On Dickwolves

[morganwolf]

...No, seriously. I'm going to talk seriously about Dickwolves. I feel like maybe I'm a little less of a person for this.

There's been a bit of a to-do lately over a Penny Arcade strip that referenced rape by dickwolf. Apparently there was also a "dickwolves" t-shirt in their store, which has since been taken down. I didn't see it. Full disclosure:

Comments

[ddrkaiba]

I'm really glad you wrote about this.

I had read a little bit about the controversy on twitter and took a few hours to read blog posts, comments and words from both sides.

It was disturbing but highly educational. While I was familiar with the more general ideas regarding "rape culture" I didn't know a lot of the particulars and a lot of the verbiage and ideas associated with it. I started at http://kirbybits.wordpress.com/2011/01/30/here-is-a-thought-fuck-this-noise/ and followed a number of her links to learn more about the discussion going on.

(I didn't really like or agree with the tone in that KirbyBits piece, but I thought she did raise a few good points.)

I think this is a case where the reaction is a far bigger deal than the actual infraction. The joke wasn't in the best of taste, and the second strip was condescending, but it is Penny Arcade and they tend to be extremely no holds barred in terms of humor. The shirt was not in good taste, for a lot of reasons, really. Making a joke in shitty taste is one thing, but merchandising it is pushing it.

Mike's apology was half-hearted, but I think that made me appreciate it more? I guess I appreciate a sincerely worded apology, even if it is grudging, forced and apprehensive. That makes it feel a little more real and a little less like smoke up people's asses.

That doesn't really make sense, does it?

I still feel very conflicted about the whole thing, but at least it caused me to do some research, learn more, and hopefully be more aware and more careful of my language.

Between this and the book on Japanese sex slavery/human trafficking I just finished, I'm getting a real eye opener on the rape culture.

[morganwolf]

I believe very strongly in the power of apology, and I'm glad that they made one, although I wish it had come off as more sincere. But at least it was a start. I'm sure not everyone would agree, but I think a grudging apology is better than none at all.

Much of the problem with rape culture is that people aren't aware: they aren't aware rape culture exists, that it's so pervasive, they aren't aware it hurts so many people, they aren't aware it's not all that hard to change. When people become aware, that's when things start changing for the better. If even a few people come away from the whole Penny Arcade thing thinking differently about their own attitudes, progress is being made.