Are you freakin' kidding me?

[userwhoquitthesite]

No really, this has to be a joke right? Right? Someone tell me this is satire.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2013/06/microsoft-e3-rape-joke/66092/

God damn it. This is what we've become? Really? I don't care anymore, you can't say anything without being called a misogynist by gamers any more. And god forbid you beat a girl in a game, that's rape! Who cares about having a good time when a girl doesn't like that you're winning at a game! You're a filthy rapist! No one cares if she won the next round or that the game was scripted! If you're a man and you play games, you're a sexist by default.

Maybe I'm overreacting a bit here, sure. But no more so than the people crying rape because a few words were poorly strung together and might imply something in an entirely different context. It's honestly enraging when you have to hold your tongue constantly lest someone who is easily offended comes along and makes you out to be some intolerant asshole.

My head hurts. Ugh.

um.... no, dude. It was definitely a rape joke. The article you linked even has further links where the participants admit this. The thing is, had this guy said it privately, I'd be on this "defend the joke" front with you. But a public press conference is NOT an acceptable place for a rape joke. Were it a less public engagement, or at least an engagement where such humor is expected, then it'd be fine.

So i don't think the guy is terrible for saying it, but he's pretty dumb to have said it THERE. and good on the woman for standing up for her friend

 

[Racecarlock]

Guys, have you seen the fat ugly or slutty website? It seems that most people think "Show me your titties" is the only way to greet a woman on there. This guy is not that bad.

Edit: Plus, don't you think by "It" he might of meant, I don't know, THE ROUND OF THE FIGHTING GAME THEY WERE PLAYING?! Impossible, right? Had to be a rape joke.

 

[Yopaz]

I honestly wouldn't have thought much of it if rape wasn't mentioned in the article right after the comment. I've been accused of having a perverted sense of humour, but I didn't grasp that one.

Oh well, people need something to get their engines running. Microsoft is as good as any to whine at.

 

[bojackx]

I just can't fathom how people care about this so much, it's honestly pathetic. As much as I hate the term "I have lost faith in humanity" this is about the most I've ever come to saying it. Much worse stuff has been said an infinite amount of times, and people who honestly feel the need to go after this guy because he made a weak rape joke towards a woman probably has an incredibly warped view of gender equality.

 

[JimB]

If you want to get into the metaphysics and assume he was simply self-inserting into his character at the time, then all he was doing was beating the crap out of an anthropomorphic wolf.

I'm not talking about metaphysics; I'm talking about how he was behaving in context. He spoke to a real person as if she was the imaginary person on the screen and thought that justified commanding the real person to lay down and passively accept the violent intent of his imaginary character on hers. I don't think I'm the one blurring the lines between fantasy and reality; I think he did.

There is no rape involved in this case whatsoever except for the rape imposed upon it by the audience.

I don't think anyone is arguing that an actual, physical, literal rape took place. I think the complaint is against his allusion to rape; against him believing that it is okay to, in a friendly competition designed to showcase new technology to a buying public, make jokes with a punchline of "Ha ha! Rape!"

You're right, I'm sorry.

Thank you, VanQ. Your apology contains a level of class I'm not at all used to seeing in internet debates about feminism and rape culture in the video games community, and not only do I appreciate it, I want to underscore it and praise you for it.

EDIT: I didn't want to make a new post for this response.

I just can't fathom how people care about this so much; it's honestly pathetic.

Having priorities that differ from yours is not pathetic. Please do not behave as if your grasp on sexual politics is the only valid one.

Much worse stuff has been said an infinite amount of times.

Let's not get tangled up in moral relativism. That something else was worse does mean a bad thing isn't bad on its own. If it does, then the Holocaust is the only event in human history we can safely complain about, because anything else we can dismiss on the grounds that "much worse stuff has been done before."

People who honestly feel the need to go after this guy because he made a weak rape joke toward a woman probably have an incredibly warped view of gender equality.

Why do you feel the need to dismiss not the arguments people have against this incident, but the people who make the arguments in the first place? Are you speaking from some sort of enmity here, or do you simply want to invalidate any future arguments by saying only people with warped minds would ever bother formulating them in the first place?

 

[JazzJack2]

I think the complaint is against his allusion to rape; against him believing that it is okay to, in a friendly competition designed to showcase new technology to a buying public, make jokes with a punchline of "Ha ha! Rape!"

I am sorry? HIS allusion to rape? The only people who alluded to rape where a few select members of audience who where simply looking to be offended, what he said had no connotations of rape or sexual assault.

