Warning – Possibly Triggering

On the CNN homepage is an article about the horrible Japanese video game RapeLay. In the game, players can grope girls on the subway and rape them in various locations. I covered this disgusting game twice last year, including linking to Equality Now’s call to action to write to various groups protesting the game. I also cover this game in my forthcoming book in the context of the outrageous problem of men groping women and teenage girls on the subway system in Japan.

I’m glad CNN is reporting on this issue because it’s a ridiculous, harmful game that should not even exist. But where were they last year when women’s groups and blogs were up in arms over it, or even better, in 2006 when it first came out? I get frustrated by how little or how late or how out of context (ie not addressing the context of misogyny and gender inequality these stories take place in) mainstream news tends to address egregious stories about men’s violence against women, usually taking place in real life, but also, as this story, shows, in virtual life.