In case you haven't heard, Penny Arcade is currently embroiled in something of a controversy. While it isn't the first time this has happened, it's never been nearly so out of control, and it never so deserved as it is now.
There's an excellent timeline of events found here, but here's how it started. Last August Penny Arcade posted a comic about, in writer Jerry Holkins' own words: "how empty, amoral, and borderline vile(emphasis his) electronic heroism actually is." It's a worthwhile thing to deconstruct and make light of, but what's not worthwhile is to include an account of a man being raped by "dickwolves" as part of the joke. It wasn't even the punchline, it was simply the most vile thing Holkins and fellow artist Mike Krahulik could think of letting their imaginary hero ignore.
If you read the timeline, you'll see things go downhill in a hurry, but it basically reads as a narrative about how Krahulik and some of his more unsavory followers harass and mock the comic's critics, many of them rape survivors. For years I had labored under the belief that Penny Arcade and its community represented this mythical "good" subset of gamers. Amazing projects like Child's Play made me turn a blind eye towards the fact that there are many criticisms lobbied at gamers in general that have kernels of truth to them.
For his own part Jerry Holkins, after months of silence (and failure to rein in his partner's antics or see the error of selling the "Penny Arcade Dickwolves" t-shirt in the first place) weighed in with his own intelligently written albeit wrong-headed stance on the matter, which made it seem like he actually went out of his way to try to learn something about the subject. Clearly not enough, as he states as the very basis of his self-defense: "The only people who are pro-rape are rapists," but it seemed like there was at least some intent on his part to understand where the criticism was coming from, and that's a start. It's certainly much more than most people called out in the manner they were would do. I think I can begrudgingly respect that, but it's still far from enough to excuse his prior actions.
There's a fundamental problem with the way both Krahulik and Holkins perceived the issue that explains why they didn't learn anything from the debacle (or didn't learn enough, in any case.) They saw the issue with the comic as two-fold, but both reasons were absolutely wrong.
- The biggest thing both author and artist seemed to take issue with was the idea that their comic supported rape culture, which is true, it does. So does about 80% of the advertising industry. That's not an excuse, but it's clear Krahulik and Holkins overreacted to that assessment of their work. What they assumed that meant was that anyone who read that comic would magically turn from a non-rapist into a rapist. That's not the case, and I highly doubt anybody would have said as much to them.
- The whole argument quickly devolved into a conversation about censorship, and this is what I suspect made Mike Krahulik turn from a generally rational and compassionate individual into a complete asshole. After all, Krahulik is an artist, and not just any artist, but an artist with a fondness for dick jokes. On top of that, he's a gamer. If there's one thing that artists and gamers are most sensitive about, as generalized groups, more than anything else, it's censorship. And I believe that Krahulik did more to further the cause against video game censorship with creating and organizing the Child's Play charity (thus dispelling the national media's narrative about how video games erode people's senses of morality) than he did with any of his asinine shenanigans or his childishly defensive non-apologies. Censorship (or political correctness, or however you want to define it) has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH THESE KINDS OF CONVERSATIONS. It's not about what you can and cannot say or do. It's not even about what you should or should not say or do. It's about giving more thought to the consequences of your words and actions (words are actions, but that's a can of worms for a later date). Krahulik and Holkins didn't and still apparently don't. That's regrettable.
The real problem with the comic in question is how society in general and gamer culture in specific has an idea of what rape is and how rape plays into their vocabulary and their humor. It's no secret that the term "rape" is a commonly used gaming term for a "decisive victory", and the term has devolved into such unglamorous terms as players "facefucking" and "teabagging" one another. It's disgusting, for one thing, and for another thing it very clearly and definitively ties male sexual prowess to power and dominance over another person, and that does have an impact on who does and does not rape. It's the very definition of rape. That was the conversation that should have happened, in an ideal world. I once believed the creative minds behind Penny Arcade were capable of honestly and rationally addressing this issue with its fans in a way that would have hopefully opened a few eyes, the way they addressed the blatant racism in Resident Evil 5. It turns out I was wrong.
