Target Pulls GTA 5 from Australian Store Shelves for Violence Against Women

Australia has a reputation as a country that’s rather inhospitable to gamers and the games they play, a reputation earned by historically being inhospitable to gamers and the games they play. Long after America stopped giving a crap about violence in games, Australia still had harsh bans and strict regulations on who could buy what game—and since the country didn’t have a 16+ ESRB rating, if a game was rated higher than teen it simply wouldn’t be localized. That’s since been remedied, but strict censorship is still practiced daily by the government and retailers—perhaps most famously, large swaths of South Park: The Stick of Truth was cut from the game at the behest of the Australian censors, to be replaced by text boxes explaining what the player was missing with an image of a crying koala.

Anyway, it seems the Down Under is up to its old shenanigans—and it’s censorship efforts is pointed squarely at the newly re-released GTA 5. The game has already faced a comfortable level of scrutiny by the Australian Authorities, and received a censorship makeover when it was first released last year. However, Target has recently announced that it will stop selling the game altogether due to a number of complaints issued by customers specifically regarding the game’s depiction of violence against women.



Target’s general manager of Cooperate Affairs, Mr. Cooper, had this to say:

"We've been speaking to many customers over recent days about the game, and there is a significant level of concern about the game's content. We've also had customer feedback in support of us selling the game, and we respect their perspective on the issue. However, we feel the decision to stop selling GTA5 is in line with the majority view of our customers."

It’s worth noting that the game is still being sold in Australia, just not by Target. Additionally, Target will continue to sell the game in other countries around the world—this is affecting Australia specifically. 

Anyway, in a follow-up statement in response to the ban, Target assured its customers that they would continue to sell other 18+ games and R-rated movies, and that the ban of GTA V was due to extraordinary circumstances—saying, "in the case of GTA5, we have listened to the strong feedback from customers that this is not a product they want us to sell."

But what prompted this? Who are the customers who demanded the game be taken down from Target Shelves? Check out this Change.org petition, started in Australia—with 41,000+ supporters, this seems to be the cause of the hubbub. To quote directly from the petition page:

“This misogynistic GTA 5 literally makes a game of bashing, killing and horrific violence against women. It also links sexual arousal and violence. We have firsthand experience of this kind of sexual violence. It haunts us, and we've been trying to rebuild our lives ever since. Just knowing that women are being portrayed as deserving to be sexually used by men and potentially murdered for sport and pleasure – to see this violence that we lived through turned into a form of entertainments is sickening and causes us great pain and harm.”

That’s some pretty harsh criticism. Also, as someone whose played the game, I can confirm they’re pretty much right on the nose—it’s not wrong to say GTA 5 makes a game out of killing woman, as much as it makes a game of killing men, destroying cars, and reckless overuse of parachutes.



It’s worth noting that Target doesn’t specifically comment on the Change.org article, or cite it as a reason they ultimately removed the game from it’s shelves, but regardless of their acknowledgement, they’re doing it anyway.

I have to admit, I’m disappointed that this can ultimately be traced back to Feminist activism. It adds a whole new uncomfortable dimension to the issue that I’m not really in a position to comment on now. Because while I am an active supporter for Feminism in gaming… this does feel like one of those “Step too far” moments, as sympathetic as these women’s plights are.

Still, my opinion is hardly the one that matters in this situation.