Male whistles, simulated murder and videogames

A reader sends in a post (thanks) from a href=”http://sexyvideogameland.blogspot.com/2010/06/you-look-nice-miss.html”a woman by the name of Leigh Alexander,/a who writes about a new videogame called a href=”http://www.heybabygame.com/info.php””Hey Baby” that shoots and kills men/a who make comments to women on the street. Here is a description of a href=”http://www.heybabygame.com/info.php”this lovely game:/abr /br /blockquoteLadies, 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?br /br /IT’S PAYBACK TIME, BOYS…../blockquotebr /Alexander is just rendered powerless by men on the street who (gasp!) ask her to smile:br /br /blockquoteIt’s latent misogyny that happens in big cities; it takes my power away. It makes me an object in front of people I don’t even know, and that’s not okay whether they’re nice about it or not. It is nothing less than a slow-burning chronic trauma.br /br /My favorite catcall in the ‘Hey Baby Game’? “Smile for me, baby.” It fills me with rage that a stranger on the street feels at liberty to demand that I smile. I smile when I feel like it, and I sure as shit don’t want to do it for you, buddy./blockquotebr /br /I lived in NYC for 7 years in alphabet land on the lower east side among drug dealers and pimps. Never once did I feel powerless when someone made a comment. I never smiled for anyone if I didn’t feel like it and went about my business. As Eleanor Roosevelt said, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”br /br /Women who let catcalls on the street make them feel angry enough to need revenge through simulated murder are no better than a href=”http://www.feministing.com/archives/009097.html”the guys they denounce/a for shooting hookers in a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000HKP88C?ie=UTF8tag=wwwviolentkicomlinkCode=as2camp=1789creative=9325creativeASIN=B000HKP88C”Grand Theft Auto. /aimg src=”http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=wwwviolentkicoml=as2o=1a=B000HKP88C” width=”1″ height=”1″ border=”0″ alt=”” style=”border:none !important; margin:0px !important;” / Or maybe these “feminists” are just as sadistic as the men they denounce and they need a reason (men are asking me to smile–how dare they?!!) to give them the balls to play a game that acts out their long-standing internal rage. Whatever the reason, comments on the street may be annoying but they are hardly a reason to wish someone dead.br /br /The other thing I find ironic about these “feminists” is that while they call for the simulated murder of men who dare whistle at them, they typically believe in gun control and try to take away the rights of women in real situations of danger such as being robbed or raped. Maybe they should focus on gun rights for women in real danger instead of simulated murder to give embittered women a thrill whose only danger is that they can’t stand to have a man ask them to smile once in a while.