, not for the fact that a company I hate caved in, but because this sets a precedent, and a particularly bad one at that.

 

[Battenberg]

It's Australia. I'm amazed anyone there is even allowed to talk about GTA V, never mind being able to buy/ play it.

On a weird side note this article reads like a bit of a bitter rant, particularly the assumption that this is the result of interference from 'the soccer mom brigade'. Unless I'm missing something there's no evidence the people complaining were female OR parents. I realise it's an odd criticism but between that and the sarcastic closing paragraph this story just seems so out of sorts with the usual quality of articles on The Escapist.

 

[Magmarock]

I live in Australia so I'm going to call the nearest Target to confirm this.

I can confirm this. :<

 

[JMac85]

Usually when one criticizes the depiction of violence against women it's when that violence is specifically or disproportionately about violence against women. It's downright chauvinistic to complain about it when the violence is evenly distributed... or honestly in GTA V's case I'm pretty sure the violence is still directed mostly towards men. There's no lengthy sequence where you attach electrical cables to a woman's vagina as far as I remember. Come to think of it I can't really remember any act of violence in the main story directed to women other than when Trevor snapped and killed Wade's cousin and his girlfriend, and that was off screen.

But hey, you can shoot and run over female pedestrians with reckless abandon, as well as GTA Online players who use female avatars, so I guess that's all that matters. Fucking hypocrites.

 

[Therumancer]

Well, that's the problem with SJWs, they are great as long as they are the ones you happen to agree with and what they are saying doesn't effect you. I oppose the entire mindset and associated stances for a reason, specifically because it leads to things like this.

At the end of the day I think the bottom line is that SJWs will make a huge online stink about it if they don't comply and Target is afraid it will effect their bottom line. In comparison serious gamers who play games like GTAV are relatively safe despite the implication that we're "woman abusing sociopaths" they have no fear of us in any respect, we won't do anything that might cost them money. For Target it's easier to not carry the product, knowing that the gamers will just get it from a rival like Game Stop, than to fight the SJWs.

On a lot of levels what your looking at is domestic terrorism, albeit using "soft" power rather than "hard" power, and as this kind of thing succeeds it's just going to be more prevalent.

The door here pretty much got opened due to people supporting SJWs on things like say gay rights or alleged racism. Different issue, but basically since people have rallied against homophobic or "racist" (perhaps unintentionally) products it's given SJWs the cred to use this perceived power and influence for anything they want to, even things you disagree with, and SJWs being what they are, these things always go to a ridiculous extreme, such as trying to get major chains not to carry video games like "Grand Theft Auto".

Not popular sentiments, especially on this site, but ones I think are relevant and perhaps which people will consider in the future even if they don't like what I'm saying.

Nobody wants to take our video games and the things we like away, well... at least until that's what they start to do. Sure it's only one store now, but given time and the way this is going to embolden people? Expect more attempts in the future. What's more given time expect video game companies to wind up changing and not producing games like "GTA V" because of potential distribution problems. In the end this train of thought leads to us being censored and our video games being taken away, it's just that it was done with "soft" power which needs to be watched out for, controlled, and punished when it's used out of line, as opposed to hard power. Nobody came into your house and took your games at gun point, but in the end the objective is to make it so you won't have games like that just the same since people will eventually stop making them due to pressure.

 

[ZiggyE]

It's Australia. I'm amazed anyone there is even allowed to talk about GTA V, never mind being able to buy/ play it.

On a weird side note this article reads like a bit of a bitter rant, particularly the assumption that this is the result of interference from 'the soccer mom brigade'. Unless I'm missing something there's no evidence the people complaining were female OR parents. I realise it's an odd criticism but between that and the sarcastic closing paragraph this story just seems so out of sorts with the usual quality of articles on The Escapist.

Here is the initial petition that sparked this.

https://www.change.org/p/target-withdraw-grand-theft-auto-5-this-sickening-game-encourages-players-to-commit-sexual-violence-and-kill-women

Here are some key quotes.

Please Target ? we appeal to you as women survivors of violence, including women who experienced violence in the sex industry, to immediately withdraw Grand Theft Auto V from sale.

