Under Maintenance

We deeply apologize for interrupting your reading but Vendetta is currently undergoing some important maintenance! You may experience some layout shifts, slow loading times and dififculties in navigating.

Sports Media

Should ‘Teabagging’ Be Considered Sexual Assault? Fans Debate on Social Media

‘Teabagging’

(Via Xbox Games Studios)

‘Teabagging’
(Via Xbox Games Studios)

Should ‘Teabagging’ Be Considered Sexual Assault? Fans Debate on Social Media

‘Teabagging’ is a common action people will see when playing online video games, specifically in competitive first-person shooters and fighting games. ‘Teabagging’ is when one player repetitively crouches over or near a defeated opponent and it is usually done to the detriment of the opponent. Everyone knows that video games are awesome, but the gaming community can be a little toxic at times and it has some bad traditions. 

Here is an example of ‘teabagging’ being punished in a tournament and there was a debate that took place on social media after the incident. 

However, I find ‘teabagging’ to be more of a joke than anything seriously offensive. It is up for debate where the term originally came from, but there are some early games that saw the action start to become popular. Counter-Strike, Quake, and Halo: Combat Evolved saw the phenomenon that was ‘teabagging’ grow before gamers’ eyes. 

Now, ‘teabagging’ is commonplace in video games whether it’s done in a competitive game or if it is done in a lighthearted joking way. However, is that the problem right there, that gamers have become desensitized to an egregious act that should be viewed as sexual assault? There is a case to be made for the act of ‘teabagging’ being nonconsensual, but since there is no actual force being put on a human for it to be assault since it is a video game. 

I think ‘teabagging’ can be beneficial for video games because instead of verbal altercations between players playing against each other competitively online, the issue can be handled through a series of teabags. Also, sometimes a teabag is necessary because it is also used as a visual message to teammates when you mess up or accidentally do something as a “my bad” and when they ‘teabag’ back everyone knows they are good.

Will Things Change In The Gaming Community

Ultimately, I think it would be extremely hard to eradicate the iconic teabag from video games because it is ingrained into gaming itself. The action has bad and good connotations that help gamers communicate with each other without words. Some games have banned ‘teabagging’ or at least made it harder by not letting gamers rapidly spam the crouch mechanic, but these games are far and few between. 

I don’t think it’s bad that this issue of sexual assault came up, as it is always good people are observing certain norms to determine whether society is on the right path forward. However, the conversation of ‘teabagging’ in video games is a bit silly when there are more serious conversations to be had about real-world sexual assault and women’s rights in general. 

It will be interesting to see how the ‘teabag’ mechanic changes over time in future video games as well as if gamers change the meaning of the ‘teabag’ because at the end of the day gamers themselves create the visual language understood by other gamers. However, for the foreseeable future I know three things that are certain death, taxes, and that the winners in a competitive first-person shooter or fighting game will still ‘teabag’.

Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel!!!

Check Out Our Shop!!!

<!-- Ezoic - Single Blog Page - Middle - mid_content -->
<div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-154"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - Single Blog Page - Middle - mid_content -->
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Popular Past Stories

<!-- Ezoic - Single Blog Page - Middle - mid_content -->
<div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-136"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - Single Blog Page - Middle - mid_content -->
<!-- Ezoic - Single Blog Page - Middle - mid_content -->
<div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-135"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - Single Blog Page - Middle - mid_content -->

recommended stories

The Halo Show Season 2 Ep. 5 Review

The Halo Show Season 2 Ep. 5 Review In this video, we review The Halo Show (TV Series) Season 2…

Read More

The BIGGEST Game Releases of March 2024

The BIGGEST Game Releases of March 2024 In this video, we preview the BIGGEST upcoming video game releases of March…

Read More
Matt Rempe

Ryan Reaves Gives Matt Rempe High Praise

Ryan Reaves Gives Matt Rempe High Praise Matt Rempe is just out here fighting everybody. He even recently threw down…

Read More
Anthony Mantha

VGK Acquire Anthony Mantha

VGK Acquire Anthony Mantha The VGK are hanging on by a thread. Mark Stone is hurt again, which means it’s…

Read More
<!-- Ezoic - Single Blog Page - Middle - mid_content -->
<div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-134"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - Single Blog Page - Middle - mid_content -->