I don’t play video games. The few times I have played a game it involved a furry animal working his way through some kind of tropical forest and the most violent it got was when he hit a villainous turtle on the head with a coconut. So, I am not familiar with Duke Nukem.
Of course, one Google search tells me he is a supremely popular, freakishly over-muscled, machine gun-wielding, hyper-aggressive action “hero” who is described in the Wikipedia entry as “frequently politically incorrect.” His character profile also claims that when he was first introduced, he was a CIA operative hired to save Earth from Dr. Proton. But the current marketing materials make clear what the really important aspects of the game are. Exhibit A is this ad, which greeted me as I came out of the subway this morning:
Duke Nukem is sitting on a throne while two women in schoolgirl outfits sit at his feet. The caption leaves no doubt about the main attractions: “This game has bazookas. Both types.”
The game’s website presents a guy who looks intensely devoted to his steroid regimen, has a penchant for unloading 50 rounds into anything with tentacles, and who appears to live in a post-apocalyptic land which is somehow still able to generously supply women with fetish outfits, bikinis, and manicures. In a video promo for the game on YouTube there are scenes of Duke on a shooting rampage interspersed with what appears to be him walking into a room and seeing a switched-on vibrator skidding around the room. He then encounters two women (the Holsom Twins, Mary and Kate) in schoolgirl outfits who drop their weapons to touch and caress each other in sexually suggestive ways. Duke is watching this while pointing a gun at them, saying, “allll right, time for my reward” (NSFW due to images and language):
Unfortunately for the twins, they later have sex with an alien and get themselves into trouble (thanks to Michael R. for this clip; also NSFW):
Many other reviews of Duke Nukem have also pointed out its violent sexual imagery and encouragement of sexually violent behavior towards women. Just to tally up, we have:
- Fetishizing and infantilizing women by putting them in outfits associated with children.
- Referring to their breasts as “bazookas,” both objectifying women and equating their bodies with a military weapon.
- A lesbian encounter presented as titillation for the male viewer.
- Watching women engage in sexual activity with one another, and even threatening women with weaponry to continue engaging in sexual activity with one another, is your reward. You deserve it – you deserve to be sexually gratified.
People learn by watching. This can be good and bad. It can make us more accepting of others’ opinions and outlooks, and it can also desensitize and normalize harmful opinions and behaviors. In regards to Duke, the latter is where the risk lies — the more one sees images like those presented by Duke Nukem, the more likely they are to be seen as what is acceptable and usual. Normalizing harmful, degrading, and insulting stereotypes of and behavior toward women seems like a high price to pay for a video game’s success.
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Larkin Callaghan is a doctoral student at Columbia University studying health behavior and education. She is particularly concerned with gender disparities in access to healthcare and prevention services, and has done research on adolescent female sexual health, how social media operate as an educational platform, and differences by gender in the effectiveness of brief health interventions. You can follow her on Twitter, Tumblr, and at her blog.
Comments 71
Beresford Brooke — July 30, 2011
Half the selling point of duke is that its overly crass and over the top.
Веселин Жилов — July 30, 2011
This is a quotation from a review at 1up.com:
Actually, reviewers today are much more aware when it comes to misogyny, recognize it and point it out.
The "dilemma" given here actually is not different than the one from the previous game, released back in 1996 - but now it's suddenly more noticeable.
Bel — July 30, 2011
That you don't play video games kind of shows. The only thing surprising about this article is that you only found four things to bullet point while discussing sexism and Duke Nukem.
I appreciate the point about desensitization and behaviour modeling, but you picked the wrong game - the vast majority of people who know who Duke Nukem is also know better than to take the franchise seriously. It's the stuff that slips under people's noses that's truly harmful.
Веселин Жилов — July 30, 2011
Regarding pointing the gun at them, many people will (correctly) point out it's not deliberate, because that's the general way in which shooting games look. A lot of them don't have the self-consciousness to holster a weapon when a conversation or a social situation happens.
