Gay Guy,Let me start by assuring you and our readers that I am not a catcaller. Never have been.
Do I ever notice attractive women? Of course. But give them a spontaneous shout out? For a million reasons, no.
So, let's quickly agree that taunting unfamiliar women with unsolicited commentary is harassment. Let's also agree that the harassers are both immature and insecure. If only there were a way to quickly correct their behavior, re-educate them... or kill them outright.
This is the premise of the Hey Baby videogame. It's a first-person-shooter revenge fantasy where rude comments from men are answered with semi-automatic gunfire from women. Blood splatters the screen and the hecklers' gravestones rise out of the pavement, their ill-considered last words preserved for eternity.
From the game's website: "Ladies, are you sick and tired of catcalling, hollering, obnoxious one-liners and creepy street encounters? Tired of changing your route home to avoid uncomfortable situations? IT'S PAYBACK TIME, BOYS....."
The technology is a little out of date, but it's not so much about gameplay as it is social commentary.
Here's a review from the New York Times, calling it a "provocative, important work of interactive art."
The people who should really play Hey Baby are men, even if you have never said a word to a woman you didn’t know on the street. ... The game never ends. I found myself throwing up my hands and thinking, “Well what am I supposed to do?” ... I doubt any noninteractive art form could have given me as visceral an appreciation for what many women go through as part of their day-to-day lives.On the game's site, you can see a video preview, or play a sample scene. The actual XBox and PlayStation discs are "sold out due to popular demand." Go figure.
--Straight Guy
4 comments:
This is a Law and Order episode just waiting to happen.
Foxy Brown making a rounds.....not sure I like the sound of that game....but I guss alot of people do since it is sold out!
Wow. I mean catcalls do make women uncomfortable and objectified. I have had fantasies of coming up with the perfect retort to these that puts the offender in his place...but have never fantasized about blowing him into smithereens with a firearm. Isn't that a male solution to this female problem? (I hate to stereotype, but it does save time....)
Are you kidding me? Who's buying all these sold-out copies? It has to be the guys...and I'm sure it's not so they can bump up their empathy for the female pedestrian's plight. For if that were truly the case, the women would be publicly humiliating these insensitive slugs instead of splattering blood all over their Manolo Blahniks.
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