![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
James Desborough, Gamers, and Rape
Jun. 24th, 2012 09:49 pm
Warning: this post contains a lot of triggering concepts, such as rape.
RPG writer James Desborough has caused a controversy that brings up issues of sexism, gaming culture, and censorship. Desborough, author of works such as The Slayers Guide to Female Gamers (review here), Nymphology (review here), and The-Quintessential-Temptress, posted a blog entry titled "In Defense of Rape" (NSFW edited blog here) where he contended that rape was an excellent plot device. In response, Malyn Cooper first asked game companies such as Mongoose and Steve Jackson games to stop publishing Desborough's work, then started a petition drive on Change.com (altered petition here).
( Cut due to length and content )
That's the controversy in a nutshell. As to what I think?
James Desborough to me obviously covers a high degree of misogyny under a cover of satire, and he has an unhealthy fascination with rape. But is that a reason to censor him?
Well, no. And what's happening is not censorship. Even as writers like James Desborough have a right to write whatever they want, customers have a right to complain, and a right to pressure companies through words and collective purchasing power. Those who support Desborough on the basis of defending against censorship are misguided.
More importantly both Desborough's work and the ongoing rape threats against Malyn Cooper points out that the problem with sexism in rpgs is even worse than it commonly is thought to be. For a long time depictions of women in artwork has been problematic, and there['s been an attitude that rape and sexual assault in rpgs is either juvenile fun or a plot device. This attitude in my view is strongly inimical toward women being comfortable around gamers, not to mention the role playing hobby as a whole. Worse, it trivializes rape as a concept, making it easier for rapists and sexual harassers to operate.
If anything good can come out of this, at least this dialogue is being held, and there are people willing at least to take a stand. It's discouraging to see how many people are supporting Desborough, especially those who minimize the misogynistic elements of his work. But the fact that people are at least willing to complain is a sign of miniscule progress. Changing the culture is an excruciatingly slow task, one where there will be a lot of resistance. But if we really want to get to the point where gaming culture and the culture at large find rape and sexual harassment unacceptable, then things such as the Desborough controversy are necessary.
RPG writer James Desborough has caused a controversy that brings up issues of sexism, gaming culture, and censorship. Desborough, author of works such as The Slayers Guide to Female Gamers (review here), Nymphology (review here), and The-Quintessential-Temptress, posted a blog entry titled "In Defense of Rape" (NSFW edited blog here) where he contended that rape was an excellent plot device. In response, Malyn Cooper first asked game companies such as Mongoose and Steve Jackson games to stop publishing Desborough's work, then started a petition drive on Change.com (altered petition here).
( Cut due to length and content )
That's the controversy in a nutshell. As to what I think?
James Desborough to me obviously covers a high degree of misogyny under a cover of satire, and he has an unhealthy fascination with rape. But is that a reason to censor him?
Well, no. And what's happening is not censorship. Even as writers like James Desborough have a right to write whatever they want, customers have a right to complain, and a right to pressure companies through words and collective purchasing power. Those who support Desborough on the basis of defending against censorship are misguided.
More importantly both Desborough's work and the ongoing rape threats against Malyn Cooper points out that the problem with sexism in rpgs is even worse than it commonly is thought to be. For a long time depictions of women in artwork has been problematic, and there['s been an attitude that rape and sexual assault in rpgs is either juvenile fun or a plot device. This attitude in my view is strongly inimical toward women being comfortable around gamers, not to mention the role playing hobby as a whole. Worse, it trivializes rape as a concept, making it easier for rapists and sexual harassers to operate.
If anything good can come out of this, at least this dialogue is being held, and there are people willing at least to take a stand. It's discouraging to see how many people are supporting Desborough, especially those who minimize the misogynistic elements of his work. But the fact that people are at least willing to complain is a sign of miniscule progress. Changing the culture is an excruciatingly slow task, one where there will be a lot of resistance. But if we really want to get to the point where gaming culture and the culture at large find rape and sexual harassment unacceptable, then things such as the Desborough controversy are necessary.