Anyway, as I said most reviewers are aware of how offensive, sexist and misogynistic the game is and point it out in various reviews.
http://kotaku.com/5812816/maybe-gearbox-shouldnt-have-released-duke-nukem-forever
The review from which I posted and excerpt (which in fact gives much more disturbing and accurate details to the situation you talk about) can be found here:
http://www.1up.com/reviews/duke-nukem-forever-review
Mordicai — July 30, 2011
Duke Nukem is totally repellent, & I only want to correct your analysis on one point: I ain't popular. This game was pretty widely panned & . I see the damn "bazookas" sign on my walk to the train too, & it is infuriating. Just take some solace in knowing that the gaming community-- players, reviewers, everybody-- rejected it too.
Electrically — July 30, 2011
Duke Nukem is not the norm; it's the norm taken past the point of caricature. Duke is NOT a caricature of misogyny and toxic masculinity. A caricature would present it with a critical eye, which this game simply does not do. The exaggeration isn't funny because they're still playing it straight. The "point" is that it's funny because nobody really believes this or takes it seriously. The main defense is basically that we live in a thoroughly post-feminist world and, if you don't like it, "it's not for you."
That said, most people in the gaming community regard this game as absolute filth from both a gameplay and sociological perspective. It's not fun as a game. There are scenes where you shoot rape victims and crack jokes about it afterwards. It got almost universally terrible reviews.
I think it's effect on gaming could go either way, if it has an impact at all. Either people will start to realize that a more toned-down version of this crap is going on in every single game ever (a post apocalyptic wasteland with no shortage of perfectly manicured sex objects is quite common), or they'll defend all other games as not being as overt as Duke Nukem, and therefore not offensive.
Honestly I think it's more likely that this becomes an embarrassment that has little impact on the industry or community at large, past being able to dismiss any idiot who claims to enjoy the game.
Kinelfire — July 30, 2011
The second video made me throw up in my mouth a little.
Cindy Gallop — July 30, 2011
Fortunately, game reviewers and hardcore game players alike all agreed when the 'many years in the waiting' Duke Nukem Forever came out that the game was crap.
Circumstance — July 30, 2011
Just more proof that the video game industry does not want my money. And I'm happy to not give it to them.
Claire — July 30, 2011
All that, and I can't really get over the fact that "twins" plus the names "Mary" and "Kate" are a pretty obvious nod to some real life, famous-for-youth (schoolgirl outfits!) twins, one of whom is named Mary-Kate. That's fucking gross. "There's a video game where expies of you are raped to death by aliens!"
Anonymous — July 30, 2011
Gamers know that the Duke Nukem series intentionally uses shock value as a selling point, so I'm more offended that the gaming industry thinks all of us who enjoy games have a juvenile sense of humor than the actual offensive content in this game.
eduardo — July 30, 2011
One of the videos here is from IGN. In
their review they say that the shooting parts are decent, and
everything else is bad. That's my impression too, but this game is
not meant to be taken seriously anyway. I had already forgotten about Duke and the discussions have died for the most part, but I
understand if you just found out about this game.
Matthew Glidden — July 30, 2011
As commenters pointed out, DNF's a problematic example to tackle. Agreed, it LOOKS misogynist and PLAYS misogynist, but people aren't buying it. The game simply lacks qualities worth dissecting, given its insulting (to the buyer) use of self-nullifying titillation. Were the game a hit, with other studios lining up to copy the look-and-feel, that'd be real cause for concern.
A more promising example for gender roles in games is Catherine, an adult adventure that says much more about sex and relationships (in, of all things, a puzzle game) than the sick aftertaste DNF leaves behind.
Catherine overview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZoezNX1oP4
WG — July 30, 2011
Grrr! Video game that has colorful pixels depicting fake characters doing fake things that have no relavance to real life makes me mad! Grrr!
Larkin Callaghan — July 30, 2011
I do find the responses to my post interesting, and I think engaging in argument and discussion is often fruitful. My lack of video game experience and familiarity with the genre was never really the issue, and I do very much appreciate and am heartened to hear that others (gamers and not) have found the game flagrantly misogynistic. My point was specifically about the dangers of the imagery. While many people know to not take it seriously, there are just as many who don't. And I think in order to fight the desensitization of these kinds of images, we can't let up in pointing out the messages they send - no matter how flagrant and obvious they are to us sociologically-minded people!
