Video game geeks and rape jokes. Bilal Ahmed in Tuesday's Souciant.
I've never given much thought to Penny Arcade before, but I'm not quite sure how I feel about the PA misogyny spin. These blog posts try to represent PAX as an actively and deliberately misogynistic foundation, but I don't think I buy that. Rather to me it seems that it's a case of overreaction on top of overreaction leading to some tactless response by PA.
If you look at the original comic that started the whole uproar, it looks like the most benign rape joke to ever offend anyone. It's not even really a joke about rape; rape is just mentioned in the setup. It doesn't seem that far removed from the Wanda Sykes joke mentioned in the article as an acceptable format of rape joke.
And while these blogs like to cite a couple blogs that posted tactful responses to the comic, apparently the overall response was quite different. If I were them, receiving that kind of harassment after a seemingly harmless strip with no ill-intent, I would be inclined to respond as well. And if you're Gabe, maybe that response would be trolling those you offended. After that, the whole situation looks pretty ugly.
But still, I think I can understand PA's frustration in the situation. If people start accusing you of being a misogynist and rape culture-promoter, that's going to really piss you off. Unfortunately PA's response seems to be trolling which leads to even more accusations. Thus the cycle repeats. Hell, this "tactful" blog on the issue basically tries to paint them as rape enthusiasts. The thing has spiraled out of control, and if I'm right about how PA is reacting to this, then these posts are only feeding the flames.
I think the bigger issue was the pushback and arguing and defending of the rape joke, not the joke itself. Of course you are going to have backlash whenever you post pretty much anything on the internet these days. But you have to realize when you made a mistake and people took issue with it and man up and admit defeat. The handling of the situation was so poor and just further aggravated people instead of moving on and letting the next news cycle take over.
You may be right in thinking that the intentions of PA were not to be rape culture promoters but to simply make a snarky response to their critics. However, by actually selling and promoting the Dickwolves merchandise, the official mascot of a group of PA fans who call themselves "Team Rape", the actual effect was that PA promoted rape culture. Unintentional or unconscious it may have been but the effect is the same. They should take responsibility for their actions when their actions have unintended consequences. Mike admits to those unintended consequences in his recent "clarification" post. But until PA actually does something to counter that effect, they have not taken responsibility for their actions.
Insomniasexx hits the point here. The problem is that Penny Arcade made this an issue of personal pride, rather than admitting that they made people feel unsafe, rectifying the mistake as much as possible, and moving on. A huge part of rape culture is exactly that: feeling personally offended at the idea that you could be participating in it, and condemning people who point it out to you. That goes for racism and classism too.
Outrage should be met and taken seriously when it was legitimate, and here it was. If anything, a snarky and entitled response to something this serious isn't appropriate.
Whoa there! Your statement about Wil Wheaton is factually incorrect and defamatory. The t-shirt shown in that link is a quote from Wil which had been a personal slogan of his since long before the Penny Arcade debacle. That shirt is NOT from Penny Arcade. The actual Penny Arcade Dickwolves merchandise showed a stylized wolf's head above the words "Penny Arcade" and "Dickwolves". In that tweet, Wil was condemning the Dickwolves while referencing his own personal slogan in a punny way. So it was exactly the opposite of the endorsement you are claiming that he made. Please consider making a correction.
I apologize for that! The correction has been made. Thanks for pointing it out!
Thank you! Wil Wheaton is definitely someone you can trust to NOT be on the side of the Dickwolves in this controversy.
I also thank you for the rest of your article. I applaud you for labeling this horrible behavior for exactly what it is. Until more people are willing to recognize this misogyny as misogyny, and especially blatant and hostile misogyny at that, no improvement can come.
The problem is that going to PAX isn't really a choice for some indie developers because of the phenomenon it has become. That is part of the reason that this response was so irresponsible.