By Charlotte Stasio
The popularity of video games is a relatively recent phenomenon, but the medium has managed to offer countless problematic representations of women in its short history. As an ever expanding component of the media landscape, video games are increasingly contributing to the epidemic of rape culture. Images and player-controlled instances of violence are a common occurrence in video games. Oftentimes, this violence in perpetrated in the name of rescuing or otherwise acquiring a female character as a reward. In this way, many video games reduce their female characters to mere objects or achievements - entities without agency for the (mostly male) player character to claim. This objectification in games reflects how our society condones the treatment of women as objects in the “real world.”

Since nearly their inception in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, games have been portraying women as one-dimensional characters to be rescued or obtained. Super Mario Brothers and the Legend of Zelda are two games that have found their way into the pop culture lexicon. Both feature a silent male lead questing after a “damsel in distress.” Both Princess Peach and Princess Zelda exist in a state of constant confinement, unable to do anything about their fate. While these two well known titles demonstrate the problem of powerless women in games, there are other early examples that have players blatantly committing acts of violence and sexual assault against women. Two of the most infamous games from the Atari era are Custer’s Revenge and Beat’ Em and Eat’ Em. In the former, players assume the role of General George Custer and are tasked with raping a Native American woman bound to a stake while dodging a barrage of arrows. In the latter example, players take control of a naked woman situated below a platform in which men ejaculate - the aim is to catch the semen in the character’s mouth. Both of these particularly awful examples belie the sophomoric, misogynistic mindset of the early game industry.

So are games today any different? Yes and no. One of the most prominent voices in the examination of women in games is Anita Sarkeesian, creator of the wildly successful web video series Tropes vs. Women. Sarkeesian lays out a damning inventory of games over the past several decades that have contributed to sexist attitudes towards women. She laments that many games today fall back on the tired “save the girl” routine. The major game studios frequently churn out such stories, with popular games such as Resident Evil, Gears of War, and Castlevania keeping this unfortunate tradition alive. Even some independently produced games, typically a bastion of otherwise innovative storytelling and gameplay mechanics, have perpetuated this trope. Prominent examples include Castle Crashers, Super Meat Boy, and Hotline Miami. Though the “damsel in distress” framework may seem harmless at first blush, it is yet another contributing factor in our society’s rape culture - this tired storytelling device frames female characters as objects only to be lusted after and rescued (or obtained) from other men. That Sarkeesian has herself been the target of viciously misogynistic attacks from members of the mostly male-dominated video game community only underscores the rampant sexism in this subculture.

One could not be blamed for drawing the conclusion that the world of video games is an irredeemable failure when it comes to portraying women. While the majority of games do continue to perpetuate this harmful point of view (and by extension, rape culture), there are some recent stand out examples of developers stepping up and creating female characters on equal footing. However, each of these bright points are marred by the actions of a portion of the male-dominated video game subculture.

• Gone Home - This unique throwback to the adventure-style games of the late 1980’s and 1990’s explores themes of family, dark pasts, assassinations and a ton more. Here is how one reviewer described it: "this is a game that some will hold up as forward-thinking evidence in the ongoing debate of games-as-art", adding that the game was made to "plumb the depths of experience outside of gaming’s typically targeted white, male, youthful core." Frustratingly, the developers at the Fullbright Company pulled the exhibition of Gone Home from the major gaming expo known as PAX after video game webcomic Penny Arcade mocked it’s queer themes.
  
  
• Depression Quest - Created by independent game developer Zoe Quinn, this game strives to put players into the shoes of a person suffering from deep depression. Quinn hoped to create awareness about depression in an attempt to remove its stigma. In another example of the misogyny found in video game culture, Quinn was subjected to gender-based harassment on gaming forums. In the words of her anonymous attackers, “women cannot relate to anyone with depression,” and "have no right to be depressed." Depression Quest is free to play so give it a shot - but the subject matter could be triggering for folks who have suffered from depression. 
  

