On Nuns and Headbutts

I wanted to briefly give my two cents in relation to the recent controversy over the latest trailer for Hitman: Absolution.

I don't want to link the trailer, because I personally can't much stomach seeing this particular style of violence* when it's directed towards women.  Is that a double standard?  Yes.  Is there a reasonable rationale for why I would harbor this double standard that would imply only the vaguest notion of hypocrisy to the most chiaroscuro of black-and-white thinkers?  Of course.

But for those of you who haven't already seen the trailer, it features a gang of nuns trying to assassinate our beloved Agent 47... but surprise surprise... those aren't really nuns, they're hyper sexy dominatrix nuns!  The majority of the trailer depicts the lot of them being brutalized by Agent 47 in the typical fashion you would expect from a master assassin protecting himself.  The imagery is very graphic, yet presented in a real-world style that keeps any element of over-the-topness from easing the blow of the imagery.

Now, I'm a bit late with my comment, and there are many others who have spoken about this before, so I'll be brief.  Basically I just wanted to say: IO Interactive, if you really wanted to make your trailer controversial and shocking, you should have had those nun assassins be actual nuns and not fetish models.  I mean, this industry has seen enough slut-shaming sexualized violence and tear down of powerful women that this is just another drop in the bucket.  But actual nuns getting messed up... that would be a new one.


* Yes, there are different "styles" of violence exhibited in various examples of pop culture, some of which are easier to tolerate than others.  I know most of you would know that, but I feel there are many people who would require such an explanation.