This misogynistic GTA 5 literally makes a game of bashing, killing and horrific violence against women. It also links sexual arousal and violence.

We have firsthand experience of this kind of sexual violence. It haunts us, and we've been trying to rebuild our lives ever since. Just knowing that women are being portrayed as deserving to be sexually used by men and potentially murdered for sport and pleasure ? to see this violence that we lived through turned into a form of entertainments is sickening and causes us great pain and harm.

Games like this are grooming yet another generation of boys to tolerate violence against women. It is fuelling the epidemic of violence experienced by so many girls and women in Australia - and globally.

Please put ethics before profits and make a strong statement that you do not condone sexual violence, sexual exploitation or the abuse of women as ?entertainment?.

It seems to be a largely politically driven movement started by female sex workers. Not much relevance to parenthood though. It also tries to claim violence and sexual abuse in a fantasy setting will encourage people to do it in real life. i.e. the same Jack Thompson-esque nonsense that has been disproven time and time again.

 

[R.K. Meades]

The soccer mom brigade has convinced major Australian retailer Target to pull Grand Theft Auto V from its store shelves.

Soccer mums? No.

The reason the game is being removed isn't "violence", it's "violence against women". Smells more like radical feminism to me.

I would call it a moralistic sleight of hand. Neo-puritanism, veiled under the cloak of concern for women and children-- no reasonable person could possibly object to such a benevolent position! What it boils down to is a case of self-appointed moral crusaders deciding, "we don't like this content, so nobody should be able to access it." Sadly, having read the petition, that is only a mild exaggeration.

It used to be religious fundamentalists who pushed the barrow for the agenda of censorship.[footnote]They still do, but their gripes do not get much play.[/footnote] Now, it would appear that the tide has shifted. A new breed of culture warriors have a bone to pick with the medium.

 

[Therumancer]

Usually when one criticizes the depiction of violence against women it's when that violence is specifically or disproportionately about violence against women. It's downright chauvinistic to complain about it when the violence is evenly distributed... or honestly in GTA V's case I'm pretty sure the violence is still directed mostly towards men. There's no lengthy sequence where you attach electrical cables to a woman's vagina as far as I remember. Come to think of it I can't really remember any act of violence in the main story directed to women other than when Trevor snapped and killed Wade's cousin and his girlfriend, and that was off screen.

But hey, you can shoot and run over female pedestrians with reckless abandon, as well as GTA Online players who use female avatars, so I guess that's all that matters. Fucking hypocrites.

It doesn't have to make sense to us, just to the SJWs taking up the cause. For most of them I think it's a matter of going after a series that is infamous for being a game where you can kill prostitutes and stuff. It can be argued to a SJW that just having hookers is in a way sexist, especially if your implied to do business with or be involved in running them. Plus to a SJW context doesn't matter, any violence against women is a problem, even if the woman is trying to kill you, to a SJW that's just an excuse by the evil patriarchy to put something sexist and violent into a game. Look at say the whole "Hit Man Absolution" trailer, Agent 47 kills a bunch of heavily armed mercenaries, but since in an over the top game they are dressed in wild leather-nun costumes, and are after all girls, it was presented as some kind of exotic femicide fantasy for psychopathic men. I mean forget all the kung-fu the women are using, that they blow up a building, and are carrying enough firepower to invade a small country.... Then of course we have another SJW crusade against the trailer for the still in development "cyberpunk 2020" game which shows a female cyborg being gunned down "A.D. Police" style due to cyber psychosis (a big deal if your familiar with the RPG) despite the giant scythe blades she has for hands if I remember it was you know... violence against women.

Let's be honest, SJWs have wanted a piece of Grand Theft Auto for years, and the way people have rallied behind people like Anita Sarkeesian they are starting to get it.

 

[Zhukov]

It still amuses me to see Gamergaters getting pissed off by this.

"We use letter writing campaigns to influence the actions of news outlets hardly any of us frequented but which offended us with their sensibilities?"
"Whoo, yeah! Consumer power baby! I am Gamer, hear me type!"