So what could have been a teachable moment for literally millions of gamers instead became an abject lesson that there are still plenty of things that the gaming community as a whole still aren't ready to move past. Will I stop reading Penny Arcade? I don't know. I don't think I will. Before this whole debacle I always sort of felt that anyone who used the term "Gamer" as their primary identity should look Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik as the kinds of people to aspire to be more like. Child's Play is still an incredible organization and it would be a tragedy if that charity lost any kind of support over this debacle. If Mike Krahulik does actually show up to PAX East wearing the Dickwolves shirt I may again reconsider my stance on the comic. I haven't stopped reading it yet and I must admit I found today's comic about Dead Space 2 to be pretty funny and spot-on of my understanding of the game, though note the terminology of "fuckfest."
I suppose it is difficult, if not impossible, to be critical of something without first consuming it. Being more critical of Penny Arcade and the messages found within, both intentional or otherwise, seems more sensible at this point than an out-and-out boycott of people I once considered to be heroes, but we'll see.
The comic in question isn't exactly condoning rape. It's showing a typical situation in a Quest-based MMORPG: The player is charged with some grand heroic deed (like saving villagers), but because of the way quests are designed, the player only needs to rescue a set amount to 'complete' the goal. There are usually a ton of 'villagers', however, because multiple players need to be able to quest in the same area at the same time.
ReplyDeleteIf he happens to pass another villager on the way out of the cave, he's not obligated to save him (and in some poorly-designed quests, may not be able to interact with him once the quest is flagged as complete).
The punchline is a play on videogame logic, where the player is supposed to be a hero, but by the path of least resistance. Everything has ballooned from there.
Rather than whine about a reference to rape in a video game webcomic, people should be upset that the Republican Party is trying to push through legislation that would redefine the legal definition of rape to no longer include Statutory, drug-induced or date rape in an attempt to gut abortion rights.
Read all about it here; http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/01/republican-plan-redefine-rape-abortion
I'm well aware of the context of the comic strip in question. I know that it's not actively condoning rape. That's neither the point of most of the criticism that's been leveled against Penny Arcade nor this particular post.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, things have ballooned from the comic (which itself is the most inoffensive action they've taken since), but everywhere it's ballooned you'll find Mike Krahulik in the middle of it, stirring up shit and generally definitely doing more harm than good in terms of addressing rape culture within the video game community. Frankly, the only action Krahulik's taken that not completely indefensible was taking the t-shirt off of the site, and even that was offered with a backhanded non-apology. It was unnecessary and ridiculous and made it impossible to have a serious conversation about rape culture.
I'm with you on that particular piece of legislation, which is indeed a horrible and underhanded way to radically redefine rape, and I could go on and on about how it represents bullshit myths regarding victim-blaming and whatnot, but that's besides the point, which is that there is no aspect of rape culture that isn't worth discussing.
Rape culture is everywhere and therefore needs to addressed everywhere.
This quote sums it up even better:
ReplyDelete"It wasn't the Dickwolves that were offensive. It was Penny Arcade's mockery of those offended by the passive reference of rape. The Dickwolf had become a symbol; a metaphor for mocking those sensitive to rape culture."
The core issue seems to be the role that satire has in society, and whether satire contributes to the 'normalization' of behaviors in the same way that non-satire does.
ReplyDeleteThis comic is clearly a form of satire, and because of that I contend that the dickwolves comic does not 'normalize' rape. The satirical context is relevant to any human who reads it and has the comprehension to understand that they are validating that rape is bad, which is what makes the 'hero's action's reprehensible.
In other words, Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" did not 'normalize' cannibalism. It would take a "Catcher in the Rye" level of misunderstanding for someone to walk away from this comic with the sense that Rape is OK.
Let me provide another example. South Park routinely kills a small child in violent ways every episode. The writers and viewers understand that this show is satirical, and makes points by taking wrong acts to the extreme. The show does not advocate killing small children, and the people who watch the show do not come away with a lowered tolerance for the death of real children, even the hypothetical death of real children.
I would like to engage anyone who disagrees on this point, which I believe to be the center point of this furor: satire does not normalize the satirized behavior.
