Online game answers call to fight sexual harassment
Image: Screengrab from “Hurl the Harasser” game through hurl.persuasiveplay.org
An online game developed by the American University Game Lab answers the call to fight sexual harassment.
In “Hurl the Harasser,” players must tap continuously to break the women free inside the bubble, a signal of voicing out harassment.
The women must outweigh the harasser placed at the other end of the lever. At times, the man may shout “It was consensual,” causing a shield that hinders you to pop the bubble if it passes by.
For Game Lab director Lindsay Grace, she thought that “Hurl the Harasser” is “between an empathy game and political satire.”
“The metaphor is that it takes lots of people speaking up to tip the scales of justice against the harasser – particularly when the harasser is a high-profile professional like the cases we’ve seen of late,” Grace said. “We really want people to think and reflect on the way our society works in this context.”
The game was inspired by stories of sexual harassment that plagued Hollywood, with many victims coming forward to speak up against the issue. /ra
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