Is the word "rape" offensive?

[blackdwarf]

i don't really mind it really, like i don't mind most stuff that is said to me. sure, in some context it is offensive. like say "gay" or "fag" in a hateful matter against a person who is in fact "gay", but if i say it against a random friend or something, i really don't see the harm. saying certain terms against a random person, because you are losing from him, doesn't make you offensive. it just makes you a sad person who can't take fact he lost.

and i really hate when people are referring certain words with "the R-word" or something. we are only giving weight to those words, by acting so frighten by it.

 

[Kilo24]

Not really sure why rape is so taboo.

If I said "I am going to murder you" right before a match in some game nobody would bat a lash. Though people get their noses out of joint if I say "I am going to rape you!"

last I check, murder was worse than rape as well...

It's rather rare for murder victims to be playing games.

 

[TheDrunkNinja]

The word does seem rather topical in the last few days...

 

[Risingblade]

We need a new word to replace rape when meaning slaughter, something short and catchy

 

[Lilani]

Yeah, that's commonly called "triggering". The comparison to a racial slur isn't very apt, but to a soldier hearing a bullet sounds reasonable enough.

Pretty much this.

i don't really mind it really, like i don't mind most stuff that is said to me. sure, in some context it is offensive. like say "gay" or "fag" in a hateful matter against a person who is in fact "gay", but if i say it against a random friend or something, i really don't see the harm. saying certain terms against a random person, because you are losing from him, doesn't make you offensive. it just makes you a sad person who can't take fact he lost.

and i really hate when people are referring certain words with "the R-word" or something. we are only giving weight to those words, by acting so frighten by it.

Not really sure why rape is so taboo.

If I said "I am going to murder you" right before a match in some game nobody would bat a lash. Though people get their noses out of joint if I say "I am going to rape you!"

last I check, murder was worse than rape as well...

See, here's the thing. As the OP and thaluikhain pointed out, it isn't offensive to people who have no emotional or psychological connection to it. In fact, even those who it affects couldn't be called "offended." As the author of this article [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/features/9766-The-R-Word] (which I have a feeling was the inspiration for this thread, and which I recommend everybody here read before continuing), it's more like being reminded of the most horrible thing to ever happen to you. It doesn't offend them, but it does have the ability to bring back all that pain and fear and trauma.

I'll give you another example. I worked at Disney World for a while in the Magic Kingdom, and I heard a story from one of my co-workers. See, there is a fireworks show at the Magic Kingdom every single night. This co-worker said once during a show, when the fireworks started she saw a man shout and dive under a bench, and he couldn't come out until they stopped. He was a soldier who had recently come back from overseas, and the sound of the fireworks triggered memories from firefights and bombings and mentally brought him back there.

So should we stop talking about rape altogether? Well no, just as we shouldn't stop firing off fireworks. But we should be aware of people around us. Talking about rape in games isn't necessary, there are plenty of other ways to explain how somebody is killing you a lot. You can talk about it casually if you want, but be aware that most people don't go around wearing signs that say "I was raped," so be prepared if at some point you get a very uncomfortable reaction from somebody. Think hard as to whether or not what you want to say is really worth doing that to somebody.

 

[Rednog]

As the author of this article [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/features/9766-The-R-Word] (which I have a feeling was the inspiration for this thread), it's more like being reminded of the most horrible thing to ever happen to you.

The word does seem rather topical in the last few days...

Just wanted to point out that this thread wasn't by either Jim's video or the R-word article, I actually made the thread before both Jim's video and the R-word article. Just throwing that out there so no one thinks I'm trying to capitalize on the R-word's author's pain.
What "inspired" me to write the article was that I was playing League of Legends with a guy I've played with for like a month or two and he was like dude I saw this article on MOBAfire and Dyrus is such a douchebag he used the R-word. I was like...what? The R-word? And he was you like know the R-word. I sat there scratching my head and he types out r*a*p*e. I'm like dude you can say rape, it's just a word. And he got really pissed at me for saying that and put me on ignore. I look up the article on mobafire to see what the hubub was all about and I just didn't get how people see it as some kind of world ending word. Yes it's a terrible thing but to me it just feels like it's come out of no where that we're suddenly calling it the R-word or the 4 letter word that starts with r and ends with e.

 

[xplosive59]

...Ask Obscurus Lupa.

OT: Of course a term that means any bodily harm or psychological damage would be thought of as offensive, its just the extent of how offensive it is when used in context.

 

[Beautiful Tragedy]

This is so LoL man. Couldn't happen with any other game.

OT: No. It's all in the context. And if you get offended by that word, that's tough luck man. You shouldn't be.

It's not always JUST a word... experiencing such a thing first hand turns that "word" into something else entirely.

 

[BathorysGraveland]

Context, man, context.

"Oh man, I just fucking raped that Frost Troll" - Is it silly? Maybe. But it certainly shouldn't be offensive to anyone unless they have extremely weak skin.

"Shut the fuck up before I come over to your house and rape you" - Offensive? Undoubtedly so. No debate there.

I think that by itself settles my views on this topic.

 

[Don Savik]

It should never be directed at an actual person. I personally would rather people not use the word, as it shows a lack of........vocabulary. There are far better ways to express contempt or accomplishment. Everyone needs a better library of phrases to be honest.

