Nearly every release in the Grand Theft Auto series has caused controversy for its politically incorrect material, but an attack by fans on a female reviewer could be scarier than the actual in-game content.
A review on the latest GTA V by Caroline Petit for Gamespot.com lead to numerous gamers leaving sexist and misogynistic comments after she deducted 0.5 points for the game having questionable moral content when it comes to women.
Another 0.5 points were deducted due to character inconsistencies, the game still receiving a 9/10 score.
In response, hundreds of sexist comments flooded the review, attacking Ms Petit for bringing the discussion up and furious that the game had not received a 10/10.
Below are a number of comments that were posted on Monday.
“Yeah as soon as I saw the 9 decided not to read the review. Saw that Gamespot decided to have a female review GTA V, stabbed out my eyes with a spork.”
– Rayjay86
“and then people questions why we bully woman gamers”
– cristhiansj_1
“Okay I look forward to ‘her’ next review where the main complaint is there is no dominant female character. What a blast we will have reading about the opinions of one individual who is less interested in the game than in how it furthers the cause of women”
-blueinheaven
The critically-acclaimed game came under fire for having in-game advertisements telling women to “smell like a bitch” and radio discussions on using women as urinals.
“GTA V has little room for women except to portray them as strippers, prostitutes, long-suffering wives, humourless girlfriends and goofy, new-age feminists we’re meant to laugh at,” wrote Ms Petit.
WARNING: High level simulated sex scene
Ms Petit is a transgender gaming journalist who was born male yet identifies as female. She has faced personal attacks on her transgender identity in the past. But many of the offensive comments on her review focused on her being female rather than transgender.
Despite a number of male reviews bringing up the same issues of sexism and misogyny in the game, including those by TIME, The Guardian, The Verge and Polygon, none of these articles faced the same personal and gender discrimination Ms Petit did.
Sadly, this kind of bullying and harassment is not a rarity in many gaming communities. Melbourne gamer, Nathalia Tan, believes that sexism is a very real issue for those who want to be an active gamer.
“If you take a look at the comments section of any social media post regarding sexism and gaming, it becomes evident very quickly that the broad view on gaming is that it is some sort of ‘boys club’ that must be defended from women and their ideals at all costs,” says Ms Tan.
“I feel that there are two extremes when it comes to being a female gamer: you are treated like an intruder, or you are either treated like a too-delicate princess.
“I’ve been quite ‘lucky’ in that I’ve never really experienced excessive threats or abuse. I sometimes get the occasional ‘gtfo b*tch’, ‘get back into the kitchen’, or ‘make me a sandwich’, but this doesn’t surprise me anymore. I’ve also seen sexist jokes from (alleged) women, demeaning women.”
However Ms Tan affirms that she has had positive experiences online, in particular when she was running a guild on the popular World of Warcraft franchise.
“My gender was never mentioned within the guild, used against me, used for me, or otherwise. My gender was simply not a part of the equation, and this was fantastic.”
World of Warcraft was one game which Nathalia Tan found she was treated normally by her fellow guild members.
The main issue in countering these attitudes by gamers relates back to Petit’s article. Many women find expressing their concerns intimidating, fearing the type of aggression showed to Ms Petit in her article. In addition, many male gamers do not find this an issue in need of drastic change.
“I don’t often say what I think for a few reasons. It’s hard to find an appropriate audience who will listen and engage. I can post about it on Facebook and usually get a few likes and strike up conversation with those people, otherwise I don’t find many people who are interested in actually discussing the topic, sensibly, in detail,” says Ms Tan.
“Backlash on this topic is often huge. People fear change, and that is exactly what we are trying to achieve. Some gamers don’t see the issue, thus don’t think change is necessary, or actively oppose change.
“All of this being said, discussion is definitely crucial for progression on this matter. We need to find out what people think about the topic to see where the problems lie, and hopefully find the solutions too.”