In this case, the comic doesn't normalize the indifference of the hero, nor the rape of the slave. It identifies both clearly as wrong things.
Satire is a vital form of rhetoric, and it is one that very often comes under attack, BECAUSE it offends people's sensibilities. It makes people uncomfortable, and Mike and Jerry have fought that battle many times, so when you say things such as:
"Censorship (or political correctness, or however you want to define it) has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH THESE KINDS OF CONVERSATIONS. It's not about what you can and cannot say or do. It's not even about what you should or should not say or do. It's about giving more thought to the consequences of your words and actions (words are actions, but that's a can of worms for a later date). Krahulik and Holkins didn't and still apparently don't. That's regrettable."
You're being disingenuous. You begin by claiming that censorship is not an issue here, and end by suggesting that they should not have made the comic. Going from 'you can't use satire in this way' to 'I don't think you _should_' is a very, very small step, and it still promotes censorship, in the same way that non-satirical rape jokes promote the normalization of rape.
"The biggest thing both author and artist seemed to take issue with was the idea that their comic supported rape culture, which is true, it does."
ReplyDeleteI want to make this very, spectacularly clear: the original comic does NOT support, encourage, or further rape culture. It has nothing to do with how gamers use "rape". It doesn't diminish rape or the effects of rape. It doesn't minimize rape. It does, in fact, express the fact that raping is pretty much the worst thing ever (which is something that we should be encouraging, yes?)
I believe Amanda Marcotte said it best (and, as a rape survivor, she's more qualified to speak on this than probably you and certainly I):
"I did not think this was a “rape joke” in the classic sense of the term, which is a joke where the punch line expresses the idea that raping is awesome. The joke of the comic was that the moral universes painted in video games are often horrific in a way that contrasts with the light-hearted nature of gaming. That strikes me as a perfectly appropriate thing to make fun of, tame even." [Emphasis mine]
Penny Arcade's response (until the latest)? Terrible, I agree. But you have obviously taken a stance on one side of this argument, and it's clouded your ability to think objectively.
Also, it's silly that you don't think this isn't about censorship. It's not only about censorship, to be sure, but it's definitely partly about censorship.
"Also, it's silly that you don't think this isn't about censorship."
ReplyDeleteAWESOME typo I made. Should read:
"Also, it's silly that you think this isn't about censorship."
"Censorship (or political correctness, or however you want to define it) has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH THESE KINDS OF CONVERSATIONS."
ReplyDelete"Don't ever use the word 'rape' in a humorous or non-serious context."
Wait, so you're telling people what to do and not to do, but saying this isn't an issue of their freedom? Interesting.
In the first place, the masses of people opposed to these guys were saying they would no longer be fans of the comic or go to PAX if they didn't take the comic down. Thus, these people are putting external pressure on these guys in order to take away their freedom to make whatever jokes they want. Sorry, I'm gonna be on PA's side on this. Sure, joking about the issue is a little immature, but not more immature than trying to hold the artist's hostage with a bunch of bullshit that is ultimately unrelated to a comic using the word "rape" -- the comic just serves as another outlet to throw negative emotions at in the quest to stop "rape culture," as if this comic is even really a part of "rape culture" in the first place.
"That was the conversation that should have happened, in an ideal world."
ReplyDeleteI agree completely, and one of the things that's disturbing me the most about this entire debacle is *exactly* that that conversation didn't result out of this.
And, here's the thing that's getting me worst: that's not entirely the fault of Krahulik and Holkins.
I mean, yes, indeed, Krahulik in particular fucked up incredibly, and totally abandoned Wheaton's Law, and became exactly the sort of asshole he usually derides. Holkins definitely and definitively failed to figure out the *whys* of the controversy, and his response was most certainly wrong-headed.
But the "other side" (as dumb as such a phrase is in this case, but I can't come up with a better descriptor at the moment) wasn't and isn't totally blameless in terms of this turning into a gigantic clusterfuck of assholery and misogyny and lack of learning.
