Jump to content

gamerevolution.com — Death Stranding criticized for calling asexuality a ‘sexless lifestyle’


Homer

Recommended Posts

Quote

Death Stranding has been criticized for its depiction of asexuality, with the game calling it a popular “sexless lifestyle” and suggesting that it’s responsible for a dramatic decline in its world’s birth rate. The comments are made in an interview log titled ‘An Asexual World,’ which discusses the “increasing popularity” of asexuality among young people.

Nov 11, 2019 — https://www.gamerevolution.com/news/615496-death-stranding-criticized-for-calling-asexuality-a-sexless-lifestyle

Link to post
Share on other sites

Ehh.  What's there isn't perfect, but it ain't no House MD.  I can't hate on it too much.

 

The game is depicting a fictitious Crapsack World, so the whole in-universe factor needs to be taken into account.

 

There is also a translation/cultural issue at play here, based on what I've heard (I don't know the source for this one, sorry):
 

Quote

"As a Japanese person, this is a translation issue. Keep in mind that asexuality is defined differently throughout cultures. In Japan, asexuality is when you don't want to have sex or feel romantic attraction. I understand in the western world it may be different, but that's how we Japanese see it. It is more broad. We also have a population problem due to work, stress, and just the fear of not making enough money. A lot of people are starting to identify as asexual because sex just isn't appealing anymore. We also have a different word for it, so that's another translation issue.

 

As for the game, it's not saying asexuality itself is bad. It's just saying that because a number of people SELF IDENTIFY as asexual, which the letter implies isn't really accurate, people believe they cannot socialize.

 

Keep in mind that we Japanese do not see asexuality as a bad thing, we do see ANTISOCIAL behavior as a bad thing, which in the letter, the text is referring to people identifying as asexual think they're antisocial. In Japanese, it's a bit more on the nose, which is why the translation wasn't."

I'm curious as to what the actual JP in-game text read, but I feel like it's one of those things that won't translate directly to English without some degree of interpretation being applied.

Link to post
Share on other sites

:rolleyes: You gotta love the "increasing popularity" line.

 

Yes, asexuality has become so popular where I live that it's not even mentioned in the local LGBT group, nor in the large, local university LGBT+ group. :rolleyes:

Link to post
Share on other sites
RoseGoesToYale

🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️ Error: No more facepalms available at this time

Link to post
Share on other sites

Doesn't seem too ill-intentioned, though I disagree when the article says 

Quote

The absence of a sexual desire does not mean an individual is unable to form a connection with someone else, and it also doesn’t mean that asexuals are devoid of sexual desire — many asexuals still enjoy sex and masturbation without necessarily experiencing sexual attraction.

It seems to almost get the desire definition a mention (or equate sexual desire with sexual attraction) but then says that's not what asexuality means. It just reminded me of all the arguments recently and I just sighed dejectedly. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Lol, asexuality will never be popular. This is one of those games where it's very clear that the people who made the tough decisions behind it were detached businessmen who are clueless about things.

Link to post
Share on other sites
2 hours ago, Philip027 said:

 

I'm curious as to what the actual JP in-game text read, but I feel like it's one of those things that won't translate directly to English without some degree of interpretation being applied.

Not related to the post itself about the game, but here is a really good and interesting interview/article about asexuality in Japan. https://asexualagenda.wordpress.com/2014/09/01/asexuality-in-japan-a-conversation-with-harris-hijiri/

Link to post
Share on other sites
marinbalatskaya

The game is depicting a fictitious Crapsack World, so the whole in-universe factor needs to be taken into account. My name is Marina. My profession is very ancient, I work in a pawnshop. This is a dream job. I have a big salary. I do not refuse additional money. I play for money in online casinos https://champion-casino2.com/ .

Link to post
Share on other sites

Yes, that's what I said.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Oh sure, like the post that just copies a sentence from my post while not adding or responding to anything, but not the actual original post.  I see how it is :P

Link to post
Share on other sites
On 11/11/2019 at 2:29 PM, LeChat said:

:rolleyes: You gotta love the "increasing popularity" line.

 

Yes, asexuality has become so popular where I live that it's not even mentioned in the local LGBT group, nor in the large, local university LGBT+ group. :rolleyes:

It's not a news article, it is a description from the game's own universe. It's not meant to describe what is happening in reality. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

https://www.gamerevolution.com/news/615496-death-stranding-criticized-for-calling-asexuality-a-sexless-lifestyle?fbclid=IwAR2gBR8pNLCAMCa5iTYzF8BPNFbWxo_fiHKJf4FguHk329SASWEjP_GYefs

 

Creator of the Death Stranding game essientially states "asexuals in this setting are the reason the humans are facing almost extinction - because they chose not to have children".

Link to post
Share on other sites
52 minutes ago, FaesariPrincess said:

https://www.gamerevolution.com/news/615496-death-stranding-criticized-for-calling-asexuality-a-sexless-lifestyle?fbclid=IwAR2gBR8pNLCAMCa5iTYzF8BPNFbWxo_fiHKJf4FguHk329SASWEjP_GYefs

 

Creator of the Death Stranding game essientially states "asexuals in this setting are the reason the humans are facing almost extinction - because they chose not to have children".

Wow.... ... really?! Because wanting to have children can only ever be linked to sexual attraction? It's not like people can want to have sex but no children or want to have children but no sex...

But then again, I don't know much about the game... Just hope it isn't spreading too many misconceptiosn.

Link to post
Share on other sites

The Asexual Agenda has an article that came out today that talks more about some of the cultural background for this and issues with the japanese text: https://asexualagenda.wordpress.com/2019/11/17/an-asexual-world-asexuality-in-death-stranding/

 

It also has links to other discussions that go into more detail on a few points. We also managed to dig up a copy of the Japanese text, and it's almost word for word what the english text, with the exception of a few terms that have different connotations due to how they chose to write them in Kanji.

Link to post
Share on other sites
On 11/16/2019 at 11:39 PM, FaesariPrincess said:

https://www.gamerevolution.com/news/615496-death-stranding-criticized-for-calling-asexuality-a-sexless-lifestyle?fbclid=IwAR2gBR8pNLCAMCa5iTYzF8BPNFbWxo_fiHKJf4FguHk329SASWEjP_GYefs

 

Creator of the Death Stranding game essientially states "asexuals in this setting are the reason the humans are facing almost extinction - because they chose not to have children".

Imagine what would have happened if they were to switch "asexuals" with "homosexuals". Probably the whole LGBT+ community would rise up, along with some leftists. Video after video are going to be made on YouTube but since it's Asexuality the one that gets bashed on, nobody bats an eye.

 

I mean I get that the game's setting is Post-Apocalyptic world, but really this doesn't allow them to use asexuality as a scapegoat (I don't see them using Homosexuality, with exception of the conservatives) as to why humanity is going to extinct in such a hypothetical scenario.

Humanity in reality has really small chance of survival a disaster of such levels - according to the Great Filter Theory, it's less than 1%. Seems kind of stupid to blame it on Asexuality or Homosexuality, IMO.

Link to post
Share on other sites
On 11/19/2019 at 5:19 AM, HikaruBG said:

Imagine what would have happened if they were to switch "asexuals" with "homosexuals". Probably the whole LGBT+ community would rise up, along with some leftists. Video after video are going to be made on YouTube but since it's Asexuality the one that gets bashed on, nobody bats an eye.

I mean, the biggest take away here is if they're going after asexual, why not go after gay/lesbian or any multisexual orientation (since there's a chance they'll end up in a same sex relationship)? Less likely to produce kids and all by their logic. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...