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	lostmahmarbles 2011-02-02 02:09 am UTC (link)
	Some video game guys are sexist. This has rocked my very world. Seriously though, people expect better of the guys who came up with the Fruit Fucker. Really? (Reply to this)(Thread)

eleutheria
2011-02-02 04:02 am UTC (link)

Personally IDGAF if they want to be the Howard Sterns of the webcomic world. It's their position as founders of PAX and Child's Play that have me upset about this. They have a con that draws a ton of industry attention and they've attempted to make this con inclusive (no booth babes, harassment policy, panels on women gamers and PWD gamers) to people otherwise marginalized in gaming fandom. This means, to me, they have a responsibility to not be giant shitdicks when something like this happens. And especially not to the point of making people who had nothing to do with any of this feel completely unsafe going to their supposedly-more-inclusive con. They're not just a couple of guys with some internet comic strip anymore.

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lostmahmarbles
2011-02-02 04:19 am UTC (link)

That was why they took the shirt down though, because people expressed unease at being at PAX if the shirt was going to be around and they took it off sale because PAX and the comic are two entirely different beasts to them.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/2011/1/28/

The only thing that really bothers me in this entire thing is the "I'm not donating to Child's Play now" going around now. It just feels so... bastardly to me.

(Reposted due to my inability to actually finish what I wanted to say before posting)

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	microclimate 2011-02-02 05:05 am UTC (link)
	Except there are probably other, similar charities people can give their money to. I highly doubt many of the people refusing to donate to Child's Play are going to give up on donating to charity forever; they just refuse to contribute to anything related to Penny Arcade. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	rosehiptea 2011-02-02 06:31 am UTC (link)
	This. I have given to Child's Play in the past, even though I hardly ever read the comic. But I won't support anything they're running anymore. Yeah, I feel bad in a way because it's a good cause but I have plenty of better places to give my money. (And yeah, I do still give the little money I can to charity.) (Reply to this)(Parent)

esorlehcar
2011-02-02 05:10 am UTC (link)

The only thing that really bothers me in this entire thing is the "I'm not donating to Child's Play now" going around now. It just feels so... bastardly to me.

Only if they're not donating that same money somewhere else. "This charity is run by giant douchebags who continue to gleefully milk rape culture while insisting they're being persecuted by Big Survivor" seems like a pretty good reason to choose another charity to write a check to--certainly at least as valid as the way I decide to give, which largely involves whether or not I have money in my checking account when I get the solicitation.

And in a shitstorm that includes organized tweet campaigns under names like "TeamRape" and PAX attendees saying they're planning on wearing the shirts in hopes of triggering some rape victims, I really can't see the possibility that a charity run by the lovely people encouraging all this might lose a few dollars as the largest problem, let alone the only one.

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	cyndra_falin 2011-02-02 06:00 am UTC (link)
	and PAX attendees saying they're planning on wearing the shirts in hopes of triggering some rape victims Excuse me?? There's not enough WAT in the world. The people that said that shit have no soul. >=/ (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	airawyn 2011-02-02 06:32 am UTC (link)
	Dude, they're buying t-shirts that essentially say, "Team Rapist". What do you expect? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	cyndra_falin 2011-02-02 11:21 pm UTC (link)
	Basic fucking human decency. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	ravenscanary 2011-02-02 08:18 am UTC (link)
	I'm not donating to Child's Play anymore, which makes me sad, because I've donated to CP every year until this year, but the minimal amount of money I have to give to charity around the holidays went to another charity instead. (Reply to this)(Parent)

eleutheria
2011-02-02 08:38 am UTC (link)

They took the shirt down because they got industry pressure to do so, not because they give the first fuck about anyone's "unease". If they did, they wouldn't be wearing the goddamned shirt themselves at the con. They also wouldn't be banning people who disagree from the con. I don't for the life of me get why you're white-knighting these people.

And it seems "bastardly" that people are trying to show these unrepentant assholes that actions have consequences by donating to a different charity? Nothing else has gotten through to them, perhaps this will. Perhaps nothing will. But people are perfectly in their rights to do whatever they please with their money-- including donate to a different children's charity because the founders of this one are triggering the living fuck out of people.

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	cyndra_falin 2011-02-02 09:00 am UTC (link)
	THIS. (Reply to this)(Parent)

sandglass
2011-02-02 09:04 am UTC (link)

The only thing that really bothers me in this entire thing is the "I'm not donating to Child's Play now" going around now. It just feels so... bastardly to me.

Gabe and Tycho specifically got honors for their work with Child's Play. They get the credit, they also have to deal with representing their charitable organization.

It sucks, but blame PA for being the bastards, not the people who don't want to support them. Gabe and Tycho are the ones who couldn't make a diplomatic apology not just for their douchebro comic, but for the con they want to be inclusive and the charity they obviously don't want to discourage people from supporting. The charity suffers because of them and them alone.

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wook77
2011-02-02 05:03 pm UTC (link)

Yeah, sucks when a charity is held accountable for the actions of its representatives. Thus, everytime an animal is euthanized accidentally, people should just donate more money, amirite? Also, when the Red Cross bought furniture and remodelled offices with the 9/11 money, that's cool, we should continue to support their expensive furniture habit, amirite?

And hey, when Kennard, the founder of an Ethiopian children's charity was found to be molesting children, that's cool, we should continue to support the charity, amirite?

Face it - the representatives get the glory of the charity, they need to realize that their actions have ramifications on the charity itself. It's called "public relations".

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sandglass
2011-02-02 09:00 am UTC (link)

Also the amount they've reached out to fans with mental illnesses. It meant the world to me when I was doing the, "But taking meds is weak!" dance, and it continued to give me support right up until then knowing that people I respect are going through what I'm going through, and they can still be awesome.

Except now they suck. They worse than suck. And they don't give a shit at all about having me as a fan because I'm a woman and a feminist who doesn't want to toe the pro-rape (or neutral-rape) line.

And it's not just about them making the joke, it's about all the "You guys SUCK and are OVERSENSITIVE for disagreeing" that followed it. They didn't do this when they inevitably got e-mails for comics that could be read as homophobic, anti-religion, racist, etc, but they throw a hissy because people request they not make a rape joke that makes fun of the rape victim. And when I say that was the request and they got hissy about it, I mean I made that specific request and they got hissy with me. I could look past the rape joke like I did all the other jokes, but this? Is bullshit.

(Sorry, this comment kinda got away with me.)

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	sandglass 2011-02-02 08:55 am UTC (link)
	Augh. This argument is so baseless and childish and derailing I can't even come up with a decent argument against it. You, sir or madam human person, fail. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

lady_jafaria
2011-02-02 04:57 pm UTC (link)

For some reason, it reminds me of the people saying "But The Last Airbender (and/or Prince of Persia) is a shitty movie anyway, why complain about the racebending?"

Why, of all things, would a work being bad protect it? You'd think people who thought the movie was bad for other reasons would just ignore the activist critiques.

Saying "but they've been doing tasteless jokes all along!" doesn't protect Penny Arcade either. There's a difference between "tasteless joke" and "rape joke you bend over backwards to defend while shitting on anyone who complains and half-assedly trying to make it look like you still care about women gamers."

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	phosfate 2011-02-02 03:54 pm UTC (link)
	MEN AMIRITE? THERE'S NO POINT IN BEING UPSET ABOUT IT BECAUSE THAT'S JUST HOW THEY ARE! WE MUST FIND SOLACE IN SHOE SHOPPING AND MANI-PEDIS. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	grenadeofbees 2011-02-05 07:13 am UTC (link)
	I never really understood the appeal of the Fruit Fucker. (Reply to this)(Parent)

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