Mechanized Caffeine — July 30, 2011
There really isn't any reason to emphasize the 'while pointing a gun at them' part. It's common in most FPS games for the player to hold on to their weapon even in the presence of friendly NPCs (non-player characters). So, I don't see a reason to consider that to be "threatening women with weaponry to continue engaging in sexual activity".
Other than that I agree with the post.
Anonymous — July 30, 2011
There's really two different discussions going on: One is about the -game-, which is mostly 'meh'. (Based on reports from reviewers and people who have played it.)
The other is about the -advertising-, which is indeed exactly as depicted.
The gaming community itself has quietly disavowed this production; any public announcement would result in publicity, and while there is no such thing as bad publicity, 'no publicity' comes closest.
Anonymous — July 30, 2011
Hmm, 27 comments (at current reading), I'm guessing at least 5 are along the lines of "OMG, it's a joke. can't you even tell what is humor?" and "of course it's [terrible] it's a video game!" (somehow, this is always an argument from people trying to defend it). Is it ranting time? yes. But I will do it all in one place.
Oh! First comment! BB wants us to know that the game is awful on Purpose. Well, not completely what I'm looking for, I won't count it.
Comment #3, obviously we just need to understand (that) video-games (are dismissible and meaningless) to tolerate and appreciate this content.
X
about #14 (counting only comments on the OP, not comments on comments) WG, oh thank heavens! It's not really real, I was worried for a moment Images reflected cultural understandings and played important roles in our Sociological realities.
XX
About #17, currently second to last on page. Trying to understand things is for weenies. I think this might just be sarcastic? But I'm going to count it anyway.
XXX
Hooray, 3 is less than 5!
Alii Silverwing — July 30, 2011
The gaming community pretty solidly rejected this game in all of the circles I frequent and the two reasons cited were the crap gameplay and the completely unfunny misogyny. Some games CAN use the 'this is totally sexist in a fun way' argument, as problematic as that argument is, but Duke Nukem Forever is *not* one of them. I think 'painful to play' for both of the aforementioned reasons was in one of the reviews I read.
Tim — July 31, 2011
I haven't played the game. Mostly because it's a mess of an outdated and tedious game. When I first heard about Duke Nukem Forever, I expected this game to be juvenile, a parody of 90's movie tropes AND it's own meatheaded protagonist. This guy isn't cool. He's pathetic in so many ways. I expected that to be the joke. Turns out I was giving the writers too much credit: apparently alien rape is funny and sexy to the characters in the game. I was particularly offended that all women in the game are sexualized airheads who exist for Duke's pleasure. They seem to enjoy it, too. The most tasteless is the scene where Duke meets the impregnated Holsom Twins. I still cringe when I hear him utter the punchline, but the twins' reaction is worse: they are validating him as he is mocking their suffering. That's not just politically incorrect: that's the least funny thing I've heard in a game ever.
Liz Bloodbath — July 31, 2011
People who try and defend Duke Nukem for being over the top are missing a key point:
graphics are so much more realistic now than they were in 1996. Shooting a hooker who is a mass of blurry pixels is a lot different than shooting a relatively realistic detailed model that cries and has full voice acting sobbing and begging. I mean think about it. Everything detail in a videogame is crafted by the artists and animators and writers. There is nothing left to chance. And part of someone's job was 'animate women getting raped'. That is really, really disturbing. And this game was in development for A DECADE. And at no point during that time did anyone stop and say 'Oh my god this is horrible what the hell are we doing???' Think of how different the tone of the game would be if you could actually save the women. What purpose does it serve exactly to have a game where you shoot CRYING RAPE VICTIMS??
It's also worth mentioning that when Duke Nukem was a 2d franchise, the character was simply an egomaniacal action movie cliche... but there was no sexism. The sexism was shoehorned in when the franchise moved to 3d.
Oh and for an extra bonus: it is also very very racist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dosV1RBrmmo
YetAnotherMatt — July 31, 2011
Context.