• Mass Effect - A departure from the indie games mentioned above, Mass Effect is a game series released by big-name publisher Electronic Arts. From the outset of this space epic, players have the choice of picking a female or male main character, either way named "Commander Shepard." However, there is zero difference between the dialogue, story choices, or character options for each. The female Shepard (annoyingly distinguished from the male version with the moniker “FemShep” by some members of the audience) ends up being a strong leader - something you don't see much of when it comes to women in games. However, only 18% of players chose to play as the female version of Shepard, even though many critics and reviewers considered voice actor Jennifer Hale’s performance to be superior to Mark Meer’s, her male counterpart. Regardless, check out this video of Commander Shepard in action: http://youtu.be/oOVB14kUqCo
  
  

Let’s end on a delightfully subversive note: recently, a father named Mike Mika was heartbroken when his daughter found out that she had to play as Mario instead of Pauline in the retro hit Donkey Kong. Mika, a competent software engineer, manipulated the code of the game to swap Mario for Pauline - turning the agency-less “damsel” into the heroine. Thankfully, several organizations are advocating for the advancement of women in games and the increased visibility of female programmers. Check out organizations like Women In Games International, WomenGamers.com, and IGDA Women in Games to find ways you can help this worthy cause.  Let’s hope that more gamers and developers take notice of the inequality and marginalization of women in games and create stories featuring fully-realized female characters.

By Rufaro Gulstone
In October 2013, I had the opportunity to attend the Al Jazeera’s America Tonight program entitled, Sex Crimes on Campus. I was excited to come across the email in my inbox, inviting me to the event, as I highly admire the program content on America Tonight; it’s diverse, current, and engaging. I entered the studio, anticipating challenging intellectual conversation but left feeling more than a little disappointed by the overall coverage.

This special was part of a series on the epidemic of sexual assault on college campuses, and the effort to curb it. Hosted by Joie Chen and Antonio Mora,  the studio was full of students, professors, experts, parents and survivors of rape and sexual assault who took a hard look at the campus culture that fueled sexual assaults, the role of alcohol, and how universities handle reports and complaints of sexual abuse.

While the conversation seemed to be fluid, to me, it largely focused on the presence of alcohol in a hypothetical or real situation. Most of the stories, whether hypothetical or real involved some form of inebriation. I was largely disappointed because this appeared to be a loophole of to blame the victim and their substance abuse. Basically it translated as, “Hey you drunk girls and guys, don’t get raped.” Instead of “Hey you sexual assailant, don’t rape!” What about those situations where the presence of alcohol is absent and a sexual assault still occurs? There should be an inclusive conversation on safety as well as the prevention of rape (i.e., “Hey, men and women, don’t put your sexual organs where they are not wanted.”).  After the taping, I briefly talked to the producer about my concerns and she replied that they had intentions of taking the discussion further with other programs. I have not heard any updates since.

I, unfortunately, had the reality hit relatively close to home recently on my university campus. In January, as I was lazily scrolling down my Twitter, I saw an anonymous ghost account of a student who was retweeted into my timeline. What caught my eye, was what this student was tweeting. Overnight, this student created an account telling the public of her experience of being raped twice in her dorm room by her friend who came over to study. She alleged that she reported her incident to the university, only for her case to be settled out of court with no protection from her attacker. Every day when she crosses the university quad, she sees him and cannot do a thing about it.

Of course, a revelation like this shocked the student body. There were those who immediately supported this student with retweets and kind words, while there were others who were suspicious of this account. As a Communications major and an anti-sexual assault advocate, I was conflicted. Innately I felt hurt and empathized with this young lady and wanted to help get immediate justice for her any way possible. However, as a budding journalist, there wasn’t enough information for me to blindly trust what she was saying. Given the facts, this was a ghost account that popped up overnight, and since her original postings that day, there hasn’t been a tweet since. I also did not want to completely dismiss her because there are far too many survivors who are doubted and aren’t given a fair chance to voice their experience without little support and plenty of ridicule.

This recent story enraged me more because with it came dozens of other students who tweeted that they knew someone who had been raped on campus and the university was mum in regards to any responses. One of the other incidents happened two years ago when a freshman girl was attacked in her own dorm room by a stranger off the street. He was able to sneak past security in the middle of the day and follow her up to her room. She was stabbed and raped repeatedly until someone heard her screams. The student survivor left the university and her attacker was eventually arrested months later. Just this summer, there was another student who was on campus for a summer program and was followed and raped in one of the college buildings.

After both of these incidents occurred, my university said nothing. There was no formal letter from the administration or crime alert emails to the community, no rally from the students, no stories from the survivors - nothing. It was literally as if these incidents never occurred and these women and men were never hurt.