Because when the original comic came out, the PA guys weren't told "The use of the concept of 'rape' in any sort of joke cheapens the horror of the act and can help add to the general idea that rape is 'normal'. Plus, it can really mess with the head of a rape survivor in a way I don't think you guys intend." No, they were told "Rape Jokes Aren't Funny, and You're Adding to the Rape Culture, and you're acting like Rape Apologists".
And of course, nothing about that second sentence is wrong or untrue. As those terms are used by people who generally make use of them, they were making a Rape Joke (any joke which features Rape as an element, regardless of punchline or target or intent), and they were adding to the Rape Culture (the normalization of the concept of Rape), and they were acting like Rape Apologists (people who deny the validity of the concept of Rape Culture). But as many people have noted by noting the *ignorance* that the PA guys keep displaying, *They Didn't Know Any Of That*.
And that's because the terminology being used, and being applied to them, is, in the technical sense of the term, Jargon. It is short hand that has been developed by the rape survivor support community and feminism in general to apply to concepts that have been discussed at length within those communities and are commonly understood by the people associated with those communities, and those who choose to educate themselves about such communities (much as a lot of us have over the last few months thanks to this debacle). But they are not commonly-understood terms in society as a whole. They are not terms that lend themselves to easy etymological dissection -that is, when someone encounters the terms for the first time with no underlying knowledge of the community and process that birthed them, what they actually mean is not readily apparent just from the words themselves.
Understand, I am not and will not argue that the PA guys are in any way "victims" in any of this. I don't roll that way. But when a person who has not been raped and has not participated in the recovery or support of anyone who might have been sexually abused, who has basically never been exposed to the community that was annoyed by that initial comic, is presented with the term "Rape Joke", the most likely parsing is rarely going to be "a joke which utilizes rape as an element of any sort"; it is much more likely going to be "A Joke About Rape".
Similarly, such people aren't likely to get the proper definition out of just being presented with the term "Rape Culture"; they're more likely to see it as meaning "A Culture of Rapists which thinks Rape is Cool and Awesome". And "Rape Apologist" isn't going to get the right parsing, either, since "Someone who argues that Rape isn't That Bad" is what leaps out from the words themselves bereft of any understanding of the community that coined the term.
In other words (and if we can all step back from knowing what is *actually* meant by those terms), when two guys who have naively used rape as an example of "the worst thing possible" in a joke deriding the casual cruelty are told that they've made a Joke About Raping that furthers a Culture Where Rape Is Good, and are acting like people who think Rape Is Not All That Bad, then is it at all surprising that they may well become defensive, and in that defensiveness they'll dismiss the concerns being raised?
ReplyDeleteYes, indeed, they misunderstood what was being said. And at least part of that is because what was being said was being said in a language that they were not previously privy to, and which was not being explained to them. They found themselves in a world where, having made a joke predicated on the idea that rape is horrible, they were being accused of liking rape. And when that mistaken understanding on their part provoked a response from them, rather than anyone saying "Wait, there has been a miscommunication, here's what was meant", they were essentially sneered at for being just another set of Rape Apologists, which term was also not explained. Instead of anyone stepping up to *educate them*, they were told that they should be *ashamed of their ignorance*.
Now, also, I'm not saying that such sneering was *wrong*. It wasn't. It's totally understandable and reasonable for the bloggers -regular and freelance- over at Shakesville to react to the initial comic in the way they did, and it's not any sort of crime or evil for people to expect Krahulik and Holkins to do some research on the subject that was jumping up and slapping them in the face. But it's also a massive missed opportunity, and a sad failure of the tool of communication that the internet can be.
The blogger Kirbybits did the best job of actually being educational about the community-understood meanings of the terms being used, but even she only got to that point in response to a comment on her blog. The blogs themselves, and far too many of the comments in response to clear misunderstandings of the terms, kept falling into the trap of "if you don't already know, then you're part of the problem", and "go educate yourself" and "it's obvious unless you're a Rape Apologist!" and the like. The insularity and aggravation of the community added to the misunderstandings, to the point now where the tumblr feed "fucknopennyarcade", ostensibly dedicated to further shaming Krahulik and Holkins into educating themselves, ran a post entitled "if you've sent me a butthurt missive recently...", apparently not even beginning to comprehend that "butthurt" is a furthering Rape Culture just as much, if not moreso, than the original Penny Arcade comic.
