Grand Theft Auto - sex games for boys

[FeminismInSchools]

Just found out yesterday that popular boys video game Grand Theft Auto promotes use of strippers and prostitutes and rewards players for buying lap dances. This is sold by Smyths Toys - A Toy Shop!!
Degrading objectification of women. Favourite game of man who is charged with stabbing to death Natalie McNally in Northern Ireland before Christmas.
Do we want our sons playing this 'game'?

twitter.com/charlottecarso1/status/1621874738397052931?s=20&t=4BDQaHLSiCrMPqgwJ6is9A

post edited by MNHQ to avoid prejudicing any legal proceedings.

You can run anyone over and they’ll drop some cash

This thread makes me feel old. I'm sympathetic OP. This game horrifies me. My now grown up sons knew exactly why I would never allow it in the house. I think the (very many) people who allow their children to play it want their heads looking at.

Yes, but as I said half a dozen posts ago (prob too long for anyone to read!), although we all know it can’t be sold to under 18s, the fact that it is advertised and on sale in a toy shop means that children will become familiar with it and it won’t be regarded as taboo, which it should be. Remember cigarettes, anyone? Shops can’t sell them to under 18s, but they're kept behind shutters, now. Why do you think that is?

if it bothers you that much, use a different toy shop like The Entertainer. The owner is religious do I think it's not open on Sundays but they didn't sell computer games when my kids were that age.
If Smyths want to remain in business then they should sell products that make money. GTA is a wildly successful adult game and guess who takes kids to Smyths? Adults. Is it better that GTA is available in places like the supermarket where kids go? I suspect that many kids know the game because their favourite YouTubers have spoken about it.

I suspect that many kids know the game because their favourite YouTubers have spoken about it.

Not the age of the kids I’m talking about. Of course by secondary school age the genie’s out of the bottle, and kids who are listening to YouTubers who talk about GTA are unlikely to be going to Smyth’s anyway. The Smyth’s demographic is mostly under 10s and their parents, I would have thought. Making these over 18 games commonplace in a shop whose target market is under 10s, is akin to grooming.

1 It has an 18 rating. The store would be committing an offence by selling it to minors.

2 Sexworkers have featured in GTA games since GTA3 which was released over 20 years ago. You're late to the party.

3 GTA5 is the biggest selling game of all time. GTA6 is also in the works.

For what it's worth, as far as I know completing the game does not actually require any interaction with the game's sexworker characters at all.

I'm not seeking to endorse the portrayal of women as lap dancers and prostitutes, but the portrayal of gangster life has been an important part of culture and entertainment for quite some time. In the form of films and television series this often attracts a lot of laudatory critical attention. 'The Sopranos' for example was said to be one of the greatest TV series of all time, yet the women 'employees' of the protagonists have a rather grim time and sometimes meet a sticky end. So it's great art in popular drama, but if it shows up in the form of a game, is that necessarily any worse? I'm not saying it's right, just that we'd need a much more pervasive cultural purge to get rid of this sort of thing.

Duke Nukem 3D came out in 1996, so longer ago than that.
I remember housemates at uni having it.
GTA V is a 10 year old game! 18 rated as well.
I don't like the content, but it's not for boys.

Yeah I had a feeling it was even further back, I just didn't want to feel old!

Not making excuses for the content of course... throwing money at a stripper (Duke Nukem) is obscene, but as everyone above has said, they're not marketed at kids, despite many kids (myself included many years ago) getting their hands on them.

Realistically though, this is like religion... you can pick out one line in the bible and point fingers at others (e.g. lying down with another man), but it is hypocritical if you do the other things the bible bans... e.g. tattoos, see fortune tellers, divorce, use the 'withdrawal method'...
Same here... in this post we are upset about sexualised components of games, but these games encourage breaking speed limits, violence, theft, arson... if we are against one, we have to be against them all!

(Sorry, replying to your comment but the rest of it wasn't targeted at you!)

My sons played it and they turned out ok

This is sold by Smyths Toys - A Toy Shop!!

Sorry Op but it's got a big 18 on the front. Not all toys are for children.

Are you equally as offended by shops which sell baby food and sweeties also selling adult drinks too?