Grand Theft Auto IV: Women Screwed, Run Over, Shot and Burned
The video game Grand Theft Auto IV presents the "Ladies of Liberty City". A trailer shows prostituted women being run over and shot after having sex with a john. These disturbing videos express the disposability of these women in our culture:
Long version:
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/209411.html
Short version:
http://boinkology.com/2008/04/29/the-ladies-of-liberty-city/
Apparently the game publisher, Take-Two Interactive, has become embarrassed by this trailer, and is trying to remove it from the Internet, so watch it soon.
Another option not shown in the trailer is burning the women, as observed by Slobs of Gaming:
For research on violent video games and their effects on gamers, please see the work of Karen E. Dill:
http://www.lrc.edu/psy/dillk/researchlinks.htm
See also:
Register Now for Media Madness: The Impact of Sex, Violence, & Commercial Culture on Adults, Children, & Society, July 8-11, Boston
For the 14th consecutive year, Wheelock College is offering the very popular summer institute on the role that the media (television, movies, magazines, video games, advertising and pornography) plays in shaping children’s development and behavior, as well as our overall cultural attitudes. The institute will be held on Wheelock’s Boston Campus.
Link of Media to Violence Accepted, But Porn Has No Effect?
Film critic Michael Medved notes that: "More than 3,000 research projects and scientific studies between 1960 and 1992 have confirmed the connection between a steady diet of violent entertainment and aggressive and anti-social behavior."[37] The American Academy of Pediatrics concluded: "The vast majority of studies conclude that there is a cause-and-effect relationship between media violence and real-life violence. The link is undeniable and uncontestable..."[38]
One of the most common findings from media studies is that "increased media viewing is associated with more stereotypical views, especially about gender," and that "being exposed to consistent and repeated stereotypical gender images shapes cognitive structures."[45] Simply stated, what we see affects how we think.
Robert Jensen: When Examining Complex Social Phenomena, Scientific Method Has Limits; Listen to the Stories of the Victims (explicit language)
Ms. X, a Native American woman, described how she was raped by two white men who made reference to a pornographic video game called "Custer's Revenge" in which a white Army officer scores points by raping Indian women:
Educators, police, and national school violence specialists struggle to explain rising violence among younger students, which is also reflected in national statistics. They cite an array of causes, including violent video games, movies, and television shows and news coverage of violence at school and in the community, which results in copy-cat incidents.
Prostitution: "It is high time to expose and challenge the liberal consensus"
..all but a tiny minority want to stop selling sex...
...Such women are 18 times more vulnerable to homicide than other women, and suffer regular abuse from pimps, punters and passers-by...
...I thought, 'These women are just seen as throwaways. They service the men, serve their purpose, and can then just be disposed of.'"
Prostitution: Factsheet on Human Rights Violations (explicit language)
As recently as 1991, police in a southern California community closed all rape reports made by prostitutes and addicts, placing them in a file stamped "NHI." The letters stand for the words "No Human Involved." (Linda Fairstein, Sexual Violence: Our War Against Rape, 1993, New York, William Morrow.)
...83% of prostitutes are victims of assault with a weapon. (National Coalition Against Sexual Assault)
Dorchen Leidholdt, "Demand and the Debate"
I had never heard of a single instance in which a secretary or college professor had been flung out of a window of her workplace to her death on the streets below. And while married women were leaving abusive homes in droves, their prostituted sisters often didn’t have homes to leave. It would be six years before I would encounter the Canadian Report on Prostitution and Pornography with its finding that prostituted women in Canada suffer a mortality rate 40 times the national average. But it was no secret that prostituted women were the special targets of serial killers. How many jobs had murder as a frequent workplace safety hazard?
Prostitution Research & Education: How Prostitution Works
Real sexual relationships are not hard to find. There are plenty of adults of both sexes who are willing to have sex if someone treats them well, and asks. But there lies the problem. Some people do not want an equal, sharing relationship. They do not want to be nice. They do not want to ask. They like the power involved in buying a human being who can be made to do almost anything.
Escort Prostitution: A Response to Tom Vannah, Editor of the Valley Advocate
While a few women may choose a life of prostitution in a truly voluntary fashion, the reality for most is a history of sexual and/or child abuse, separation from their family and/or country, and poverty. Addictions to drugs or alcohol are common. They are routinely lied to, coerced, abused, threatened, and blackmailed (e.g. 'I'll hurt your family back in the Ukraine if you don't cooperate').
When a "progressive" outlet like the Advocate runs ads for commercial sex enterprises, it not only publicizes them but legitimizes them. It also puts a big dent in the Advocate's moral authority. If the Advocate truly wants to
be a friend to underdogs, it needs to side with them over callous profiteers.
MSNBC Investigates Human Trafficking and Prostitution in the US; Valley Advocate Advertises "Foreign Fantasies" Where "Everything Goes"
Valley Advocate Website Announces 2008's "Best" Adult Entertainment Club; Holsopple's Inside Report on Stripping (explicit language)
Long version:
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/209411.html
Short version:
http://boinkology.com/2008/04/29/the-ladies-of-liberty-city/
Apparently the game publisher, Take-Two Interactive, has become embarrassed by this trailer, and is trying to remove it from the Internet, so watch it soon.
