Misogyny is Grand Theft Auto's Smallest Issue

This past Tuesday mothers around the nation cowered in fear and young immature men lined up outside of their local game shops to purchase what has surely been the most anticipated video game of all time, Grand Theft Auto 5. With it came everything we expect from a Grand Theft Auto release, including record breaking sales figures ($800,000,000 in first-day sales) and the standard criticisms of the series being little more than a vulgar cop-killer simulator.

But with the hype surrounding the game poising it as surely "the greatest videogame of all time," Rockstar North (the studio behind the series) was setting a bar higher than many in the industry thought it could reach. Now that the game is on the streets and the reviews are in, the consensus is that it did. When you present yourself as the greatest title in any medium however, you take on a lot of responsibilities; namely, everyone who enjoys games is going to want to play your title, not just GTA's standard demographic of young men who are fans of toilet humor.

Whether or not Grand Theft Auto 5 could handle the responsibilities of "the greatest game of all time" was represented in the reviews of many industry journalists who had hoped the series would have grown up a bit in the 5 years since Grand Theft Auto 4. During those 5 years, the videogame industry's views regarding certain issues has changed, and anyone expecting Rockstar and GTA to have changed along with it will be very disappointed to see that's not the case.

Probably the most notable of these events was the Cross Assault sexual harassment controversy and the circus that surrounded it. Since then, there has been many discussions in gaming circles about how the industry treats women, be it those women who play games or the female characters that populate them. This can be felt in the micro-controversies that seem to spring up on a weekly basis now. In just the past few weeks, legendary game director Hideo Kojima was criticized for his philosophy of designing erotic female characters for his upcoming Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain. Soon after, Grand Theft Auto 5 itself received some heat when questioned about its decision to not include a female character among the three playable ones.

Because Rockstar did not take note of these changes in the industry, early reviews of the title were unforgiving of its characterization of women. Chris Plante's review at Polygon remarked Chris Plante's review at Polygon remarked:

"There are more interesting female characters on Grand Theft Auto 5's disc art than there are in in Grand Theft Auto 5; the female cop and female criminal printed onto the disc are never seen in the game's vast world. I counted roughly (and generously) six semi-important female characters in the game, maybe a couple more if I include the occasional quest giver or victim of theft. None are playable. All but one are shrill buzzkills; the latter has Stockholm syndrome. And the two grisliest murders in the game happen to women. One side story involves the persistent and unsettling harassment of an absent female character, the purpose of which is to show the cruelty of Trevor, but which goes upsettingly far beyond what feels necessary to the story."

Carolyn Petit of GameSpot took it more personally:

"Characters constantly spout lines that glorify male sexuality while demeaning women, and the billboards and radio stations of the world reinforce this misogyny, with ads that equate manhood with sleek sports cars while encouraging women to purchase a fragrance that will make them “smell like a bitch.”

"The beauty of cruising in the sun-kissed Los Santos hills while listening to “Higher Love” by Steve Winwood turns sour really quick when a voice comes on the radio that talks about using a woman as a urinal."

Certainly these are all disgusting portrayals of women, but I think they both miss the point and the bigger issue here.

Firstly, that Grand Theft Auto is extremely offensive shouldn't be a surprise, and it's kind of the point of the entire series. If there's any issue with Grand Theft Auto, it's the overall relentless college freshman cynicism regarding the American experience and the way it portrays it. While review after review discusses the disgusting language towards women, very few mention a peep about the other arguably more outrageous and concerning moments of the story. One example is a string of missions that has you at one point waterboarding and electrocuting a man with jumper cables, and later assassinating Arabs that match a specific "profile." This is a game where you save your daughter from porn shoots, make it rain on strippers, and blow up a tech CEO (think Mark Zuckerberg) on national television. There's a lot to be offended by with Grand Theft Auto, and it's language towards women is merely one of them. And that's what Grand Theft Auto is. If you're a reviewer and think you can single out misogyny then you're missing the point of the series entirely. If it's great, play. Have fun, and cringe at those offensive moments where Rockstar wanted to make your stomach churn. That's the beauty of GTA.