Mary Poust discusses the video game, Grand Theft Auto, whose latest ‘upgrade’ allows kids to have sex with and kill prostitutes, and concludes that we should not be playing or supporting these games.
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Grand Theft Auto, the violent bestselling video game franchise, was in the news again this week for “upgrading” its game to allow players to have sex with a prostitute from the player point of view.
If you have kids, or if anyone in your house is playing this game and you haven’t checked it out, you need to do that today.
Perhaps you’ll change your mind about whether your child is old enough or if anyone at all should ever be playing this game.
Bottom line: They shouldn’t.
Not only does it glorify crime and violence, but now it lets you or your child watch as a prostitute performs sex acts on you, moaning all the way. The audio alone should be enough to make any parent rethink this as an entertainment option for their kids — no matter how old they are.
But, wait, there’s more great stuff your kid can do in this latest version.
Read this: The icing on this controversial cake is the ability players have to then gruesomely murder their prostitute and take back their money.
Still not convinced that this game is not only bad for children but bad for adults and bad for women and bad for society?
Go on YouTube and search Grand Theft Auto V and you can see for yourself. It won’t be hard to find. I’m not linking to it here for obvious reasons.
I am so beyond offended by this game, as a woman, yes, but as a human being even more. I’ve always been offended by this game, not just for how women are portrayed and treated on screen but for the over-the-top violence that is rewarded with points. And that was even before this latest version put sex into the hands of the controller, prostitutes were part of the on-screen world. Now it’s just a lot more graphic and offensive.
How is it possible that we find this okay, that this is a bestselling video game?
Where are the feminist voices speaking out against this kind of misogyny? I’m dumbfounded.
When people spend hour upon hour using their controller to kill people, steal things, hire prostitutes, beat women, it begins to blur the edges of what’s okay in real life.
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I sort of insulate myself from this sort of thing. We don’t allow it in our house, and to a large extent I don’t allow it into my mind because letting it into my mind puts images of violence and murder and beating of women there, and that’s not good for me, or anyone. Which is why it’s bad for society.
When people spend hour upon hour using their controller to kill people, steal things, hire prostitutes, beat women, it begins to blur the edges of what’s okay in real life. It desensitizes us to violence, which is why the the military uses video games to help soldiers get over the innate human aversion to killing. My husband, Dennis, interviewed a lieutenant colonel in the army about this for OSV Newsweekly years ago, and now this expert has a new book out specifically on this topic, Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill.
Video games—especially first-person violent video games—do affect us, even if we don’t realize it at the time.
We can choose what we let into our homes and what we let into our heads.
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You might also want to read: Here’s Why You Should Play Grand Theft Auto V With Your Kids
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Photos: Top—TheSyndicateProject/YouTube; middle and bottom courtesy of author.
This post originally appeared on the Not Strictly Spiritual Blog.
Deadly crimes,prostitution,strip clubs,drugs,and other things that are in grand theft auto have been around way before this game came out lady.In this game you can choose whether or not you want to go in the strip club,you can choose whether or not you want to participate in the illegal jobs this game has on here,you can choose whether or not you want to pick up or kill prostitutes. This game doesn’t force you to do anything you don’t wanna do. How is this game offensive to you when there are women who choose to be prostitutes or strippers in real… Read more »
I’m I6 next week and I haven’t played gta, call of duty or any similar game my whole life. I’m predicted all 8s and 9s (A* and A**) for my gcse’s, I don’t see this as a fortunate coincidence so thanks mom for keeping 18+ games from me when in year 6 and onwards it was impossible to find a boy who didn’t have the latest gta and a console to go with it.
Totally agree, just yesterday I was walking to school, then suddenly i had this massive urge to mow down a whole street of people with my minigun, and then steal a plane and then escape the Police
dude this happens way too often. sometimes i feel the need to spawn in my buzzard attack helicopter and fly into the nearest mili base to steal a tank
And there is a rated M for MATURE rating on the COVER of the game for a REASON … Its for ADULTS ONLY … If ur kids are playing this its because ur a FAILURE as a parent
Stop b!tching, B!TCH … Im glad its offending u
Maybe the problem isn’t the game allowing you to do this, it’s you doing this in the game. The fact that we have to stop our kids from doing it means that the kids already want to do it, and that means you’re a shitty parent.
I know this game is very…Vulgur, but how many of you parents let your children play Call of Duty or Halo? That’s 18+, and I know people let their kids play those games. I hear them tryharding, it’s pain listening to them. GTA for me isn’t a game where you have sex and crap, it’s in there but that’s not the point. I bet you didn’t know that the main point of the game was to create a online open world multipllayer for people to have fun! In fact majordy of the kids wanting to play this game want to… Read more »
Not all the time kids go to the strip club or get drunk, i know there is swearing in this game, but, 10 year olds and under, god damn.
do you know you will answer to God for using his name that way ?
If this is real this person is the biggest idiot ive ever seen. Plus sure kids shouldn’t be playing it but saying adults shouldn’t is just stupid.
i agree teens should not have the ability to by this game I am 14 and I play it and it is highly inapprotriate. u can got to strip clubs u can get drunk u can kill people u can steal cars as u may already know gta is not the best game for kids or any body
They shouldn’t and i do but I’m 27
GTA 5 you don’t get awarded for killing people and you can choose what you want to do
I agree kids shouldn’t play gta but it is actually an amazing game one of the best games ever made in my opinion.
Dark souls is better than gta WAY BETTER!!!
