I am writing in regards to your game, Grand Theft Auto that generates millions if not billions in sales for your company? I came across the following article and am deeply disturbed by the content. http://www.businessinsider.com/grand-theft-auto-features-first-person-sex-with-prostitutes-2014-11 As you know, the game boasts an interactive feature which allows the user to determine the method of brutal rape and murder of a prostitute, and in return, the user can earn his/her money back from the transaction. Grand Theft Auto’s glorification of rape and murder is astounding and beckons outrage from the public. Reducing a woman to a label of “prostitute” and promoting her demise, as if her life is meaningless, is disgraceful and incomprehensible.
I understand those opposing my words will cling to “freedom of speech” and “parental responsibility,” but quite honestly that’s a scapegoat response. Our sons and daughters deserve better from you. Your customers most certainly deserve a better product from you. It astounds me that your company would not use its platform to cultivate positive cultural change, and instead has encouraged and glorified the brutal rape of women.
Do you understand prostitution? Do you comprehend the pain and hell victims endure on a daily basis? I run an organization, forDignity, that stands up for the sexually exploited and educates the community on sex trafficking. Most victims of prostitution are forced to sell their bodies. Traffickers often beat, threaten and drug their victims. Why don’t you stop promoting their death and start promoting ways to help them? I would be happy to speak with you, answer any questions and provide you tangible ways to make a difference. I implore you to see the bigger picture.
Little girls don’t grow up with dreams of being raped or selling their bodies – they don’t. Circumstances in life have railroaded them and find themselves on the street in survival mode. The average age of a prostituted victim in America is 13-14 years old, and 100,000-300,000 underage kids are at risk every year. Victims are raped 10-30 times a night, branded, beat, isolated and threatened. They live in constant fear and suffer silently. Both you and I have an opportunity to be their voice, yet you’ve marked prostituted women everywhere with a bulls-eye on their back. Surely Grand Theft Auto could be an exciting game without promoting rape and murder of innocent women – don’t you think?
Each one of us determines our legacy through our choices. Don’t reduce the legacy of your company as one who sold out a generation of women for money. You have the power to influence significant change and create a platform to help hundreds of thousands of victims. Will you use it?
Kelly Master
Director, forDignity
[email protected]
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