Another option not shown in the trailer is burning the women, as observed by Slobs of Gaming:
For research on violent video games and their effects on gamers, please see the work of Karen E. Dill:
http://www.lrc.edu/psy/dillk/researchlinks.htm
See also:
Register Now for Media Madness: The Impact of Sex, Violence, & Commercial Culture on Adults, Children, & Society, July 8-11, Boston
For the 14th consecutive year, Wheelock College is offering the very popular summer institute on the role that the media (television, movies, magazines, video games, advertising and pornography) plays in shaping children’s development and behavior, as well as our overall cultural attitudes. The institute will be held on Wheelock’s Boston Campus.
Link of Media to Violence Accepted, But Porn Has No Effect?
Film critic Michael Medved notes that: "More than 3,000 research projects and scientific studies between 1960 and 1992 have confirmed the connection between a steady diet of violent entertainment and aggressive and anti-social behavior."[37] The American Academy of Pediatrics concluded: "The vast majority of studies conclude that there is a cause-and-effect relationship between media violence and real-life violence. The link is undeniable and uncontestable..."[38]
One of the most common findings from media studies is that "increased media viewing is associated with more stereotypical views, especially about gender," and that "being exposed to consistent and repeated stereotypical gender images shapes cognitive structures."[45] Simply stated, what we see affects how we think.
Robert Jensen: When Examining Complex Social Phenomena, Scientific Method Has Limits; Listen to the Stories of the Victims (explicit language)
Ms. X, a Native American woman, described how she was raped by two white men who made reference to a pornographic video game called "Custer's Revenge" in which a white Army officer scores points by raping Indian women:
They held me down and as one was running the tip of his knife across my face and throat he said, "Do you want to play Custer's Last Stand? It's great. You lose but you don't care, do you? You like a little pain, don't you, squaw?... The only good Indian is a dead Indian... A squaw out alone deserves to be raped."Boston Globe: "Spike in violence in middle schools raises concerns"
Educators, police, and national school violence specialists struggle to explain rising violence among younger students, which is also reflected in national statistics. They cite an array of causes, including violent video games, movies, and television shows and news coverage of violence at school and in the community, which results in copy-cat incidents.
Prostitution: "It is high time to expose and challenge the liberal consensus"
..all but a tiny minority want to stop selling sex...
...Such women are 18 times more vulnerable to homicide than other women, and suffer regular abuse from pimps, punters and passers-by...
...I thought, 'These women are just seen as throwaways. They service the men, serve their purpose, and can then just be disposed of.'"
Prostitution: Factsheet on Human Rights Violations (explicit language)
As recently as 1991, police in a southern California community closed all rape reports made by prostitutes and addicts, placing them in a file stamped "NHI." The letters stand for the words "No Human Involved." (Linda Fairstein, Sexual Violence: Our War Against Rape, 1993, New York, William Morrow.)
...83% of prostitutes are victims of assault with a weapon. (National Coalition Against Sexual Assault)
Dorchen Leidholdt, "Demand and the Debate"
I had never heard of a single instance in which a secretary or college professor had been flung out of a window of her workplace to her death on the streets below. And while married women were leaving abusive homes in droves, their prostituted sisters often didn’t have homes to leave. It would be six years before I would encounter the Canadian Report on Prostitution and Pornography with its finding that prostituted women in Canada suffer a mortality rate 40 times the national average. But it was no secret that prostituted women were the special targets of serial killers. How many jobs had murder as a frequent workplace safety hazard?
Prostitution Research & Education: How Prostitution Works
Real sexual relationships are not hard to find. There are plenty of adults of both sexes who are willing to have sex if someone treats them well, and asks. But there lies the problem. Some people do not want an equal, sharing relationship. They do not want to be nice. They do not want to ask. They like the power involved in buying a human being who can be made to do almost anything.
Escort Prostitution: A Response to Tom Vannah, Editor of the Valley Advocate
While a few women may choose a life of prostitution in a truly voluntary fashion, the reality for most is a history of sexual and/or child abuse, separation from their family and/or country, and poverty. Addictions to drugs or alcohol are common. They are routinely lied to, coerced, abused, threatened, and blackmailed (e.g. 'I'll hurt your family back in the Ukraine if you don't cooperate').
When a "progressive" outlet like the Advocate runs ads for commercial sex enterprises, it not only publicizes them but legitimizes them. It also puts a big dent in the Advocate's moral authority. If the Advocate truly wants to
be a friend to underdogs, it needs to side with them over callous profiteers.
MSNBC Investigates Human Trafficking and Prostitution in the US; Valley Advocate Advertises "Foreign Fantasies" Where "Everything Goes"
Valley Advocate Website Announces 2008's "Best" Adult Entertainment Club; Holsopple's Inside Report on Stripping (explicit language)
Comments