I am highly ashamed and disappointed in how colleges and universities handle sexual assaults, accusations and rapes. From an administration standpoint, the security offers safety in the form of street Blue Light Telephones. These are supposed to be emergency phones strategically placed throughout campus to alert campus or metro police. However, from a student perspective, most of these emergency devices never work. There have been dozens of accounts of trying to use the Blue Light Telephones to no avail when there is no dial tone or the machine is simply dysfunctional. Dorm Assistants, although I’m sure are initially helpful, are told not to make a bring attention to the situation after talking to the administration. I understand that it is a part of “keeping family business, family business,” but this mentality is more hurtful than helpful when a member of the family has been violated and made to feel like the attack was his or her fault, or that they were so insignificant that it didn’t happen at all.

When high school students and parents make the decision to become a part of a college’s legacy, they are doing so with the reasonable expectation that their school would be able to protect them in the case of an emergency. I can only hope that further awareness and honest, frank dialogue will continue conversation of the safety of college students and prevention of sex crimes on their own campuses.

By Christine Gordon and Ashley Medley
So much has been flying through the interwebs about Dylan Farrow, and her allegations of sexual abuse at the hands of her then father-figure, Woody Allen, we decided it was time for a quick round up because of the relevance to rape culture. It's distressing, to say the least, to begin to realize the impact of rape culture on children in this country. The rationalizations in favor of the accused perpetrator, the victim-blaming (also blaming the mother/parent, as happened with Mia Farrow), the fear of coming forward, the failure of the law enforcement and legal systems - all themes in rape culture - become even more problematic when we are considering the sexual abuse of children. And when we also add in the strange phenomena of celebrity in this country, well, it's a mess (Roman Polanski, anyone? R. Kelly?). Celebrity Stephen King decided to weigh in on Twitter, reflecting what appeared to be a clear element of sexist victim-blaming, and was quickly lambasted, inciting this *pretty good* apology (of course you should draw your own conclusions as to the sincerity and meaningfulness of it). Somehow celebrity voices seem to outweigh the rest of us, whether or not they have any relevant education, experience or expertise on the topic.

The crucial dilemma of child sexual abuse, I think, is that it is the most easily condemnable, yet most difficult to prove, and the legal process/system is often equally (perhaps more?) damaging to the child-victim (in some cases) than the actual abuse. This piece from RH Reality Check on believing victims is very powerful, and reminds us that there is evidence that most of these accusations are found to be true. And this one from Rage Against the Minivan helps us to remember that, "...publicly speculating that it’s a lie is perpetuating the rape culture that tells women that they should stay silent. Or worse, that it’s up for debate if they come forward." While this one from Feministing reminds us that boycotting celebrities is great, but we also need to be so vigilant in our real lives, with acquaintances and social circles.

Dylan herself explains how in her situation, "Most found it easier to accept the ambiguity, to say, 'who can say what happened,' to pretend that nothing was wrong." They continued to worship her abuser, and she grew up in a culture of victim-blaming. This is a terrible reality for many victims in our rape culture, and is particularly devastating when the victims are children. Dylan's brave act of coming forward publicly forces us to face up to the fact that there is a real, live victim in this "situation" - we can no longer ignore this because of the discomfort it brings. This article in the NY Magazine puts it well, "...our willful ignorance is explained by the fact that, if we really grappled with how common sexual harassment and assault really are, we’d never want to get out of bed in the morning." I agree, but it's time to shed some light on this issue so that we can actually change it, and let the healing begin.

By Christine Gordon
I wanted to respond to this piece defending the popular holiday song, Baby It's Cold Outside, because I think it misses a key point about the issues with the song. Ok, to be perfectly honest, I am conflicted about this song, it's been one of my favorite holiday songs for a long time, but once I began to think carefully about the media's influence on violence against women, I could no longer gloss over or ignore the messages in the lyrics. So I read this article with hope that it would give me a way to like the song despite the implied messages, and the undertone of rape. And for a moment, in some ways, it did. It's a good analysis, and I do believe that art has to be put into the context of the time and culture in which it was created. To an extent.

However, this is where I think the article went awry: to me, the issue with the song is that it is completely immersed in rape culture. To put it in context is to think of it through a lens of what was acceptable in the 1930s (and beyond) - and a big part of this was that women didn't really have the “right” to refuse consent. So the problem is not so much that the man in the duet may have spiked her drink, or that this is a happily sung overview of a date rape in progress, but that it so clearly illustrates the concept of “no means yes” on a variety of levels.

