The ludicrous RapeLay controversy just hasn't stopped. The game's been booted out of the United States, torn down from Japanese store shelves, and criticized eight ways from Sunday, but still people are getting angry about it and other titles of its ilk. Now the United Nations has stepped in, urging Japan to continue the work started with RapeLay and ban all questionable games.
The call comes from the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, and specifically asks to put a stop to "the sale of video games or cartoons involving rape and sexual violence against women which normalize and promote sexual violence against women and girls."
As I stated in an article a few weeks back, I am disgusted by virtual rape games. However, I really don't agree with banning them. They cause no direct harm to anybody, being fantasy scenarios with virtual characters rather than real women, and people should have a right to create such things, no matter how grotesque it may be to normal people. Once you ban this, you have to ask where it ends. Would the UN like to ban consensual sex between a man and a woman who just happen to indulge in rape fantasies?
Surely the UN has better things to concern itself about than RapeLay, anyway.
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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Contest:
9:20 AM on 08.28.2009
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2) seems every blogger mentions that this isn't a call from the UN itself, just a committee inside of it.
3) Coldbrand is right. What about the shota's and bishies? When do we take action for those poor artificial beings.
This news can only mean that The Committee of Elimination of Discrimination against Women has obviously already won the fight against honour killings and the taliban. We should be proud.
...=/
Like get the majority of Middle Eastern countries to give basic human rights to women? Funny how Saudi Arabia has a law that make it illegal for a woman to travel to other countries without the permission of her husband or other male family member (if unmarried), yet the UN's Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women is worried about video games that, while offensive, aren't actively making women third-rate citizens.
So they're wasting their time on virtual rape instead of focusing on the real deal? I know they can multitask but it still pisses me off that they waste time on stuff like this. I'm with protomark and zombiekiller13 because this is a waste of time and resources.
Now whats worse then our politicians are the ones we cannot elect and that can have greater power then our own. We should not just wait and see if you want to prevent the UN specifically their branch CEDAW please take the time to read this letter print it off sign it mail it in.
Now whats worse then our politicians are the ones we cannot elect and that can have greater power then our own. We should not just wait and see if you want to prevent the UN specifically their branch CEDAW please take the time to read this letter print it off sign it mail it in.
who gets the job of testing out all of those sex games looking for rape?
YEAH! WTF AND SUCH!
On seond thought, that also means you could yell and have your victim framed. Maybe they are on to something...
But yeah, basically everyone stated my opinion already, waste of resources, bigger issues, blah blah blah...
Part of me thinks this kind of thing should be banned because it seems more likely to lead to acts of real violence than FPSes, but all it takes is one thing to open the floodgates of censorship.
.............
cmon............
u know u want to...........
cmon little bastard.......
6 seconds later, the animators edit the hair styles, and suddenly every sex game features "sexual violence" against men and boys. Suddenly the reason for the androgynous aesthetics of japanese characters is clear :|
that's what's sick. a real company making money off of real rape. politicians used to have jobs like real people years ago before it became a family tradition to be a blood suckin liar and disconnect from real citizens.
Once you begin, you realise that the opportunities are endless!
Seriously, though... these games exist to give people an outlet. I would much rather have a neighbor that looks at animated children having sex, than have a neighbor that actually has sex with real world children. Wouldn't you?
Its time for Japan to stand up for itself. I can understand objections to whaling but this is ridiculous. The U.N or whoever is pushing them, have not done their homework enough on the subject. To them, its about womens right and whatever, when an educated gamer knows these games feature equality as far as gender goes.
What this about is more pressure to make everywhere on the planet the same. Japan have a unique culture, which has its own attitudes to these things. On top of it no one is being hurt, and these games are being consumed by a niche audience there anyway. Why the U.N etc should fear them is beyond me, since plenty of rape goes on in the western world without any help from these games.
Like I said, I don't agree with it, but I still think thy have a right to make them for their audience, if they choose to do so, that should be respected or just disagreed with. Come on, we all know, this is a U.S led campaign, with a U.N gimp mask on. Didn't see anyone else complaining, until they did, so scared of the evil sex they are.
Banning won't help anyone, as there are enough talented artists and programmers in japan to make these things as homebrew games, if needed.
As always, bad parenting is never at fault for people who do bad things.
I've always felt that statistics about rapists and/or pedophiles (add your own categories as needed) are inaccurate, because you don't know how many people may have inclinations in those directions that deal with those desires in harmless ways rather than hurting anyone, so they don't show up in the statistics. A lot of people have rape fantasies, yet would never be able to go through with raping someone; some people may go as far as to act out their fantasy in some form, but still would be unlikely to actually perpetrate it on a real person. Do we really want to take away all the safe outlets for dealing with that fantasy?
Plus, I disagree with the fact that depicting things in video games "normalizes" them; it depends on a lot of factors. What if what these games actually 'normalize' is the idea that rape should be perpetuated ONLY in video games? To use a kind of lame, but somewhat relevant analogy, it's totally normal for me in RPGs to bust into people's houses and steal their stuff, but the fact that I play an RPG almost EVERY DAY has not made it seem okay for me to steal real people's stuff; it is simply normal for me within the world of the game.
No one is getting hurt by these things. As I understand, these RapeLay games are popular in Japan, but you don't see a massive amount of rape cases that would indicate some corelation. Enjoying entertainment doesn't produce criminals. Millions of people watch action movies, but they don't go and shoot people on the street.
Imagine your government banning something you enjoy. What would you do?
Taking the front line in rape games
Never mind that Dafur nonsense
Wait! Sorry, did i say BACK to relevance? Hahahahaha my bad.
Somehow a paragraph in a report about women's issues in Japan by an advisory board with no legal power has turned into "OMG THE UN WANTS TO BAN GAMES HURF DURF."
Honestly, get some facts before you make an ass of yourself.
Tim Langdell will sue your ass for that comment. Quick! Hire them attornies!
So sad, one of the better mangas I've read (Bitter Virgin) uses rape as drama and is surprisingly tastefully done.
First off I would like to say that I do not own, endorse, or encourage games like this. But SURELY IRAQ IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN JAPAN RIGHT NOW. Plus, I back up N1k0l4 when he says banning anything is bad, and Zoel when he says that the UN can't even stop real rape.
I read the article you posted in the link and I do agree that some wild statements have been posted on the comments. However, it also reads that the CEDAW is evidently not opposed to erotica depicting consensual sex, violence painted in a negative light, or depictions of male "HOMOSEXUALITY????"(FILTH). Yes it is true actual rape is wrong according to the UN "No Like Women Be Sad." But above all they're chasing RAPE OVER HOMOSEXUALITY? Hey, I don't know what some people's prefs. are but most gamers, and even regular people like you and me who may not play these games, will agree,"UN ENDORSES HOMOSEXUALITY?!?! WTF IS DAT SHIT?!?!"