Ultimately, this debacle might be a good thing, raising awareness of the rape culture elements inherent in gaming in a wider audience than just the rape survivor support and feminist communities. It's almost undoubtedly led more than a handful of white males to a greater knowledge of the concepts of rape culture and triggering. And most certainly no one is to blame for all of the negative fallout that might come to PAX and the Penny Arcade brand besides Krahulik and Holkins. But how much better it *might* have been, and how much more productive our conversations *might* have been.
I've noticed a strange hypocrisy amongst the anti-Penny Arcade: why is humor mentioning rape a vile, terrible thing that contributes to rape culture (not even rape jokes: jokes that even mention rape), but jokes about murder and assault are fine? The original post on Shakesville even commented on liking the darker Penny Arcade comics where they killed each other. And we're not even talking about jokes that merely mentions murder; we're talking about full-on murder jokes.
ReplyDeleteThere is more of a murder culture than there is a rape culture. 90% of our entertainment media, particularly video games, is based on the thought that Killing Is Awesome. In the game Manhunter you torture people. There's an entire subgenre of movies called "torture porn" which, while often looked at with disgust by the general populace, is not usually vehemently objected to.
So someone please explain to me how a murder joke is okay, but a rape joke isn't. Because people don't actually get murdered? They do, and their loved ones are traumatized. Because there aren't assault victims with PTSD who get triggered? There are. I cannot see how someone can argue that murder jokes are fine BUT STAY AWAY FROM THE RAPE JOKES! Don't even mention rape in a joke!
Seriously, the part of the original Shakesville objection that I think is ridiculous, is this:
"But unlike Gabe killing Tycho so he doesn't have to share a video game, a slave being raped is a real thing that happens in the world every day."
Right. No one ever gets murdered because someone wants some stuff. OH WAIT. We have a name for that, it's called robbery homicide.
I want to thank everyone for their comments. The bulk of this response turned into a new post, but I'll address a few things here:
ReplyDelete@Andy:
You don't say a thing I disagree with until you misrepresent my point. I specifically stated that this wasn't about what they should or shouldn't do. I go into more detail what I meant and why it shouldn't have anything to deal with censorship in the new post.
@Anonymous #1 & Andy
The other thing is that no one (well, no one rational) is saying that their comic "causes" or "normalizes" or in any way supports rape. There's a HUGE difference between supporting or normalizing rape and supporting rape culture. It's subtle, but huge nonetheless. I do back down a bit from stating that the initial comic SUPPORTS rape culture, but I do intend to argue that the thought process behind the comic is inextricably LINKED to rape culture.
@Isaiah
No one enjoys having words put in their mouths, and I don't know where you got the quote "Don't ever use the word 'rape' in a humorous or non-serious context." but it is not something that I said. If that was your attempt to paraphrase the rest of my post, then you have sadly missed my point. In fact, I'll use that quote to sum up my actual point in an attempt to make it more clear.
"Don't ever use the word 'rape' in a humorous or non-serious context without seriously considering the impact your words and actions will have on those who will experience them, and without being willing and able to accept those consequences with grace and civility."
Those who are familiar with my previous activism work would likely assume I'd feel the same way about suicide. And while I do, as a suicide survivor I recognize that humor played a huge part in my coping process. I am in no way comparing suicide to rape here; I even hesitate somewhat in co-opting the survivor term. What I'm saying is that there is no doubt a time and a place for using rape in a humorous context. I just happen to stand by those who argue that a Penny Arcade deconstruction of MMORPG quest structures is probably not that time or place.
@Anonymous #2
Thank you for clearing quite a few things up. One of the largest critiques of the "social justice community" (itself a loaded term) is how pedantic it can be, and I am just as guilty of that as everyone. As I mentioned above, rape culture does not mean people supporting the actions of rapists. It means altering our culture's perceptions of gender, sex, sexuality and other issues in such a way that it makes it easier for people to understand the actions of rapists or if nothing else blame the actions of the victim. It's a culture that makes rape more acceptable and being raped less acceptable. There's obviously a lot more to it than that (objectification, moral policing of female sexuality, etc. etc.) but that's primarily what I'm talking about here.