 

[Kopikatsu]

If it were another guy on stage I guarantee no one would have made a fuss about it. It is normal game trash-talk in the sense that it's pretty much gender-blind and happens in every competitive game you'll likely ever play. It is unfortunate that the use of the word "rape" and its various iterations have become synonymous with beating someone in a video game, but I would not call it sexist or those who use it misogynists. It's like referring to something stupid as "gay". Yeah it is wrong, but it's common slang that many, many people use.

Maybe the jab was in poor taste, but if it hadn't happened on stage no one would have gave a shit so I have a hard time taking this whole thing seriously. But then, you know, he may not have been making a rape reference in the first place. His language was open-ended.

How is it unfortunate? It's a valid use of the word. The 'Rape of Nanking' wasn't referring to a woman. If anything, I'm more happy that people are actually using words inside of their proper context.

 

[Vrex360]

As someone else pointed out earlier in this thread, the participants openly admitted that yes in fact it was a rape joke. That was its intention and the joke behind it, the woman involved admits she recognized it as a rape joke and that's why she made a rebuttal similar to it. When the people you are defending by saying 'it's totally not intended to be a rape joke' have openly admitted that is is one continuing to argue that point is just dumb!

Anyway personally I understand the anger in this issue, casual sexism is a real issue and rape jokes and rape language and the overall 'rape culture' is still a very unpleasant and very pervasive thing in our society, to act like it isn't is just silly when we have things like Steubenville as an example that there are still literally entire communities who will demonize a rape victim instead of her rapists.

The simple fact is 'just let it happen it'll be over soon' is apparently a phrase used a lot by rapists during their attacks nd is a phrase a lot of rape survivors describe their attackers as using, it carries connotations that can be clear by the sheer number of WTF reactions on twitter from both male and female spectators that happened as that joke was made.

Rape humor is a touchy thing and personally I try to avoid it when I can, literally the only rape 'joke' I like is the 'rape horn' thing that Phelous uses and even then that's mostly just used to avoid having to talk about unpleasant subject matter. Someone else brought up an interesting idea of how rape is something that governs women's lives far more than it does for men, it's more complex than that but I would suggest people seek that post out rather than read my butchered version of it.

Thing is maybe the rape joke can be justified here because it was two friends who know each other and understand that they are joking... HOWEVER the big elephant in the room was the fact that they weren't just two friends dicking around, they were at a huge public event with literally millions of eyes that would be watching and several hundred journalists. You do not do this in public especially not when you are trying to represent something that already has the worst PR possible.
It does not make you look good. It does not making the Xbone look good (though by now nothing would). And it does not making gaming culture look good.

So yes I'm sorry but this was absolutely a rape joke and even if it was told in jest people can totally get angry about it, maybe not to the degree that they are but still are completely justified.

And you know what? Whenever these sexism issues come up I always find the people freaking out aren't the 'white knight terrified PC police mangina feminazi's' but instead the huge angry crowds of defenders who angrily shut out any conversation by denying everything including basic facts.

Also how come no one is talking about the other sexism incident at the Xbone conference (Oh Microsoft you are good at pissing people off aren't you?) in which 343 executive Bonnie (can't remember last name) took to the stage and as she was a male journalist loudly and obnoxiously wolf whistled. I mean nice, here she is as a professional representing and she's immediately undermined like that, real charming.
I mean while it may not carry the conotations of a rape joke, I find this one particularly indefensible. She's a professional working hard and she should be able to do so without attention being drawn to her gender and physical appearance.

 

[Bluezhu]

I thought it was just a joke. Yeah, rape isn't funny, but it was a joke. Just some guy trash talking while he's winning a game. And besides rape joke are all over the internet. I am not saying it's 100% okay, but why is this such a huge problem now?

 

[JimB]

I am sorry? His allusion to rape? The only people who alluded to rape where a few select members of audience who where simply looking to be offended, what he said had no connotations of rape or sexual assault.

Please see Vrex360's post [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.410308-Are-you-freakin-kidding-me?page=4#19722211], below yours, for my response. It references the article in question, or rather, articles that can be found following the links in the article in question; forgive me for not digging for them, but I have to be getting away from my computer for the next several hours, and I trust that clicking eight or ten links to read the stories they lead to is not an unbearable burden for you.

