A petition demanding Target bans the sales of the Bible has gained as many as 13,000 signatures. The petition, which was posted on change.org, claims that the sickening, religious text encourages readers to commit sexual violence and kill women. This petition is actually part of a growing movement among Australian gamers, who have been trying to defend all the criticism that has been directed towards Grand Theft Auto 5 (GTA 5), which was banned from being sold at Target and Kmart earlier this month.
The call for the Bible ban from Sharky Sharktech has been followed by a series of similar mock-petitions, all of which poke fun at a letter that was posted by a group of women who have been subjected to violence in the past. That letter urged Australian retailers to get rid of GTA 5 from their shelves, an appeal that eventually achieved what it set out to do. GTA 5 was accused of promoting a misogynist culture, after the petitioners pointed out scenes in the game where players are allowed to have sex with prostitutes from a first person perspective and then kill them in order to get their money back.
The group of female petitioners, who wanted GTA 5 to be pulled off the shelves, said, “The game literally makes a game of bashing, killing and horrific violence against women and spreads the idea that certain women exist as scapegoats.”
Their petition received as many as 40,000 signatures, after which the above mentioned stores decided to take action.
The Bible petition, on the other hand, pointed out portions in the holy book that justify the stoning of women, cutting off of their hands and prostitutes being set on fire.
It claimed, “The incentive is to commit sexual violence against women, then abuse or kill them to proceed or get ‘god’ points.”
Gamers in Australia are furious at the retail ban of GTA 5, calling the decision a gross overreaction. Members of the gaming community have posted comments on forums, blogs and news websites across the internet, insisting the decision should be overturned. The group of female petitioners say they have received warnings and death threats from men who otherwise claim not to condone violence against women.
“We’ve received threats of bashings with baseball bats and death from men claiming they do not condone or commit violence against women,” said one of the women petitioners.
For a while now, critics have been questioning the depiction of women in not only GTA 5 but also several other video games that seem to be very popular among gamers. This is only the latest incident in the Gamergate battle that has been continuing since August of this year, which is around the same time that people started expressing concern over videogames promoting a misogynistic culture in general.
Photo Credits: YTimG
