They used a collective voice to speak out against gendered violence, sharing their experiences of unacceptable masculine sexual domination, and continues to be empowering. The global #MeToo movement resulted in many victims of sexual harassment and violence coming forward. Video games like Rape Day contribute to rape culture, but it joins a raft of other cultural influences.īut we’re seeing a global, cultural shift. It is important, however, not to fall into the trap of assuming a definitive cause-effect relationship. Violence towards women in the video game Red Dead Redemption 2 evokes toxic masculinityĪnd some studies found playing video games with sexually violent content was associated with rape myth acceptance: “she asked for it” and “no means yes”. Violent video games where sexual assault is the explicit goal should never be allowed. It is a well-established fact that most incidences of sexual assault remain undetected, whereas homicides are commonly uncovered and perpetrators brought to the attention of the authorities. Sexual violence is connected to a complex interplay of societal attitudes and inequality.įor too long, society’s reaction to sexual violence was to ignore the issue. ‘Rape Day’ sparked huge public outcry leading to the game being pulled from Steam.
