E3 Audience Offended By "Rape Joke" At Microsoft Xbox One Event
325 replies, posted
[QUOTE=AJisAwesome15;40996333]explain please[/QUOTE]
it just sounds like someone thought making awful sexual innuendos would be funny and not awkward at all
[QUOTE=Dr. Gestapo;40996415]it just sounds like someone thought making awful sexual innuendos would be funny and not awkward at all[/QUOTE]
i don't think they did it on purpose
[QUOTE=Primigenes;40996339]He was most likely talking about something ingame. He's saying it while an attack is being spammed like 3 times so...
"Wow, you like those"
Could be him referring to what maybe her inability to block the same attack?[/QUOTE]
what he actually "means" doesn't matter that much, the problem is what sounds like.
This is definitely a rape joke guys. "Just let it happen" is a stereotypical rape line.
[QUOTE=AJisAwesome15;40996428]i don't think they did it on purpose[/QUOTE]
never said they did, i'm mostly addressing the guys who didn't realize how terrible and awkward the joke was and why
[QUOTE=latin_geek;40996357]It's actually sickening that you people are thinking this is an overreaction. It was a terrible choice of words.[/QUOTE]
Anybody with your opinion is sickening.
[QUOTE=AJisAwesome15;40996428]i don't think they did it on purpose[/QUOTE]
that probably makes it even worse
People seem to be forgetting that when you're on stage you're not just talking for yourself you're talking for the company. That's why these things are as scripted as they are and if you say something bad it's effectively the company condoning that sort of stuff is okay.
Whether or not you think that should be the case doesn't change the fact that it is the case.
It was just a joke how stupid you have to be to get so offended about this
talking about the people in twitter
I neither get the point joke or reference to rape in what they said. hope i'm not the only one :s
One can look at this in two ways: what is 'okay' in a legal way, what is 'okay' in a logical way, and what is 'okay' in an ethical way.
Of course this guy should not get fired or attacked, nor should he be or could be, charged of anything. He broke no laws. Freedom of speech, etc. One is allowed to joke about anything, that is the society we have worked so hard to create. [i]Legally,[/i] it's fine.
[i]Logically,[/i] it was idiotic to make that joke. Why wouldn't it cause a controversy? Rape jokes, even 'subtle' ones like his, have been subject to controversy for a while now. Microsoft's keynote was terrible enough without the joke. This is just fuel for the fire. Hold back your unscripted (edit: this joke might have been scripted, making it even worse) jokes if you are in front of such a huge audience, it is not worth the risk when you are trying to sell an overpriced console.
[i]Ethically,[/i] it is questionable. Here is my view of what happened: I have been looking forward to this E3 for a while, because I got a friend of mine somewhat back into video games. She had quit playing most games, and stopped signing onto Steam, when the comments made about her and to her in the games she liked playing started to remind her of when she was raped, and the treatment she got for it (she was blamed and insulted for it for it by everyone the rapist knew). I decided to hype her about some games I thought she'd like, especially single player ones, in order to distract her from her depression. I convinced her to watch the Microsoft keynote with me on Skype to either get hyped for games or to make fun of them. Maybe it was my fault for asking her, or it was her fault for accepting. I guess we can't assume that corporate keynotes won't trigger rape survivors. She started sobbing. She later told me, when she recovered, that the fact he said the joke right at the woman player, and that there was actually some laughter form the audience, made it worse for her. The very fact it was so accepted by what seemed to be the entire video game industry made her feel utterly invisible, just like when she was trying to talk about her rapist, and nobody believed her.
Now, you could make the argument that another friend of mine has made, that rape survivors are just like anybody else with PTSD, "why should we cater to people who are triggered by specific things at all? we have flashing images on every TV and people who get seizures from those things have to deal with it, constant violent advertisements for movies can cause flashbacks for war veterans, but we run them anyway, why censor our rape jokes to cater to those who would be triggered by it?" I suppose this argument makes sense. In an ideal world nothing would trigger anybody, but actually creating that world is very difficult to do.
Take all this as you will, I guess. I wrote out a long post because there is little added to the discussion by saying "rape jokes are bad" and leaving it at that. Many of you may not think of it as a big deal. God knows I'd not have had a second thought about it if I did not personally know someone who was systematically sexually abused, and if I did not personally see her gut reaction to it.
She did not start crying because she wanted to proselytize or get political on me. She just wanted to die in that moment. There are many women in the country like her. Rape statistics are notoriously hard to vouch for in their accuracy, but everyone agrees that the real numbers are much higher than the number of reported cases. It is more common than you may think.
people seem to forget that when someone makes a rape joke or a sexist remark they don't usually do it because they're evil/misogynistic and think rape is okay, they just don't realize what they're saying can be offensive
this guy made a poor choice of words, yes, but words can be interpreted differently by people, some might brush it off and some might be offended
if anything, this shows us that we should always think things through before speaking
[QUOTE=AJisAwesome15;40995973][IMG]http://i40.tinypic.com/wl3vrb.png[/IMG]
good ol' patricia hernandez here to save the day[/QUOTE]
patricia the gorilla in a stable habitat
[img]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16550652/1370970998418.gif[/img]
I think this is just a bit of an over-reaction
It can be interpreted as a rape joke, but its obvious that was not the clear intention, in my opinion
This is like saying that if the chick said "I'll own you" that it was a joke about black slavery.
