"The abuse I suffered, while not as extreme as those in the game, was terrifyingly real."

In Grand Theft Auto V, an R-rated video game that allows players to attack and kill women in the sex trade, I would have been the character who gets left by the sidewalk, bleeding and unconscious. Or hit with bats, run down, set alight still screaming and graphically murdered – for game points, or maybe just 'for fun.'

I was in the sex industry in my early 20s. But instead of the virtual world of GTA V – the abuse I suffered, while not as extreme as those in the game, was terrifyingly real.

A still from Grand Theft Auto V. Photo: Rockstar

It has taken me almost ten years to get my life back on track and to recover from the sexual violence and abuse I faced. I still live with flashbacks, nightmares, and crippling depression and anxiety.


Last week, together with two other women, I started a change.org petition requesting Target to pull GTA V from its shelves. The reason behind the campaign is simple: that a game exists which makes 'enjoyment' out of the kind of abuse I lived through in real life is sickening. For survivors of abuse, it adds insult to injury to think someone could get a thrill out of violence against women, even if it was in a 'virtual world'.

In GTA V, a new 'first-person player mode' feels more realistic than ever. This includes a more realistic depiction of sex acts with women (who are largely represented as prostitutes) – and the options that follow of being able to kill them with machetes, guns or bats to get their virtual money back.

Making it all the more disturbing was having a retailer I shop at which sells and promotes this kind of game. As recently as last week, Target was advertising Grand Theft Auto next to Peppa Pig. This was being marketed at parents buying Christmas toys.

It sent a terrifying message. This is a game that has ingrained misogyny and graphic violence against women. It breeds an acceptance of abuse in our world; abuse from which I've been trying desperately to recover – and by stocking this game, major retailers are lending their credibility to it.

Despite potential backlash, I couldn't stay silent about this. The fact that over 40,000 parents, customers, and advocates got behind our change.org petition showed we weren't the only ones. The response to our campaign exceeded our wildest expectations – and forced Target to listen to their customers.

Since then, gamers have launched vicious and violent attack on myself and other women who dared to speak up. We've had threats of rape and torture. To mutilate us and set us on fire.

One gamer has threatened to locate us and publicise where we live. Another has superimposed the face of a friend onto the body of a murdered woman lying in blood, in a scene from the game.

"I'm going on GTA V right now and pretending every ugly c—t is you", tweeted another hater to her.

Ironically, these abusers claim this game does not perpetuate violence, and yet they continue to send women horrific violent threats online.

Gamers also argue that games like GTA V have no impact on real life violence, despite research published earlier this year showing violent video games increases aggression, aggression-related variables and decreases pro-social outcomes.

Sadly, many women don't need studies to tell us that. We know because we've lived it. We know how violence can start with 'playful' remarks and turn into dangerous, controlling behaviour. We've seen the violence implicitly condoned in these games play out in real life.

The 'thrill and pleasure' that gamers get off violence against women in GTA V makes the world less safe. Not because every gamer turns into the abuser – but because it breeds a casual acceptance of violence against women.

Stripping GTA V from the shelves of retailers like Target and Kmart won't change that culture overnight. It's one step among many -- like the recent #takedownjulienblanc campaign – that will help dismantle the culture of violence against women in years to come.

It may not be a popular debate, but it's one that Australia desperately needs.

*Name has been changed

1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732): 24 hour, National Sexual Assault, Family & Domestic Violence Counselling Line for any Australian who has experienced, or is at risk of, family and domestic violence and/or sexual assault.

Lifeline: 131 114