IAS Talking Points: Are Feminists Allowed To Play Grand Theft Auto?

Are feminists allowed to play Grand Theft Auto V?

Presupposition accommodation and assent in open-world video games

Dr Niklas Olsson Yaouzis, Visiting Research Fellow, Institute of Advanced Studies, UCL

Respondents: Dr Chiara Ambrosio, Lecturer in History and Philosophy of Science, UCL and Helen W Kennedy, Head of School of Media, University of Brighton

Grand Theft Auto 5 (2013) is one of the best-selling video games of all times (over 65 million copies sold) and the game on the PlayStation 4 with the highest aggregate score among reviewers (97/100). It is also one of the most controversial games of all time. Many critics have pointed out that because of its negative portrayal of women, the game is misogynistic.

Among GTAV fans, however, there is a near-universal agreement that the feminist critique is moralistic (“you don’t become a sexist by playing a sexist game!”), unfounded (“the game doesn’t force you to behave like a sexist!”) and misguided (“it’s satirical fiction!”).

In Dr Olsson Yaouzis's talk, he will build on Rae Langton’s work on pornography to formulate what he takes to be the best feminist response to these objections: 1) GTAV communicates misogyny in the same way as misogynistic jokes or misogynistic pornography communicate misogyny; 2) when you (under normal circumstances) play a game that communicates misogyny you assent to misogyny; 3) a feminist should not assent to misogyny; and 4) therefore, (under normal circumstances) a feminist should not play GTAV.

He will end the talk by discussing possible strategies for playing GTAV to avoiding assenting to the misogynistic message.