That being said, I really hope the topic of the month hasn't switched from "feminism" to "rape" on the Escapist, because I don't want another troll war I'm all for debate, but we're more like a youtube comments section when it comes to touchy subjects.

 

[Elamdri]

It should never be directed at an actual person. I personally would rather people not use the word, as it shows a lack of........vocabulary. There are far better ways to express contempt or accomplishment. Everyone needs a better library of phrases to be honest.

That being said, I really hope the topic of the month hasn't switched from "feminism" to "rape" on the Escapist, because I don't want another troll war I'm all for debate, but we're more like a youtube comments section when it comes to touchy subjects.

Don't worry, it will go back to Mass Effect 3 tomorrow. And then we can all once again participate in meaningless whining about video games instead of exploring human culture through collective discourse.

 

[OldNewNewOld]

I don't find any words on their own offensive.
They are just words. If I let everyone word I hear insult me, I would already be locked up as a lunatic. Those words don't have power unless we give them. And we give them power by getting offended by it.

Every time someone tries to offend me, I usually just say something along the lines of "thank you" with a smile. Almost every time the one offending me gets mad because he lost all the "power" he had, or at least he thought he had.

But words backed up by actions can be potentially dangerous.

 

[General Twinkletoes]

The reason the word rape is offensive

Rape is very, very common. Very common, especially among college age people, the kind who are using rape as an insult. About 1 in 20 people college-uni age have committed physical sexual assault. One of your friends has probably done it, if one of them has questionable eithics. If you're in a bar, someone there has probably done it.

The thing a lot of people think when they hear feminists get angry at the word rape is that all feminists think that guys rape.
That's not true at all. It's rapists who think everyone rapes. This is a real study done by psychologists, that most rapists think that every guy rapes, and they're just bad at hiding it. The reason they think this? Because everyone jokes about rape. That's the reason. Rape jokes encourage rapists that it's OK.
This is something that doesn't happen with any other crime. Murderers obviously know that practically nobody murders. Thieves know this as well. Because sex is naturally on the mind, unlike thieving and murder, rapists assume everyone wants to, and will.

It's not the actual joke, it's the affect it has on people.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

About as much as tard or retard. Heaven forbid humans use words in new and different ways......

 

[Arakasi]

Why can't people get this?
WORDS ARE NOT OFFENCIVE ON THEIR OWN.
Intent, however can be offencive.

I despise it when people look at a word and call it offensive. If I were to say "'******' is a word that was in the past used to insult black people" would that be offensive? NO! Because the word is not offencive, the intent behind it is. My intent, being explination, not marginalisation is not offensive.

TL;DR: People are too quick to be offended these days. Rate your offence by the intent of the provocator and you will live far happier.

 

[littlealicewhite]

Yes, it *is* equal to a PTSD soldier hearing a gunshot. Oftentimes one mention of the crime or one similar sensation can trigger a rape victim, forcing them to remember the entire event in full detail.

It is not an argument. It is not something you should 'buy'. It is fact. Don't be an insensitive jerk.

 

[ward0630]

Unless you're a rape victim, the victim of racial slurs, and whatever other kinds of abuse you might suffer or hear about, you can't really decide that that one slur or comment is any more or less offensive than another, especially when you boil it down to one word. There are numerous articles written by rape victims about what kind of emotions they go through when they hear that their team was "raped" in Call of Duty, and after reading some of them, it's quite sickening to think that videogames, supposedly the most advanced form of media ever to be invented, what are supposed to be a source of enjoyment, can turn into such destructive tools in the hands of some ignorant gamers who don't understand what they're doing and are willing to write off any concern or offense as "The feminist agenda." I think that pwned will work just fine when I want to humiliate my opponents after a rather good game.
On a related note, I'm glad that this topic is being discussed on the internet, and I hope it leads to greater clarity and understanding of the topic and may improve our online communities, and thus gaming as a whole.

 

[littlealicewhite]

Not really sure why rape is so taboo.

If I said "I am going to murder you" right before a match in some game nobody would bat a lash. Though people get their noses out of joint if I say "I am going to rape you!"

last I check, murder was worse than rape as well...

Watch the latest Jimquisition. It mirrors my opinion on murder vs. rape exactly.

 

[Faux Furry]

Why would the name of a flower be offensive?

Spoiler

Context is everything, don't you know?
The context of a word as perceived by given groups or individuals isn't a universal constant so the word isn't offensive in and of itself.

There are no Bad Words, only bad reactions to them or bad intent in using them.

 

[gunslinger_king]

The reason I find rape offensive in the context above -- the "I totally raped that n00b", or "I just raped that test so hard", isn't because it's rape specifically, nor because I'm a rape survivor. It's because in that context rape is a positive thing. It's taking rape, which is one of the deepest violations of personhood, and trying to make it mean 'wasn't that awesome?'. I think a big part of it may be that it can be triggering to victims of rape, but the fact that it is in that context supposed to glorify the person, or show their superiority, diminishes the utter loathsomeness of every rapist ever.

I know that may seem like an overstatement. But using rape in that sense -- that I just kicked your ass be envious of my awesomeness sense -- is like saying "I just totally murdered you!" to someone you beat at scrabble or something. It's a glorification of something that is an incredibly immoral act that should be condemned.

(I can, however, understand using "I totally killed you!" in reference to violent multiplayer games, like BF3 or something, because that's basically what just happened albeit where the literal is on the virtual plane).