I probably should be finishing up the next article, but I wanted to at least say something on this subject. Lately, people have been looking at rape in media a little more closely, especially in gaming. This is good. It's something that should be discussed and not put under the rug.
I've discussed rape myself in my post, The Voodoo the Won't Do. To reiterate, I don't like rape in stories, and as a writing device, it rarely works and usually comes off as insulting. And I don't agree with people using the word rape in common language and especially as an insult, whether it's gaming, music or comics. And even though I've read some articles on the subject, I don't however, personally know someone who was molested or raped. At least, that I know of. (So I know some stuff. But I am definitely not an expert)
But today I found out that Google has forced TV tropes to take down almost all of their tropes involving or referencing rape. In the title anyway. There are still tropes on the site involving rape, but don't reference them in the title such as "Old Man marrying a Child". Others taken off don't actually have anything to do with rape, but have rape in the title. What it came down to was that TV Tropes has been battling Google about this, Google was threatening to take their ads off of TV Tropes, which is a great part of the site's revenue, so TV Tropes took off the rape tropes and went "no big loss"
I wish I was kidding.
You can read more at the Mary Sue. But all I can think is "what is Google thinking?". I get that Google has rules and does not want to advertise on sites with distasteful items. But when I think "distasteful" I think of someone actually saying "I want to rape someone". Not "I want to discuss how rape is being used in the media".
I should also note that blogspot is controlled by Google. So at risk of getting an angry letter from Google, I can only say: THIS IS WRONG. And I'm frankly surprised and more then a little ashamed of whoever in Google decided to go after TV Tropes and force such unnecessary censorship. And of TV Tropes owner Fast Eddie, who after taking down the rape related tropes stated that it wasn't a big deal.
TV Tropes gives us information we need about media, both good and bad. It's already hard to discuss such a sentivive subject even with examples to back it up. There is a reason why rape is being discussed so heavily lately. Because the media's and the majority's opinions on rape needs to change. And it's already hard to discuss such a sensitive subject even with examples to back it up. Luckily Geek Feminism is slowly putting all the tropes missing on their own wiki, so at least they still exist on the web.
I don't doubt that I'll be talking about htis subject again some other time, but until then, here are a few sites that might interest you.
Geek Feminism wiki
The R word- This article just came out yesterday on the escapist. The writer goes into his own Rape and how the use of Rape in vocabulary affects victims
Khaos Komixs- This webcomic that looks GLBT issues and some taboo subjects. One of which is rape and is one of the few stories that understands what it's talking about. Even if you don't like the comic, the comments section during these pages contain interesting discussions on the subject.
Rape vs Murder- Another video to come out of the recent Rape discussions. I'm not 100% in agreement with Jim Sterling, but he does bring up some important points
Okay, that's it for now. Come back tomorrow for something a little less... dark.
Seeya,
Tegan Dumpleotn aka SlugLady28
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