"A bunch of busybody think-of-the-children types used a letter writing campaign to influence the actions of a business stocking a product hardly any of them were going to buy but which offended their sensibilities?"
"WHOA! Whoa. Can of worms, man! Dangerous precedent right there! Why, it's practically censorship! Domestic terrorism even!"

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

Lol, check out the big balls on Target! "We have decided we will no longer be stocking a game that has been out for over a year and has probably peaked in sales, when most people don't even buy our overpriced games when there's a JB or EB down the mall."

Next thing you know, they'll be proudly touting their refusal to stock copies of Rolf Harris' version of Stairway to Heaven.

 

[oldtaku]

How about the violence against men? And doggies? And... well, everything. There's no need to single out women when you're talking about GTA.

 

[LazyAza]

To be fair I can't imagine this is much more than a tonne of moms happening to notice little jimmy beating up hookers and freaking out over it. The violence against women thing was just the particular content they happened to notice in the game that set them off and focus on while ignoring the other horrendous stuff that goes on in every gta game.

I mean yeah the games are labeled r18 adult only here now in australia but everyone knows parents are still dumb as bricks and are going to let their kids in the 8-12 age range play these games because they're "just games".

This is just the tried and true example of not enough adults in the world still not realizing games labeled not for kids are in fact NOT FOR KIDS. Australia especially I find is still very very VERY far behind in realizing this even on a cultural level. Lots of very old or very old-thinking people here sadly.

 

[Creator002]

"...the decision to stop selling GTA5 is in line with the majority view of our customers." Somehow, I doubt that. Do Kmart and Target have much market-share anyway? (in the context of video-games)

Not really. Kmart doesn't always stock new games and even when they do they're in small supply. Target are usually cheaper (selling brand new games at nearly $60 AUD at times), but with rewards you can get at EB, it's more worthwhile to price match. Especially since EB allows full refund returns within 7 days from purchase.
JB Hi-Fi is really EB's only competitor.

I like how, within the entire game, there are 0 women that you are required to directly kill to get 100% completion. The only women that is required to die is

Spoiler: (Spoiler) You know who and how if you've done the movie studio missions.

Devin Weston's assistant Molly and only because she thought Michael was going to kill her (he just wanted to talk). She gets sucked into a jet engine running from him.

Also, it seems some people signed the petition just to complain about it in their comments. How fucking stupid do you have to be to do that?

EDIT - The petition bends the truth quite far. It says the game encourages players to hire and kill prostitutes to get health points and to proceed (doesn't say in what).
1. You don't need to kill the prostitutes.
2. Neither the game, nor any documents included in the case mention using prostitutes for health regen.
3. Obviously (or, not, I guess), since it's never mentioned, it's not required to proceed in anything,
4. It also claims getting your money back when killing them, I tested this twice and got less than I paid back, so it's a financial loss in game.

The only incentive is health and maybe getting your rocks off, if that appeals to you.

The game is rated R, people. Look at the case, ask retailers for details. Retailers, I think it's come to the stage where you must give warnings to and ID anyone who wants to purchase an R rated game regardless of their appearance and possibility of giving the game to children.

 

[Dalrien]

What about violence against men?

Why Is no one protesting over that?

 

[Something Amyss]

They aren't coming for out games, they said. No one's trying to censor anything, they said. Man this was upsetting, not for the fact that a company I hate caved in, but because this sets a precedent, and a particularly bad one at that.

No amount of fear mongering is actually going to make this, you know, true.

It still amuses me to see Gamergaters getting pissed off by this.

"We use letter writing campaigns to influence the actions of news outlets hardly any of us frequented but which offended us with their sensibilities?"
"Whoo, yeah! Consumer power baby! I am Gamer, hear me type!"

"A bunch of busybody think-of-the-children types used a letter writing campaign to influence the actions of a business stocking a product hardly any of them were going to buy but which offended their sensibilities?"
"WHOA! Whoa. Can of worms, man! Dangerous precedent right there! Why, it's practically censorship! Domestic terrorism even!"

Well, what did you expect? Consistency?