iOS game lets you beat your boyfriend

[ThisGuyLikesNoTacos]

It's not like anything bad follows fro- Oh wait!

There's not much else to say. I add another vote for tasteless.

 

[Zhukov]

I just find this funny.

I know, I know, if it was a woman on the receiving end this game would be hurled into the fiery pits of hell, good for the goose, good for the gander, equality, blah-de-blah... I get it.

So you've not noticed that aside from a couple of people, that it's been universally by both men and women called a sexist POS and said it never should have seen the light of day?

Uh... what?

No, I'd say that was pretty obvious, even from just reading this thread.

My point is that even though I get why people don't like this game I personally just find it amusing.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I've got this one covered guys. This deserves the same incisive gender commentary this forum is famous for.

1. This is just typical whiny MRA nonsense! If it was a woman being abused no one would care! (insert conspiracies, random statistics, a link to a gender swapped version of "amazing atheist" and "a voice for men")

2. It's not offensive. You're choosing to be offended. Its right to be offensive is more important than your right not to be offended. (insert Ricky Gervais, Stephen Fry quotes, false sense of moral superiority)

3. I think this is hilarious because trolling (insert "u mad" picture, trollface)

4. Again? Guys, this is obviously NOT misandry. (insert confusing, circular reasoning)

5. Something something Freedom of Speech.

6. It was done for shock value and they fooled you! You are the victim of brilliant advertising.

7. Arguments about the definition of sexism.

8. Arguments about the definition of misandry.

9. Random name calling.

10. Thread derailed with pictures of goats.

 

[Kirov Reporting]

The text was great, but the goat picture was the icing on the cake.

Okay, I loved your response, and I think it's fairly on-the-nose. Pretty much every response does seem to fit in there somehow, I'm as guilty as any other. So much circular conversation that basically still adds up to zero.

 

[x EvilErmine x]

Wow that's a bit fucked up. I mean how long would it stay available if it was 'The girlfriend trainer' instead? Not very long at all I bet. Double standards for all! xD

Seriously though +1 to the tasteless vote for me.

 

[Cheesepower5]

I've got this one covered guys. This deserves the same incisive gender commentary this forum is famous for.

1. This is just typical whiny MRA nonsense! If it was a woman being abused no one would care! (insert conspiracies, random statistics, a link to a gender swapped version of "amazing atheist" and "a voice for men")

The Amazing Atheist is hardly champion of the MRA movement or an anti-feminist speaker. Hell, his wife is one of those super feminists. Whad'they call'em? Militant Feminists? Hardcore Feminists? I honestly forget, and I still don't get how it works, but yeah. He's done like 4 anti-feminist videos (The Failure of Feminism, Tumblr Feminists, etc.) Most of them are older and just calling out extremist groups, like when he makes a Glenn Beck video or what have you. He's also made one called "It's Only Sexist When Men Do It" where he's pissed of at The Talk for getting away with laughing at a guy who got his dick cut off. Mostly pretty reasonable stuff.

 

[phylline]

Double standards and glorification of domestic abuse (as has been said), not something that's acceptable.

I do wonder, however, how many people are using this to come to the conclusion that society is anti-male, hm.

 

[Hagi]

Mostly pretty reasonable stuff.

With a few exceptions here and there.

 

[Farseer Lolotea]

The premise alone skeeves me right out, TBQH. As others have pointed out, it reads as portraying domestic violence as somehow "cute." And that's gross and fucked-up.

But that said?

The Amazing Atheist is hardly champion of the MRA movement or an anti-feminist speaker. Hell, his wife is one of those super feminists. Whad'they call'em? Militant Feminists? Hardcore Feminists? I honestly forget, and I still don't get how it works, but yeah.

That's odd; I could have sworn he was openly gay.

He's done like 4 anti-feminist videos (The Failure of Feminism, Tumblr Feminists, etc.) Most of them are older and just calling out extremist groups, like when he makes a Glenn Beck video or what have you. He's also made one called "It's Only Sexist When Men Do It" where he's pissed of at The Talk for getting away with laughing at a guy who got his dick cut off. Mostly pretty reasonable stuff.