Lol stfu stupid poo munche
The perfection in this game is something you will never understand.
your a mad person
And how would you no
As a woman this has got to be one of the dumbest articles I’ve ever read. It is completely your own fault as a parent if you let your child play GTA V . It is YOUR fault amd you should learn how to take responsibility for your negligence. In order for a minor to purchase an M rated game they need parental consent. So no it’s not the developers fault you’re an awful parent. Second it’s at will. Everything you do in GTA besides the missions is completely up to you. Killing people is not required, some people just… Read more »
How are you a bad parent to buy your children gta?? There is nothing against women in it, and with the prostituts you don’t even see anything u just hear moans, you may think that 12 year old are innocent little kids that will become women hating adults when they grow up because of a video game? Ur insane as a 14 year old I can say I had seen porn and had sworn eat around the age of ten, I still don’t have gta, although I think a reasonable age to get it is 13+
Did you read the article? She’s blaming the developer for children playing this game when it is the parents who buy the games for the kids. If you’re 14, this topic is out of your realm of understanding.
how can I deal with kids Mom (whom i share 50/50 custody with) who is rewarding My 8 year old with GTA for good behavior? any professional advice?
Here is a good tip, do not listen to these organization who try to debunk games like GTA. Its up to the parents. Now I will say he youngest age I would let my kids play GTA is 12-13, because I know they could handle it. But its all about how mature they are. They can be 16 years old and have the mind of a 5 year old. If my kid was 16 years old and acted like a 5 year old he is sure as hell not playing GTA. But if I have a 13 year old and… Read more »
Kids can play GTA V if they use this family friendly free roaming modification: https://www.gta5-mods.com/scripts/family-friendly-free-roaming Read about it more here: http://www.gta5cheats.com/mod-makes-gta-v-family-friendly/
no I play and I am fine stop tying to make it nicer you cant and I am not forced to play it I want too
hey, kids can play gta5 if u raised them up with logic. If u grew them up by letting him/her to watch cartoon, playing with toys and by babying him then after playing this game they’ll end up being a bank robber and marrying a stripper (just like michale)
Go home, but 1st you’ll have to get a home.
Counter argument:
It’s not real.
Oh please. If you allow your under 15 year old child to view Goodfellas, don’t go crying to Martin Scorsese because your child was exposed to violence and mafioso depictions. You got your child a movie made specifically for an intended audience, which is in a totally different age bracket than your kid. If you allow your child to view pornography, you don’t get to be all indignant towards those in the porno industry. They didn’t force your child to view it, they cater to a very specific age demographic. It’s not their responsibility to ensure you do your job… Read more »
I can’t believe how pigheadedly stupid you people are. How can you defend GTA? Whether you think the author is right or not, how can any self respecting individual actually defend it? Well chiefly their not. There just saying that the author is that crazy woman who doesn’t know what she is tailing about. Well lets take the facts and assertions in the article and from the resposes one by one: 1. It is not about degrading women Girls play it too // It’s demeaning to women… WELL IT IS! It’s demeaning to women; it’s demeaning to the entire human… Read more »
1. It is not about degrading women Girls play it too // It’s demeaning to women… WELL IT IS! It’s demeaning to women; it’s demeaning to the entire human race. Men and women. The author in this case happens to be a woman and she feels offended. How can we say she is wrong? Her article on her opinion. That’s what this is about. You may not FEEL the same way she does but you can’t say she is wrong about how she feels. And although girls may play it we all know that there is always the exception that… Read more »
1. Please do some research before you come here spouting misinformation, a quick Google search will tell you the ratio of male to female gamers is quite even (even slightly higher on the women’s end in some cases, imagine that). And as a woman who loves video games, I find it insulting for you to make this sweeping generalization. I love how you come here ‘defending women’ and you still have this old, old mindset that gamers are somehow all men. How ‘pigheadedly stupid’ of YOU. 2. It’s not. There is prostitution in it the same way there is golf… Read more »
Oh and I love how this whole thing is about how we beat women in the game. We don’t do that just so you know, and anyways it’s not like the fucking cops ignore it, they try to arrest us. The whole damn game isn’t about beating fucking women like you think alright and if you have actually searched grand theft auto v on YouTube you would just find people doing stunts with cars, not people beating women. These games have good lessons in them sometimes and they aren’t always bad. And a lot of the time in rockstar games… Read more »
OH.. So you get to beat up, murder and rob other people (men) too? So that’s Alright then, is it? Tell me in the game, to make money, can you start a fruit stand and sell bananas on the street? Did the game developers put that in? The chief way to succeed in the game is to mug people and sell drugs and if you get caught by the cops well that’s your too bad and try harder next time. And really your comment is so mature and well thought out. NOT! Why is it necessary to swear at the… Read more »
RockStar is not allowing kids to have sex in first person. The parents of the kid are. They put ratings on these games for a reason. If a parent doesnt want their kid seeing blood, nipples, or anything along those lines, they why would they buy them the game in the first place. You cant blame a company for puting a gaint ass label on the bottom right of the case. This author is just another faithful “women” who thinks she can tell other parents how to raise their child. Put your nose in your own ass, thanks very much.… Read more »
The only sure way to keep kids away from this game would be to lock them up in prison or the eliminate the game. AND yes how we raise our kids SOULD BE EVERYBODY’s BUSINESS – ASSHOLE! Do you think parent’s beating their kids senseless is OK? NO, ITS A CRIME; Not a lifestyle choice. Think again!
too far I am a kid and I play it and I am fine