[QUOTE=AJisAwesome15;40995973][IMG]http://i40.tinypic.com/wl3vrb.png[/IMG]
good ol' patricia hernandez here to save the day[/QUOTE]
Oh god can we never listen to what she says again. She saps credibility from everyone who may have a similar opinion based on factual grounds.
Edit: Oh, please don't tell me the joke was scripted.
Did you see the bit where he announced a game... some rapists call rape, a "game"
Kill this man for his disgusting performance!!!
am I progressive now? Guys?
When he said that I have to admit I did think "wait was that a rape joke?"
I find it hard to believe they would intentionally do that though, bad wording I'm guessing.
i didn't even notice it was a rape joke until this article mentioned it being so.
$100 if it was 2 guys playing and they said that no one would've cared even if it was the girl winning and she said that no one would care.
i did not pick up on that
i thought it was just really terrible trash talk
[QUOTE=JeanLuc761;40995874]I'm pretty sure this is a case of looking too far into things. Definitely could have chosen his words better, but I don't get any sexual/rape vibe from it, more of "The ass-kicking will be over momentarily."
I dunno, maybe I'm in the minority on that.[/QUOTE]
People are just looking for more reasons to bitch about the Xbox
[QUOTE=SuperHoboMan;40995931]Why do I feel like he would have said something differently if he was playing against another guy?[/QUOTE]
i know if I were playing with my guy friends it would be something along the lines of "fucking die already you horrible cunt"
I laughed at that, and didn't think anything of it. Some people just have too much time on their hands and look for shit
I'm more likely to make a joke about raping a guy to a guy than a rape joke at all to a woman, so if it were me up there, against another guy, it would've been far worse. I think pretty much all guys are this way, it's just the language we speak in gaming
[QUOTE]"You have a fight stick," she says.
"Wow, you like those," he says.
"No, I don't like this," she says.[/QUOTE]
This part was definitely taken wrong. The video cuts out while they say it, but the pause makes it pretty obvious that he wasn't saying that she likes his fight stick (and saying "you have a fight stick" would just be complaining that he has a better controller). It sounded to me like he was mocking her for getting hit by some combo in game.
[QUOTE=person11;40996654]Oh, please don't tell me the joke was scripted.[/QUOTE]
If it was fully scripted, that's a huge mistake on Microsoft's part. You'd think they'd have caught how people would misinterpret it and have edited it to something else.
I am a Sony fanboy, and even I say that it was not rape joke. I mean, seriously? What's next, I am not allowed to look at women simply because it could be interpreted as making plans about raping her? And unclothing her in my mind?
What about little kids? Am I a pedophile for showing a little smile at little babies?
[QUOTE=Wizards Court;40996261]not really, i'm not even a woman and i can tell it sounds creepy in its entirety(mostly due to the second part of the joke) lol.
he basically told a woman she "Must like fight sticks" after telling her "It will be over soon", you don't need to be a genius to know how this could be taken to some, especially to feminist groups who probably deal with misogyny daily.
also its a bad joke overall, and horribly forced lol.[/QUOTE]
As I said, the only people who take it that way are people trying to find "it". And I love it how said feminist groups have their priorities straight.
[editline]11th June 2013[/editline]
[QUOTE=LODY;40996272]its sad that you cant even trash talk in a game without being ostracized and shamed
they are playing a game where you fight to the death and because he implied a sexist concept hes suddenly hitler[/QUOTE]
I miss the times when games used to be games for the sake of being games.
To those still comparing to the Sony conference, this is not at all about trying to make Microsoft look bad. They already look bad about what happened during the rest of the conference.
The people who are genuinely angry because of this seriously need to grow a pair, it's just a joke (If it even was a rape joke.) Making a massive deal out of nothing. He isn't [B]actually[/B] going to rape her.
[QUOTE=Soldier32;40996722]i didn't even notice it was a rape joke until this article mentioned it being so.
$100 if it was 2 guys playing and they said that no one would've cared even if it was the girl winning and she said that no one would care.[/QUOTE]
The sad truth is that it does make a difference that it is a woman he is saying that to. I mean, it depends on the way you think about rape in our society, and I am trying not to go one way or the other about it.
If you are one who sees rape as a crime like any other, then whatever.
These comments (it's barely even a joke) only truly offend if you look at rape as more than a crime, but a part of society that is constantly implicitly defended and is used to oppress and intimidate women into submission. This is more of a sociological perspective, in which many small things like catcalling and making comments like the ones in the keynote are part of what one can call "rape culture". Basically, the theory is that the many ways people joke about rape, use it in expressions, casually talk about it and threaten people with it, are all part of a societal "justification" of rape that hides just under the surface of its common revilement. By justifying it in this way, it becomes seen as a natural and normal part of society, despite the fact that changing the attitudes of most men about consent and entitlement could easily lower the amount of women raped each year.
[QUOTE=Dr. Gestapo;40996324]if you really think this doesn't sound creepy at all maybe you need to re-evaluate your social life/skills[/QUOTE]
Remember, you must constantly chcek yourself to see if you don't breach the ammount of privilege you're supposed to have, and if whatever you say is offensive to anyone or if anyone could take it as a rape joke for some odd reason, because everyone will do the same and will constantly monitor you for such despicable mysoginist activities that you will SURELY engage in, for you are full of privilege.
(this is how facepunch sounds)
[editline]11th June 2013[/editline]
[QUOTE=Foogooman;40996447]This is definitely a rape joke guys. "Just let it happen" is a stereotypical rape line.[/QUOTE]
If you're a rapist maybe...
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