Not going to delve much deeper into this, but his having done more than one such video kind of contradicts your previous claim. Unless, of course, he's focusing on actual failures within mainstream feminism (the excessive focus on middle-class white businesswomen, for example). But going after the convenient scapegoat that is Tumblr, or trotting out an extreme example, kind of suggests otherwise.

 

[Sparrow]

Abusive relationships, regardless of who's doing the abuse, should never be trivialized. I'm a stout believer in the "nothing is sacred" rule when it comes to jokes, but this... seems like a joke without a punchline. "Haha, abuse" is pretty much all I'm getting from this.

 

[briankoontz]

It's getting to be worrisome the degree to which gamers want to censor the medium.

If boyfriend abuse is acceptable in film, tv, and books, then why not in video games?

What happens when a serious game developer wants to include boyfriend abuse in a social game in order to explore issues related to that, but can't because gamers have already decided that abuse is not allowable in a game?

The hypocrisy of complaining about abuse in a game while gamers have no problem killing hundreds or thousands of digital representations of living things (often people) in a game is rather stunning.

"It's ok if you shoot and kill me, sweetie, just don't pull on my tie too hard!"

Obviously digital murder isn't real murder, but digital abuse isn't real abuse, either.

Why do gamers pick and choose what's "real" in a game, while no other artistic medium is treated as such?

 

[Fenra]

This reminds me of a show a few years ago. I think it was called "What Would you do?" or something like that. They had a scenario where a man was hitting his spouse in public to see how people reacted. The public almost immediately took notice and put a stop to it. Then they reversed the roles where the woman was beating the man and not only was it tolerated, one woman was actually enjoying it. It took quite a while for a random woman to stop the beating.

Pretty sure I saw that a little while back, if I'm thinking of the right one, the acting couple sat on a park bench with hidden cameras filming them, was an eye opener for me, particularly when one woman fist pumped when she walked by and when they talked to her afterwards her response was along the lines of "I was thinking go girl, he deserves it!"

Honestly I'm going to try and not get my undies in a bunch over this, sexism aside, and even if they were too androgynous aliens with no defining genders its just a tasteless iOS game that shouldn't be made in the first place.

... although I'd probably play a game about gender-less alien marital relationships

 

[Twitchy Wyche]

I agree that it's pretty disgusting, but on the other hand the guy looks like the biggest douche in the world.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

The hypocrisy of complaining about abuse in a game while gamers have no problem killing hundreds or thousands of digital representations of living things (often people) in a game is rather stunning.

We're curiously blase about simulated murder in our recreational pursuits. Murder as a punchline is completely normalized to the point where we don't even blink. I don't necessarily think it leads to real life murder or anything, it's just a curious psychological phenomenon, why we shrug away gunning down a room full of assailants but a little slapping makes us queasy. Someone could probably write a really interesting dissertation on it.

Someone who isn't me, of course. That sounds like a lot of work.

 

[Cheesepower5]

Mostly pretty reasonable stuff.

With a few exceptions here and there.

Way to cut out any context, dude. If I'm not getting my conversations mixed up, she had already made threatening comments and lewd photoshops of him. I'm not saying that totally justifies what he said, but it's obvious who you're trying to paint as a villain.

The premise alone skeeves me right out, TBQH. As others have pointed out, it reads as portraying domestic violence as somehow "cute." And that's gross and fucked-up.

But that said?

The Amazing Atheist is hardly champion of the MRA movement or an anti-feminist speaker. Hell, his wife is one of those super feminists. Whad'they call'em? Militant Feminists? Hardcore Feminists? I honestly forget, and I still don't get how it works, but yeah.

That's odd; I could have sworn he was openly gay.

Bi, but leaning towards straight, apparently.

He's done like 4 anti-feminist videos (The Failure of Feminism, Tumblr Feminists, etc.) Most of them are older and just calling out extremist groups, like when he makes a Glenn Beck video or what have you. He's also made one called "It's Only Sexist When Men Do It" where he's pissed of at The Talk for getting away with laughing at a guy who got his dick cut off. Mostly pretty reasonable stuff.