@Anonymous #3
ReplyDeleteYour comments about violence in our culture, while entirely spot on, are much like Communism; nothing more than a red herring.
Your actual argument then, is quite confusing with regards to your tone. The only logical conclusions to your argument is that either it's okay to joke about both murder AND rape, or that it's not okay to joke about either.
If your argument is the latter, then we should all be condemning Penny Arcade for a whole lot more than just that one comic. If your argument is the former, well, you've done an excellent job explaining why murder humor shouldn't be funny either, which kind of destroys that argument.
You're right that there is hypocrisy on all sides of this argument, but you seem to fail to notice that it applies just as much to you and those you're defending. But there's a certain beauty to this, because, you see, all humans are hypocrites. It's sort of why we have so much trouble dealing in absolutes, even while we obsess into breaking every argument down into absolute dichotomies.
It's why your choice of "either it's okay to joke about both or neither" is a false choice, and as much as I'd hate to assume, you probably already knew that. There are no absolutes. Everything depends on context. That's why one can make a subjective judgment about Penny Arcade's use of rape in humorous context was crass and unnecessary, while still at the same time acknowledge there are probably spaces where rape as humor could be a positive and healthy thing. It's why many people find it okay to laugh at Gabe killing Tycho over a watch but not to laugh at a man being raped by dickwolves. There will never be any easy answer as to what is okay and what is not okay to make light of, especially since that answer will be different for every individual. No one will ever be qualified to say to everyone in the world "this is where the line is, and you should never cross it," and it's silly to expect that. Every person has different lines and the best you can do is hope not to cross it, and when you do, handle yourself and the situation with respect and civility. THAT is where Penny Arcade failed.
It's also why I don't feel qualified to answer your question as to why rape is worse than murder. The only way I could think is resort to my own logical fallacy and appeal to the popular opinion. That does seem to be what the consensus is. Someone who is an actual rape survivor could probably give you a pretty good set of reasons if they felt so inclined, and I'm sure someone whose loved ones were murdered might give an impassioned rebuttal. As I am not either one I don't feel comfortable weighing in there. Does that make me a hypocrite for laughing at Penny Arcade's violent comics but finding their comic involving rape offensive? Uh, maybe? Probably to someone's standards, yeah. Maybe even to a dictionary standard. But as I am rational, thinking human being capable of judging each individual instance within its own context, no, I don't think I am at all.
Anonymous hit the nail on the head, above. Jerry and Mike made a comic about the absurdity of MMORPG heroism, and received in return emails telling them (as far as they could tell) that they were promoting rape and somehow responsible for all the rapes that happen in society.
ReplyDeleteIf you actually follow Penny Arcade and are familiar with their brand of humor, their response can hardly be a surprise. I don't think they created the follow-up strip out of defensiveness or spite so much as amusement at how bizarre the accusation was to them. In their minds it was just as surreal as having someone like Jack Thompson tell them they are personally responsible for school shootings because they support violent video games.
The accusation that the original strip supports or encourages rape is totally absurd. So playing into that absurdity and having comic Gabe and Tycho take that accusation totally seriously, and deliver a PSA style message in order to curb the actions of all the imaginary rapists they've supposedly inspired, is a logical comedic next step and it was funny. They were mocking the idea that their silly comic could literally cause real world rape and they were mocking the extremists who seemed, to them, to be making that assertion. They were NOT mocking everyone who objected to the comic or was hurt by it. At worst, it's their bad for not making this distinction more explicit, although I thought it was fairly obvious. Going back to the Jack Thompson example, when they mock him they are mocking his special brand of incendiary, irrational rhetoric, NOT everyone in society who is worried about violence and violent media.
And then, as the rhetoric against them exploded, they got defensive and only fueled the fire by kind of being assholes about it (the Dickwolves shirt, I definitely agree, was just a spectacularly stupid idea).
