Don't know what the rape scene looked like in that movie but maybe people should start with Paul Verhoeven's Flesh + Blood and go to the harder stuff from there. That movie's rape scene is fun.

Depends..I guess it would be ok if it was just "killing" during war by Rambo or a drone operation by Obama, but if it was a murder without a good excuse then I'd be really pissed... (attention sarcasm)

Wtf...of course I'd chose rape, I don't want her dead no matter if it was murder or "just killing". I can't believe anyone would opt for the other option.


About 1 in 5 women were raped at some point in their lifetime, do you think they'd be better of dead? What a stupid question...

Film, television, video games, literature... they tend not to capture the tremendous pain and long-lasting psychological effects caused by murder. It happens in the opener of a procedural or a bad guy randomly murders somebody in the middle of a movie just to prove he means business, and then they move on. There's no dealing with the fact that the family/friends/associates involved will never completely move past that event. Rape, on the other hand, is almost always treated seriously and if its shown at all it will often be brutal.

For most entertainment I'd really put "action" and "violence" into two separate categories. No such distinction available for rape.

As for real life, I don't know if I could say which is "worse". As a couple of people mentioned, most rapes don't actually happen the way people imagine it... not to say that makes it better or anything, but its usually someone he or she knows, involves drugs or alcohol, etc. In the case of murder the victim doesn't have to deal with psychological and emotional scarring for the rest of her life (duh), but there are of course loved ones to be considered as well... and the fact that the victim's life is, well, over.

The original question is valid, but the assumption is flawed.

99,9% of all killings in film and video games are not realistic depictions of said violence. For a Rambo style killing spree to be as shocking as a realistic rape scene, the camera would have to linger for minutes on soldiers choking on their own blood or try and move with their whole faces missing, as opposed to just showing them fall to the ground dead within a second. That's the difference that counts: Action movies like Rambo do not relish in or exploit the suffering of people injured and killed on screen, whereas films that depict rape usually do so precisely to convey that evil and suffering.

People are far less desensitized than they claim. A few beheading or machette assault videos from the real world will ruin your whole week. Even war films are tame compared to real suffering. You don't usually see realistic depictions of rape and murder in films because 1) it is a PR nightmare and 2) it is not fun, just very uncomfortable and depressing to watch.

Death is worse than rape - that's the reason why murder is used as a threat during rapes, and not the other way round. Rape victims can hope, under some circumstances, to re-learn to live with their damage.

But rapists are worse than killers. The array of godawful justifications for murder is wider than the motivation for murder, making the rapist a class A shitbag. Only some specific type of murderers (serial killers, which is, incidentally are often also rapists) can compete.

Instead of a stupid debate on whether it's more cool to play thieves-and-robbers on a computer or to masturbate on rape fantasies (please die), a more interesting question is why sadistic serial killers are more glamorized than rapists, in most fictional stories and even historical accounts. The question was raised by critics of the series "Dexter", wondering what success the series would have had if the giuy was a serial rapist instead of a serial killer.

The only reason I see is their drives being more intricate, "mysterious", personal, and thus romancize-able, than the drive of a rapist.

Thank's a lot... I almost forgot those picture where they smashed that guy's face in with the fire extinguisher. He deserved it, but I found that even more disturbing than the rape scene.

You don't want to know, trust me... If I remember correctly (I think I saw this 10 years ago), it was some gay man who raped the woman because... uhm... because he was angry and women's a-holes aren't different from men's a-holes (he said something like that). She crossed his way incidentally in some kind of tunnel. After raping her, he kicked her half to death (and if I remember correctly he smashed her face on the floor or against the wall a couple of times). The worst about it was that the scene was ... unaltered? Don't know if that's the corect word. There was just no background music, cuts or camera work to "distract" you. Just one camera, showing straightforward what was happening. Disturbing...

seriously dude, i respect your right to post what ever you want, but you can not SERIOUSLY be comparing something for entertainment (i.e. Rambo) to Rape and compare the responses of people.

So rape in games would be ok if it was just unrealistic?

Why is killing ok for entertainment, but not rape?

Well, for some, there are things worse than death....

In my opinion though, there's still a life after rape. Not the same can be said for death (at least, not that we know of. For sure).
Not that I'd want to have to make a choice between any of them :/

As for jamotide's question, that's...a good one. I think it's got to do with the paradox of how quick a life can be taken, but at the same time it is a grave thing to do.
While rape, well, is usually drawn out. I don't think (or hope) people will ever get to be desensitized against rape....

Can't disagree with that...

I get a completely different feeling watching rambo on a killing spree and watching someone die IRL (yes there are multiple vids online even for that). There was this vid they aired here on national tv of a guy getting beheaded, just gutted him like a pig, was probably 10 when i saw it, still remember that shit...

I guess when you know it's not real it just activates some switch in the brain labeled "care" off, doesn't necessarily mean you are desensitized to it...

I'm curious because you don't know me but what reasons do you have to assume that I wouldn't? That survival instinct kicks in in the finale moment? That reasons yet unknown to me has yet to be shown and once I found them I'll accept some pain and suffering as long as that reason exist in my life?

You overestimate the will to live if you think that there are no such experiences that will put people down that death is chosen before acceptance.

actually not all soldiers are doing the soldier thing voluntarily. Perhaps in west one can say "no" and live (these days that is) - but the world doesnt work like that everywhere.

---

Rape explained:

short story

long story

Clearly you didn't understand either of us if these are your follow-on questions. The real world is not "this or that", my talking about violent films do not serve to explain sexually violent ones, but since you asked... Possibly, if you can write and direct a graphic on-screen story relevant rape scene where one person sexually and mentally violates another and somehow make it comfortable to watch, maybe fewer people would complain. I think it is virtually impossible to do so unless you're making it a tasteless farce, a sick joke. Have the victim limp with a funny grimace afterwards, it seems to work on dudebros and other infantile cretin the same way waving their flag while the protagonist kills lots of people we know nothing about but can assume have families and a life time of memories makes them cheer.

Violent death and rape are thoroughly uncomfortable things to witness, and certainly to endure. Violent films get away with it by glancing over the consequences and trauma in order to make the viewing exciting but still pleasant. Stories that feature rape usually can not just glance over the horror and pain and are almost always unpleasant to watch for it. I guess this is why few people get upset or uncomfortable when someone wants to make a violent film or game, but when someone wants to make a story involving rape people get wary because there really only is one way and one reason to do it, to depict something unpleasant and traumatising.

@Sufyan

You rationalise well, but remember there are people who think the same way about any violence in games or movies as you think about rape. And they use the same arguments against it that you use against rape. For them it is just as horrible to watch Rambo slaughter people as it is for you to watch a rape scene.