United Nations responds to ESA’s criticism of ‘Cyber Violence Against Women and Girls’ report
The United Nations has released an official reply to the Entertainment Software Association’s disapproval of their recent report Cyber Violence Against Women and Girls. The ESA criticized the UN for their use of non-scientific research, and unsupported claims of an association between violence in video games and increased violent behavior in individuals. The UN has acknowledged their misstep in using poor information, and promise to fix this in the newer issue of the report. The UN also defended themselves by stating, “The ESA press release would indicate that the report really targeted gaming — in fact, it barely dealt with it.”
Regardless of how big of a part video games play in the United Nation’s analysis of electronic entertainment, it is still disheartening and even harmful when government bodies show such a lack of interest that they don’t even bother to fact check official reports. This kind of behavior distorts perceptions about the millions of individuals that play video games. And the fact that “almost 75 percent of women online suffer some form of cyber violence” should stand as more than enough reason to take all parts of this issue seriously.
Wade McIntyre