Kotaku, And Its Misogynistic Users, Can Kiss My Ass

Fuck you fuck you a thousand times fuck you. You know ladies, you're lucky you got me to filter the video game news through. If you had to sit and read through the inane, sexist drivel on Kotaku day in and day out, you might feel as homicidal as I am right now.

Its not just that they write solely from a male perspective that generally assumes that women don't read the site. Its notjust that they blatantly use the female form for their own purposes, to pander to the "big dumb horny male" stereotype and reap financial benefit as a reward. There's more.

As some of you may know, there's been quite a back and forth controversy over a well known "rape game" in Japan, called Rapeplay. Players can stalk, fondle, rape, and impregnate a young woman who falsely accuses them of groping them in the subway. The game was released two years ago, but the issue has recently been re-ignited due to the video game censorship debate.

Amid the news of a possible banning of such games, a few arguments have emerged: Isn't rape just another form of violence, which is celebrated in video games? Aren't there plenty of games featuring murder and war that are just as bad? Why should we single out rape games? Are we going to start banning all games that feature immoral issues?

There's also the oh-so-ridiculous sentiment that if we were to ban rape games, then the Video Game Apocalypse will be ushered in, and all adult-content games would be persecuted.

If you can stomach it, head on over to Kotaku and check out all the rape-game apologists. It makes me want to fucking puke. For some reason, these assholes don't see a difference between a war game, and a game designed to brutalize women and encourage sexual assault as a form of revenge.

Is all violence acceptable? I might like to play a first person shooter, but when I do, my goal is not to murder everyone I come across for my own pleasure. The game has an objective. Using force is an aspect that you pick up along the way. However, this game's sole purpose is to target and rape women. Period. Rape is not a non-discriminate crime that happens as the result of a misguided sense in the greater good. Its a crime that targets and brutalizes women specifically. It is borne of a social ill that vilifies women for even existing and a hatred of women.

"Rape simulation has not and will not be the cause of rapes nor will they necessarily entice the user into committing violent sexual acts. "OHMIGOD I got to fondle Hitomi's breast without her approval or consent! Now lets try it for reals!!!"

Yeah, 'cause you know. Its not like people are ever a product of their environment. Men who fantasize about rape and have violent tendencies NEVER play video games, right?

I'm not saying every man who plays this game wants to/will rape someone...but why would anyone who doesn't fantasize about rape want to play this game? The people already playing it have their reasons, and I can't see any of them not being sinister. If you sincerely think you would play this game out of morbid curiousity and nothign else, you are fooling yourself. And who is this person to say that rape simulation will not cause an unstable person to act on it?

"Oddly, it makes me feel that a game based off rape can help reduce the crime more than encourage it. I am sure someone buying this time of game knows the consequences of rape."

How profoundly and utterly stupid. People who commit crimes want to hurt other people. They'll never be satiated by a simulation, in fact, it'll probably only feed into their delusions.

"So does this game have multiplayer?"

See, these are the awful things that misogynists say when they think the girls aren't looking. I already have to filter through tons of posts at Kotaku on a daily basis that serve no purpose other than to objectify and disrespect women. And now I have to read the justification of targeted brutality against women. Where does it stop?

And look, the stupidity isn't limited to males! The females who are trying to be The Ideal Girlfriend are chiming in too:

"As a girl I really don't see what the big deal about this game was."

If you're a woman and you don't see the big deal, you need to have your vagina surgically removed. I find it so disappointing to see some women still trying to survive by siding with men, as if that will make them an "honorary man", free from the scorn and scrutiny they long to avoid.

This genre is intriguing. Not because I want to rape anyone, but for the same reason an FPS is intriguing. It's something that you will never do in real life, or would really want to do in real life, so making a game out of it is the only way you will really see this.

I think a child abuse game should be next on the list.

Its like being a fancy country club dinner party, where everyone thinks they're safe to make fun of black people because none are within earshot.

Should we ban violent video games? Hell no. But the fact of the matter is, rape is a hate crime against women. Women are directly targeted for rape. It has been used for thousands of years to enslave and belittle women, and even today is used as a weapon of war. A game like Rapelay promotes the idea of targeted violence against women, just like a game centered around lynching black people would promote targeted violence against Americans of African descent.

Unfortunately, the privileged white male demographic will never understand, as their position of privilege excludes them from having a conscious or moral responsibility to the "little people". They don't care, 'cause they don't have to.

All these cries of "Free speech! Free speech!" are nothing more than desperate attempts to look cool and indifferent on the Internet. Just because we have free speech does NOT mean we have to entertain such filth.

For instance, I agree that skinheads should always have the right to say what they want. However, I will not read it, promote it, or allow it it anywhere in my life. I will not facilitate it. If Kotaku had ANY decency, they would have ignored this game at all costs. But I suppose ad revenue is more important than being decent.

I leave you with the words of one of the only sane commenters, Erode:

Usually banning and censorship is a clear cut issue for me but, in this instance, it's not. Part of me thinks it shouldn't be banned, what with freedom of speech and fantasy and whatnot. The other part of me sincerely thinks that the game is absolutely unacceptable and no rational human being could ever argue that it NOT be banned.

I'm not going to riot in the street, demanding it be removed from existence forever, but I certainly won't shed a tear if I never have to hear about this game, or it's publisher, ever again.

In the future, I will be attempting to find an alternative source for every story article I have that links back to Kotaku.

Tell me, when did free speech give us all an excuse to have no decency whatsoever?

Edit: I'm pleased to update you all that rape games have officially been banned in Japan.