[FA] Fathers Say Stop Simon & Schuster's Panty Raider (fwd)

[Keller S. Magenau]

Thank you Scott! I'm passing this along.

Hope all is well. Congrats on the Pitt job!

Keller
*****************************
Keller S. Magenau
Department of Linguistics
Georgetown University

"It's never too late--in fiction or in life--to revise."
(Nancy Thayer, American Writer)
-----Original Message-----
From: Scott F Kiesling <kiesling at LING.OHIO-STATE.EDU>
To: FLING at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG <FLING at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG>
Date: Wednesday, April 26, 2000 9:11 AM
Subject: [FA] Fathers Say Stop Simon & Schuster's Panty Raider (fwd)


>Perhaps we should make an effort to not use S&S texts for a while...
>BTW I checked out some web sites (check out
>http://pc.ign.com/previews/14066.html) and the game is real, and even the
>game sites I looked at think it's pushing things. The models also look,
>well, inhumanly proportioned, shall I say.
>Last BTW: The subtitle of the game is "From here to immaturity"
>
>Scott
>
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Fathers Say Stop Simon & Schuster's Panty Raider
>
>(Duluth, MN, April 26, 2000) The national advocacy group Dads and Daughters
>today called on Simon and Schuster Interactive to halt its scheduled May
>release of the CD-ROM game called Panty Raider. To win the game, boys must
>strip supermodels down to their underwear, then provide photographs of them
>to aliens who "wore out" their one lingerie catalog - or else the aliens'
>"hormone driven anger" will destroy the earth. Among the gamers' tools to
>induce the undressing: "Lures - Items such as tiny mints (lunch!) and
>credit cards. No self-respecting supermodel can resist these items." From
>making fun of anorexia to objectifying girls to assuming that boys just
>want titillation from computer games, Panty Raider is a disgrace.
>
>Among the objections raised in a letter to the company, Dads and Daughters
>said: "Anorexia KILLS people, and holds painfully long years of recovery
>for those girls and women who do survive. It's no more suited for joking
>than cancer. And then there is the stereotype that the ideal girls are
>obsessed with shopping and appearance. We have daughters and we know
>better. And, we are offended when our daughters are repeatedly subjected to
>the destructive stereotypes disseminated by games like Panty Raider."
>
>DADs executive director Joe Kelly added that the game is also offensive to
>fathers of sons. "We don't see the humor or fun in glorifying what Panty
>Raider calls 'hormone driven anger' in boys, especially after tragedies
>like the Columbine shootings. We are offended when our sons are repeatedly
>subjected to the destructive stereotypes of boys objectifying females,
>placing titillation above all else, and using violence or its threat to get
>their way."
>
>Dads and Daughters suggests that other parents use the company's website
>www.simonsays.com/feedback_form.cfm to insist that "Panty Raider" not be
>released this month. Or write Simon & Schuster Interactive, 1230 Avenue of
>the Americas, New York, NY 10020 or call 212/632-3544.
>
>Dads and Daughters is the national nonprofit membership group for fathers
>with daughters. DADs helps fathers strengthen their relationships with
>daughters and transform the pervasive messages that value girls more for
>how they look than who they are. DADs acts against marketers who undermine
>daughters to sell their products. S&S Interactive, a division of Viacom,
>produces dozens of CD-ROM games in the entertainment and education
>categories. For the full correspondence between Dads and Daughters and
>Simon and Schuster Interactive, visit www.dadsanddaughters.org
>
>Contact Joe Kelly: 888-824-3237 or Joe at dadsanddaughters.org