First, on its face, the man is blatantly brushing aside her “No’s” until he apparently gets the yes he's been waiting for, under what is quite obviously a lot of pressure. Second, the woman herself seems to be complicit in this, at least if you agree with [E] Slay Belle's analysis – she is seeking excuses to stay, even though she believes she should leave (due to societal pressures). BUT she never openly communicates that she wants to stay, only implies it, and this compels her “beau” to pressure her into staying. Using this argument, we, the listeners, become complicit in this myth, believing that this woman doesn't actually mean what she says. Thus we are reinforcing the “no means yes” fallacy that has caused so many problems for so long, and is one of the core issues at the heart of rape culture. How can we expect people to be clear about consent when we a) don't talk to young people meaningfully and in-depth about sex and consent and b) are inundated by this “no means yes” myth in the media, which is consumed, by youth in particular, in exorbitant amounts?

Even the 1930s norms are not that different for women of today – “everyone will talk,” in essence slut-shaming her for being sexual. Yep, I'm pretty sure we have a multitude of examples that this still happens to women and girls in 2013 (Steubenville, Rehtaeh Parsons, Rashida Jones, Miley Cyrus), and the double-standard that is applied to males is still quite apparent. While there has been progress, and many of us are working very hard to navigate how we can enhance positive sexuality for women and men, these issues are still glaringly present.

So my question is, even if I accept the argument that within the context of this culture and this time period, this song was not about an actual rape, by continuing to sing it, play it and perform it, aren't we just continuing to strengthen these still-harmful myths about consent and what women say versus what they actually want? The messages have been woven into the fabrics of our communities – so much so that they often aren't even consciously noticed anymore – and this is what I think happened in this article by an author who claims to have a very critical feminist eye (or ear, as it may be). But this is the very essence of rape culture, and its greatest danger, that it is so fully ingrained that it can be easily overlooked or written off, even by those of us who are aware.

Thoughts?

By Ashley Medley
Words cannot express my outrage for the issue of widespread sexual assault in the military that's recently come to media attention over the past year. I truly can't even talk about it with a level-head and I think that's okay. I could not believe some of the commentary in the Senate hearing addressing it in June. All I could say was - Thank God for Senator Kirsten Gillibrand! Even Senator John McCain, the man who brought us Sarah Palin(!), can accurately express his disgust and indignation with a situation that is so clearly appalling and has been covered up for so long by a broken system which allows perpetrators and enablers to perpetuate and support this behavior.

Why is this happening just now? Sexual assault numbers are climbing - up in 2012 to 26,000 from an also terrible 19,000 in 2010. Brave survivors are coming forward like the ones in the documentary Invisible War   that members of Congress and high-ranking leaders at the Pentagon viewed to understand this issue. Advocacy organizations like Service Women’s Action Network, and Protect our Defenders help spread the word and put a human face to this issue. As Senator McCain said in the June Senate Hearing, “this is an issue about defending basic human rights but it's also a long-term threat to the strength of our military.” These women love their country. They’ve signed up to die for it, for us and die for the men that then rape them. It’s been said again and again, this isn’t even discipline and order. I can’t respect an institution who tortures their own.

There are great examples of others within the global community responding appropriately to these types of abhorrent behaviors. One example was when a group of servicemen within the Australian army was discovered having filmed themselves engaging in sex (possibly under the influence of illicit drugs) with women and sending the videos to each other on government computers.  Australian Lieutenant General David Morrison responded saying "You may find another employer where your attitude and behavior is acceptable, but I doubt it. The same goes for those who think that toughness is built on humiliating others," and "The standard you walk past is the standard you accept."  I am not the first to notice, my American military falls short of such a response. The Australian investigation involved about 15 to 20 men. Here in the U.S. we are sitting on THOUSANDS of crimes unprosecuted.

I look at our country, my country, that I love, and I feel betrayed for these survivors. I want to say to my government “Don't tell me you are still learning how to navigate and discuss this sensitive issue. This is how you talk about it: It's a humiliation and the gravest type of dishonor to EVERY person past and present who has worn an American uniform. It is about leadership. It is about respect. It is about honor and bravery of what we would like to believe is the greatest military in all the world. This is not unclear.  Every day spent not condemning sexual assault within our ranks (in action, not just in words), is another day accepting it. This is a country worth defending, one that fights to protect life and liberty.”

This week the Senate is expected to vote on the S. 967 Military Justice Improvement Act of 2013 (#MJIA) introduced by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and currently has 38 cosponsors. If made law, the act will require that when a sexual assault is reported an independent military prosecutor would decide whether to prosecute the crime. This is a change from the current protocol, in which the decision of whether to prosecute moves up the chain of command, regardless of whether the assault survivor’s attacker was her/his commander. This act is a tremendous show of leadership that restores honor to the U.S. military and is a step toward giving rape survivors in our military the justice at which we in the civilian world at least have a chance. To tell your senator you support the Military Justice Improvement Act, call, email, tweet them! Here is a link to sign the petition. Your voices will be heard!

