Psychologist: Videogames have caused increase in rape
Fox News just guffed out another piece of nonsensical pish about videogames, this time attacking Bulletstorm (the latest game from Gears of War maker Epic) and interviewing a psychologist who claims sexual content in videogames results in rape. Beneath a traffic-grabbing headline of ‘Is Bulletstorm the Worst Video Game in the World?’, Fox’s John Brandon wastes 1,000 perfectly good words grasping at straws and speaking to ‘experts’ desperate to get on Fox TV and sell their books.
Bulletstorm‘s ‘Skill Shots’ come in for particular criticism. The game rewards players for stylish, over-the-top kills with names that have sexual connotations. “Topless” refers to a kill that cuts an enemy in half, “gang bang” means killing multiple enemies, and so on. Brandon fears this will distort children’s view of sexual relations, despite the ESRB already having already rated the game ‘Mature’.
Anyway, while the whole article is full of wishy-washy quotes from ‘experts’ who present zero evidence for their claims, the most outrageous statement comes from the mouth of psychologist and media personality Dr. Carol Lieberman:
“The increase in rapes can be attributed in large part to the playing out of [sexual] scenes in video games.”
An astonishing claim, which obviously Lieberman has no evidence for. The article doesn’t expand on Lieberman’s statement, but simply leaves it hanging there in black and white. So now you know, everybody. COMPUTER GAMES = RAPE. It’s another proud day for mainstream news coverage of videogames.
[Via Fox News]
