Given the Hitman: Absolution‘s use of strippers (well, ex-strippers at least), why not ask someone who is one for a living for her two cents?
IO Interactive/Square Enix
Carol Pinchefsky, a writer for Forbes, was less than impressed with Hitman‘s trailer that cause quite the ruckus a few months back. Because, not only did it have sexy chicks dressed as nuns with guns, but it had sexy chicks dressed as nuns with guns that had a guy beat the crap out of them.
But much like as she did with Prometheus, in which she interviewed a bunch of scientists, to really tell us all how stupid the movie’s version of science truly is, Pinchefsky decided to refer to an expert on the matter. So thus we have her asking a stripper who guys by the name Athena what they think of the game. Highlights include…
Forbes: Hitman: Absolution has characters who are ex-strippers/ex-prostitutes. They left their jobs to become assassins. Does working as a stripper prepare you for a job as a hitwoman?
Athena: Stripping keeps you physically fit. I wasn’t a big user of the pole, but when I did, it gave me a workout. And so will walking around in high heels for eight hours. Also, I moved my body quite a bit.
Forbes: What do you think about the way they’re dressed in skin-tight latex and ripped stockings?
Athena: The nun/stripper costumes seem really gratuitous to me. Most of the strippers I knew would not walk around in public dressed that way: I didn’t know any women who worked as strippers who maintained their work personas outside of the clubs. I always tried to look like a normal person: jeans and sweaters, like the girl next door.
I’m disturbed by their clothes, because what’s the point of these costumes? It just seems [IO Interactive] wanted to put some T&A in there, and they came up with some ridiculous excuse to do that.
You see, even strippers have sense of logic and taste.
Forbes: Why do you think the Saints are carrying guns openly?
Athena: I don’t know. Maybe they think people will assume the guns are part of their act. What would you think if you saw a beautiful woman in patent leather mini-skirt, fishnets, and platform stiletto heels toting an assault rifle? Would you think assassin? Or bachelor party?
Forbes: So what did you think about the trailer overall?
Athena: I think it’s an excuse to show violence against women by making them the initiators of violence. It’s as if the makers of this video game are saying, “Hey, these women asked for it. It’s okay to kill them and beat them up because they’re the ‘dregs of society.’” It’s as if [the game is saying] they are subhuman and deserve to die. But that’s not who they are, it’s what they do for a living; stripping is a job, not an identity.
I just think it perpetuates hatred of women, because we all know that women who work as strippers and prostitutes are overwhelmingly victims of violence, not perpetrators of it.
Forbes: Actually, other than this, women are treated reasonably well in Hitman: Absolution.
Athena: As long as they don’t work as prostitutes or strippers.
Most of the strippers I knew were single mothers and college students. Of course, some women might kill for their children.