Overton Window.
Anders Breivik.
Extremes matter.
Barry Fresh — July 31, 2011
It is incredibly obvious to anyone with even a passing familiarity with humor or video games that Duke Nukem Forever is a parody. It is trying to be crass and over the top in a self aware fashion.
It's disappointing that the author of this article chose to give the game the shallowest possible reading. This game could have opened a discussion about how parody and over the top humor affect the perception of gender.
Gayle — July 31, 2011
Interactive rape porn. Add it to the growing pile of women hating propaganda out there.
Amazing the number of people who continue to delude themselves into thinking it doesn't/ won't affect them. It affects everyone.
Веселин Жилов — July 31, 2011
I would recommend watching the full level walkthrough.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiAFt7nyCk4&feature=player_embedded
BTW this video is not a very good example (the player runs too fast), but it's better than nothing.
Some research on what's being commented is always a good thing. For a start, after watching the full video you may find out that there are much more disturbing actions than the ones mentioned in the article above.
You can start from minute 3:00 if you're impatient.
Robert T. Vazquez — July 31, 2011
Duke Nukem is a blatant parody. What the hell am I even reading?
Zardon — August 2, 2011
It's pretty funny that this is the game to suddenly make all of the videogame "professionals" (i.e., the people writing for sites like 1up, IGN, Kotaku) take an ostensible stand against exploitative content, even while the same people would probably highly rate a game like God of War, a game wherein you have sex with women for power-ups. I guess it took a scene like the one contained in the second embedded video to have it happen, although with the community's history of ignorance and bigotry, I have a hard time seeing these protests as anything more than posturing that's born out of nervousness of negative media attention, and, thus, invalidation.
The worst defense is when people pull out the "What Were You Expecting" card -- as if Duke Nukem's traditional, celebrated partnership with misogyny is an automatic nullifier of criticism. The irony is that self-professed gamers want their hobby to be treated seriously, yet the instant a game's irresponsible content is put into question, they assemble to push their products into a social/cultural vacuum and resort to the medium-infantilizing retort of "It's Just a Videogame." To most gamers, as long as someone in the real world is not literally dying, there is no harm taking place.
Neil Robinson — August 3, 2011
Ars Technica sums up this game the best.
The Good: The game doesn't last very long
The Bad: Everything else
Sanoe Cameron — August 5, 2011
"Unfortunately for the twins, they later have sex with an alien..."
They're sexually assaulted by an alien.
SeeJay the WeeJay — August 10, 2011
Why criticize a game that sold like ass and is one of the worst pieces of shit to come out this year?
Sharpspoonful — November 30, 2011
As I already know this thread is very dead, and that I'm new to reading this OL journal of sorts, I will add this:
This game was massively unsuccessful. This was bought by the original fans of the game who stuck it out for 10 years (yes, thats a decade of aging gamers) to only find that it was borderline unplayable, and behind its time.
To add to this, the video game industry is very guilty of sexism. Look up Bayonetta, Final Fantasy, Devil May Cry, etc, etc. This list could go on for pages. I am an avid, 21 year old, Mexican/Puerto Rican Italian gamer. I've been playing video games since i was about 8. Seeing the blatant, and often times overly-sexualized portrayals in gaming was confusing at best. Not all games are guilty of this, but most games with female support/main characters fall into this category, and this is more than certainly true of the Nukem Dukem.
Poorly made and sexist as all hell.
Geoff — March 29, 2017
So this is what it has come to... whiney bitches making a video game into a demon so they can attack it, kill it and feel accomplished.
Don't buy the game, don't play it and reject anyone who thinks this style of humour is worthy of praise. Problem solved.
You're not looking for a solution; you all just want to have your egos stroked because you feel entitled to an apology.
Get this through your heads; being female doesn't mean anyone owes you shit. Deal with it. You're not special.
Lo Wang McFuckit — January 29, 2018
Play the fucking game you feminist piece of crap. You should not review games on what they seem to be just shut the fuck up and stop ruining games journalism. #Gamergater4life
#Feminismiscancer