As Anonymous points out, the communication failure happened at both ends. It may feel really good to get up on your high horse and go on a moral crusade against Mike and Jerry, disregarding the years and years of amazing good work they've done in light of this single debacle. But you aren't doing anything to further the cause of promoting understanding about the issues that have been raised, and in fact I think you are contributing to the us vs. them confrontational tone of this whole discussion which is only going to foster resistance to any compromise or understanding due to resentment and anger.
Mike and Jerry are intelligent, thoughtful, compassionate guys. I firmly believe that if they were engaged in a genuine, civil conversation about the objections to the comic, they would reply in kind. But instead, as so often is the case on the internet, everyone got mad and sent frothing emails and declared war from their blogs.
It's sounds kind of trite, but the only answer here is for both sides to admit they fucked up in different ways, and to think long and hard about how this situation could be salvaged to do some good. It is an incredible opportunity to bring some knowledge and understanding to a huge part of Penny Arcade's demographic - young males steeped in a pastime that is often incredibly sexist, and who have virtually no exposure to the feminist ideas this issue has highlighted.
I wasn't recommending accepting or rejecting rape/murder humor one way or another (in this instance); I was merely commenting on hypocrisy.
ReplyDelete"...while still at the same time acknowledge there are probably spaces where rape as humor could be a positive and healthy thing..."
Making judgments on a case-by-case basis is one thing, and exactly what people should be doing, but many of those opposing the original comic are saying any use of rape in humor is Bad. To quote one of the Anonymous-es (there's so many of us. Or, at minimum, three.):
"The use of the concept of 'rape' in any sort of joke cheapens the horror of the act and can help add to the general idea that rape is 'normal'."
This is not someone who looked at a specific joke and made a judgment call. This person decided before they even saw the joke: Mentions rape = Bad. With that kind of absolutism, it seems ridiculous to me to oppose jokes mentioning rape but not murder jokes.
Personally, as a general concept, I take the Joan Rivers stance:
LIZ HAYES: Do you think there’s anything that we should not laugh at?
JOAN RIVERS: No.
LIZ HAYES: There’s no taboo?
JOAN RIVERS: No, I think life is so tough – no, no, no, no, you must laugh at everything.
There are qualifiers to this, such as actual rape jokes (the most common one I've found myself objecting to being, "Isn't raping a prostitute technically shoplifting?" I've never seen someone not be disgusted with themselves when I point out what they've just said.) Joan Rivers' point (and mine) is that no subject should be inherently off-limits, which is what some people are saying, and further implying, "I get to decide what's off-limits and what's acceptable," which is silly and disingenuous, at best, and fast approaching censorship.
It shouldn't need to be said, but here it is: demonizing one side is in no way a defense of the other.
ReplyDeleteI'm not going to deny that there weren't people whose objections to the initial comic could have come from a more rational standpoint with an emphasis in opening a serious dialogue. To lump all of Penny Arcade's critics (or even the most vocal and well-known) is disingenuous, and to say that it was these individuals that Holkins and Krahulik have been mostly responding to is at best stating that they chose to rebut the easiest of their targets and the ignore the ones who actually wanted to open a dialogue.
And here's the thing about some of those "easy" critiques, the ones based more on emotional appeal than on rational discourse. These are the responses of people who were strongly offended, possibly even triggered. Again, being offended or triggered is not a choice. It is an immediate emotional reaction that sometimes requires an immediate verbal response. And those immediate verbal responses aren't always going to be filled with "let's sit down and have some tea and try to see eye-to-eye on this" rhetoric.
And yeah, even in the following months there were miscommunications (or a willful lack of desire to communicate) from the anti-Penny Arcade side. Does that absolve Penny Arcade's responsibility in all of this? Does that give them the right to mock and harass survivors (which they have done, this is a matter of record folks)? No, it doesn't one bit.
I'll be the first to admit that there are folks for whom the need to feel morally superior to others trumps the desire to create understanding and learning for the un-or-misinformed. But the most vocal voices, from the very beginning (I specifically refer to Shakesville here) have been infinitely more civil and dedicated to creating dialogue than Penny Arcade has been.
To directly comment to a few more specific things:
ReplyDelete@Jacob
"The accusation that the original strip supports or encourages rape is totally absurd."