By Elizabeth Puloka
A few weeks ago I enjoyed attending a family gathering at which there were photo albums from past reunions. 'How fun!' we alternately mused as we flipped through the pages of photos from years ago, enjoying seeing recollections of past birthdays, holidays, and ceremonies. Coupled with the bittersweet amusement of seeing how young we all looked were the obligatory squeals of somewhat-mock horror at how tragically styled we were. Here, laid bare before all of us in page after page of celluloid glory was photographic evidence of what came before contact lenses, post-pubescent skin, haircuts done by a professional, and the evolution of denim to the multi-fit industrial complex it is today. And even though it was all in fun, even though I was surrounded by my family who love me and think I am a wonderful person, I still felt these pangs of dread at what would be displayed when the group flipped the page. How embarrassing would my teenage body, hair, angsty and dramatic facial expression be in the next photo? Turns out, pretty embarrassing. And I wasn't alone. My brother, who is by everyone's account devastatingly handsome and equally accomplished winced when I joked about showing his wife pictures of him with his super-fresh fade haircut, circa 1994. Obviously, as this is a common theme in people's lives. The dread of having photos unearthed and having your peers, colleagues, romantic partners, etc. see evidence of a time you'd like to forget is universal currency. I flinched at seeing my jeans and haircut from two decades ago, amongst people who love and support me. I cannot imagine the horror of having similar photographic evidence of being raped not only exist, but shared virally amongst my peers, and eventually the internet.

I have been appalled to revisit yet another account of the digital recording and mass-sharing of a rape. As many excellent writers have pointed out, the tragedy unfolding in Maryville, Missouri follows in a particularly repugnant and similar vein to that in Steubenville, and in the case of Rehtaeh Parsons in Nova Scotia. As of this writing another victim has come forward and added to the account, making that 2 young high-school girls alleging rape by older students, all of whom were under the influence of alcohol, and the recording of at least one of the acts.

This recording and forwarding of images of the rape act are a modern dimension of rape that compounds the trauma inflicted upon the victims, with devastating effects. I find myself repulsed and stricken with grief imagining not just the barbarism that underpins rape, but the participatory acts of onlookers who go beyond witnessing this violence to produce this gruesome documentation and then spread it in what becomes a viral transmission, with what smacks of a frightening level of cavalier voyeurism, to say nothing of victim blaming. An added layer of disgust with this modern avenue of victim-blaming is that at least in the case of Maryville, having documentation of the crime was miraculously not enough evidence to prosecute. My mind is blown over this. One might think that having a rape recorded is terrible, but at least it could serve as rock-solid evidence for the prosecution. Yet in this culture or rape excusers it doesn't even guarantee a conviction, and instead serves as a mechanism to reproduce and compound the trauma for rape victims.

As we tackle rape and rape culture, it is becoming ever more impossible to ignore the role that digital media plays in the trauma inflicted upon victims., and we need to talk about it. Social media is adding a terrible new dimension of hellishness to the victims who are more often than not ridiculed and further blamed for their rape. In addition to addressing the motivations and actions of the rapists, we now need to recognize the role that virtual onlookers play. Parents, teachers, coaches, mentors, and other adults in a position to influence young people need to include the sharing of digital media and its consequences in discussions of rape. Sadly, this is an area where we can see rape culture and specifically victim-blaming writ large. Propelled perhaps by the distance and at times anonymity provided by virtual communication, many young people end up participating in the shaming and blaming of victims when they choose to record and/or share these pictures and videos.

So where do we go from here? I don't really know! Camera phones and social media platforms are tools that are difficult to regulate, and are in part wonderful additions to our communications because of their level of open access. But what I hope for are conversations that go something like this: “Wow, you know what's truly shocking and monstrous? Not only the perpetration of a rape but the recording and sharing of it for the purpose of bragging, shaming, and further hurting the victim. We should definitely talk about how that is a repugnant way to share communication and is an act that participates in that rape.”

Hopefully conversations like these are already happening, and amongst people who need to hear it most. Hopefully more than conversations can happen, and meaningful repercussions for the sharing of this repugnant media are developed and enacted (not like this, where once again the victim was made to shoulder the blame and consequences). Hopefully discussions around media sharing of rapes can be framed in such a way as to help people understand what they are doing when they choose to participate in a campaign of trauma and shame.