 

[JazzJack2]

As someone else pointed out earlier in this thread, the participants openly admitted that yes in fact it was a rape joke. That was its intention and the joke behind it, the woman involved admits she recognized it as a rape joke and that's why she made a rebuttal similar to it. When the people you are defending by saying 'it's totally not intended to be a rape joke' have openly admitted that is is one continuing to argue that point is just dumb!

Citation needed. I went through all the the articles and none of them say that either of them admitted it was a rape joke, they only reference Williams tweet in which she does NOT comment on whether it is about rape or not.

 

[wulfy42]

Boggle.

Seriously, how is it like a rape if she voluntarily got on stage and played the game with him?

Did he force her to play? Did he make her hold the "joystick"? No, she did it willingly and chose to be there.

It's not like a rape at all, and the banter certainly doesn't make it like that. If she was offended, she could have said something. She wasn't.

People are ridiculous.

 

[the December King]

Yet another shining example of people looking for excuses to get all pissy, no matter how hard they have to dig, twist or distort.

The sad part is that their screams of "RAAAAAPE!" only serve to do more harm to real victims - I'm thinking the "Cry Wolf" effect here. I'm not condoning anything but people who put such effort into finding things to be pissed off about really do need a slap. With a shovel.

Besides, if it was so obviously scripted, as the writer states, wouldn't that mean that what the two gamers said was also scripted?

...

I love your avatar pic. That was a great episode!

On topic, this could have easily been said to a male player. It is trash talk. If she had said, 'You like that, don't you, *****?' which was actually an automated line the bots used in the Quake Arena games(I think it was quake), which also clearly implies at the VERY least extremely rough sex, would anyone have batted an eye? Nope, not at all.

Except maybe parents of really young kids, I suppose.

Or nuns.

...

But not Hitman nuns, just regular-type nuns.

 

[A Weakgeek]

Honestly, I don't even care who is at fault anymore. Be it horrible men opressing women through rape culture or nasty femnazis taking everything out of context, it has become apparent that if a woman is present at a gaming scene at any given time, there WILL be controversy.

Sigh, what the fuck ever. I'd be really glad if this tangential shit wasn't splattered all over gaming news, but seems like people just love arguing this over and over. Well, thats my problem, freedom of speech and all.

Now excuse me, I'll continue my hunt for threads about gaming news that arent about the genderwar

 

[JimB]

I am sorry? His allusion to rape? The only people who alluded to rape where a few select members of audience who where simply looking to be offended, what he said had no connotations of rape or sexual assault.

Please see Vrex360's post [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.410308-Are-you-freakin-kidding-me?page=4#19722211], below yours, for my response. It references the article in question, or rather, articles that can be found following the links in the article in question; forgive me for not digging for them, but I have to be getting away from my computer for the next several hours, and I trust that clicking eight or ten links to read the stories they lead to is not an unbearable burden for you.

Well, this is embarrassing. Though I remain confident in my own mind that I read an admission, the originally linked article now gives me error messages when I try to follow the links and citations it provides, so that among the pages I can follow through to I cannot find the admission I assert is there. So, my own personal confidence notwithstanding, I'm going to have to withdraw this point until I can actually find the information to post here.

 

[Use_Imagination_here]

Yeah this is basically bullshit.

It was a bad line, but it didn't have anything to do with sexual assault. The connection made here is just baffling.

 

[Vrex360]

As someone else pointed out earlier in this thread, the participants openly admitted that yes in fact it was a rape joke. That was its intention and the joke behind it, the woman involved admits she recognized it as a rape joke and that's why she made a rebuttal similar to it. When the people you are defending by saying 'it's totally not intended to be a rape joke' have openly admitted that is is one continuing to argue that point is just dumb!

Citation needed. I went through all the the articles and none of them say that either of them admitted it was a rape joke, they only reference Williams tweet in which she does NOT comment on whether it is about rape or not.

Okay, looking back at it all I can find linked is this:
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2013/06/microsoft-employee-rape-joke-e3-response/66132/

And while I admit that's not incredibly solid evidence but do note that while she doesn't outright say it was a rape joke she doesn't deny it either. I am admitting I will need higher standards of proof to really make that statement but honestly I still stand by my original point, I feel it blatantly was a rape joke and saying it in public was unbelievably dumb.

 

[RaikuFA]

This is going to be 100% ignored but...

In most media where rape is depicted that line is said. Basically we're hardwired to think that line=rape.

 

[JimB]

This is going to be 100% ignored but...

In most media where rape is depicted that line is said. Basically we're hardwired to think that line=rape.

EDIT: I'm sorry, I was a bit slow on the uptake. I'd delete this post if I knew how.