To this say underscores that you have missed the point to the majority of critiques of the comic, including my own. I would highly recommend you check out Shakesville's most recent post on the subject as it states as succinctly and as clearly as I could think possible what rape culture actually means and how the dickwolves comic applies. No, the comic doesn't directly support or encourage rape. I think this is at least the third time I've typed almost that exact sentence. What it did (and what Penny Arcade and Krahulik's reactions did to a much greater extent) was support rape CULTURE. To quote the author:
"That is what is meant when people talk about a rape culture—not, as it is continually misrepresented, a culture in which one can trace a direct line from every rape joke to an actual act of rape, but a culture in which there is endemic hostility to the notions of consent, autonomy, and respect of individual boundaries, privacy, and dignity."
I would personally argue that the comic in question was more of a symptom of rape culture, and in particular how gamers have been desensitized towards notions of rape, than perpetuating it, but my opinion on that is my own. Now, people more educated on the subject than I have stated the comic does in fact perpetuate rape culture, and while I'm not necessarily inclined to agree, and I am definitely inclined to respect those opinions and the reasons behind them.
What cannot be argued is that the sale of the t-shirt and Mike Krahulik's continuous combative attitude absolutely have contributed to rape culture. To deny that is to not understand what rape culture means, and I cannot strongly encourage more that you open your mind to how we and the things around us contribute to rape culture every day, and how to focus on ending our participation within that culture.
@Anonymous
"This is not someone who looked at a specific joke and made a judgment call. This person decided before they even saw the joke: Mentions rape = Bad. With that kind of absolutism, it seems ridiculous to me to oppose jokes mentioning rape but not murder jokes."
Here's the funny thing about absolutism; it also means that every one is allowed to decide for themselves what to believe, and are free to believe whatever they wish, including absolutist beliefs that humor involving rape is never okay. It's a beautiful thing, really, allowing others the control to decide what is and is not crossing the line for themselves. And the even more beautiful thing about it? That they have every right to express not only their beliefs, but to express feeling offended when someone has crossed one of their lines. Again, I'm not saying Holkins and Krahulik were required to beg forgiveness over their comic. But common human decency should have dictated that they at the very least acknowledge the fact that it was just as okay to be offended and express that offense over the comic as it was for them to make the comic in the first place. That's not what they did. What they proceeded to do was indefensibly horrible and unarguably supportive of rape culture. And THAT is not okay by virtually any metric.
I'm responding before I read the next blog post, which is probably a mistake, but if so, I'll come back and correct it... :)
ReplyDelete@Andy:
You don't say a thing I disagree with until you misrepresent my point. I specifically stated that this wasn't about what they should or shouldn't do. I go into more detail what I meant and why it shouldn't have anything to deal with censorship in the new post.
OK, I'm sorry if I misrepresented your point; I really didn't intend to.
@Anonymous #1 & Andy
The other thing is that no one (well, no one rational) is saying that their comic "causes" or "normalizes" or in any way supports rape.
I think this actually points to part of the complexity of internet debacles: There are two sides, and a million sides simultaneously. I've read blogs on rape culture that are rational, and blogs on rape culture that are ridiculously irrational. It's hard not to lump them together. This explains the vitriol on BOTH sides. Mike responds to the worst interpretation of the worst of his critics, and his more vocal critics do the same. Instant firestorm.
At the same time, you did say
"The biggest thing both author and artist seemed to take issue with was the idea that their comic supported rape culture, which is true, it does. So does about 80% of the advertising industry. That's not an excuse, but it's clear Krahulik and Holkins overreacted to that assessment of their work."
And that gets back to the issue of jargon, which was pointed out above. To someone outside of the "rape culture" world, "supported rape culture" means "supported the culture of those who rape" which sounds a looooot like "supported rapists".
That's technically ignorance on our part, but it's a little like me talking about "frame advantage" to someone outside of fighting game culture. I should be aware that I can have no expectation that my audience will not understand what that means.
Anyhow, I think I can follow you to the comic being linked to conceptions of rape in our culture. It surely is, because it mentions rape. I'm looking forward to reading your next post.
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