Not going to delve much deeper into this, but his having done more than one such video kind of contradicts your previous claim. Unless, of course, he's focusing on actual failures within mainstream feminism (the excessive focus on middle-class white businesswomen, for example). But going after the convenient scapegoat that is Tumblr, or trotting out an extreme example, kind of suggests otherwise.

He doesn't focus on feminists at all, he makes videos about a lot of topics. He does bring up the fact that many feminiusts going out of their way to paint white men as evil are fairly well of white women themselves, I believe, but I guess an easy target gets more hits.

 

[Hagi]

Mostly pretty reasonable stuff.

With a few exceptions here and there.

Way to cut out any context, dude. If I'm not getting my conversations mixed up, she had already made threatening comments and lewd photoshops of him. I'm not saying that totally justifies what he said, but it's obvious who you're trying to paint as a villain.

Dude... no amount of context will ever make that statement anywhere near "pretty reasonable".

But hey, if you think rape is ever reasonable then I guess we're pretty much done here. Not really much to say to that...

 

[Farseer Lolotea]

Way to cut out any context, dude. If I'm not getting my conversations mixed up, she had already made threatening comments and lewd photoshops of him. I'm not saying that totally justifies what he said, but it's obvious who you're trying to paint as a villain.

As Hagi has pointed out [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/jump/9.399771.16417841]? There's no context that would justify that shit. At all.

Bi, but leaning towards straight, apparently.

Hmm. Could have sworn he claimed to be a complete Kinsey 6 in one video.

He doesn't focus on feminists at all, he makes videos about a lot of topics.

Beside the point. He's still made at least five such videos.

He does bring up the fact that many feminiusts going out of their way to paint white men as evil are fairly well of white women themselves, I believe, but I guess an easy target gets more hits.

If he's accused anyone of a gross oversimplification and strawman like "going out of their way to paint white men as evil," he's entirely missed the point to begin with. (Appropriately enough, the captcha was "weasel words.")

 

[Frankster]

*shrugs* I'm assuming this is made for a very specific niche audience, more power to them i guess.

Really get the feeling ive walked into someone elses fantasy, so don't see this as being reflective of sexist trends or whatever. If the behaviors portrayed in the game were glorified or portrayed as being desirable irl, maybe i'd be able to summon some outrage, but as it stands the only really curious thing about this game is its a paid app rather then a free game you find on those hentai fetish game sites.

 

[Hagi]

It's getting to be worrisome the degree to which gamers want to censor the medium.

If boyfriend abuse is acceptable in film, tv, and books, then why not in video games?

What happens when a serious game developer wants to include boyfriend abuse in a social game in order to explore issues related to that, but can't because gamers have already decided that abuse is not allowable in a game?

The hypocrisy of complaining about abuse in a game while gamers have no problem killing hundreds or thousands of digital representations of living things (often people) in a game is rather stunning.

"It's ok if you shoot and kill me, sweetie, just don't pull on my tie too hard!"

Obviously digital murder isn't real murder, but digital abuse isn't real abuse, either.

Why do gamers pick and choose what's "real" in a game, while no other artistic medium is treated as such?

Nobody is saying abuse isn't allowable in games. As has been pointed out there already are games where it's entirely possible to beat up your spouse.

What's considered messed up is the direct implication of this game that beating up your boyfriend is a good and admirable thing that makes him a better person.

And other artistic media are treated exactly the same on that score. If a movie was made about a woman abusing her boyfriend, entirely painted in a positive light, then you can bet that there would be no shortage of criticism.

Stop it with the victim complex that whenever criticism is offered on the content of games it's somehow infringing on their rights and that other media never ever receive criticism, it's annoying at best and utterly delusional at worst.

 

[Robetid]

"Boyfriend Trainer"? Oviously this game is completely fictitious and in no way depicts real life in any way fathomable. Why is this generating so much heat?