Peter Dutton

Peter Dutton Suggested That Grand Theft Auto Could Be Partly To Blame For Men’s Toxic Behaviour

Oh no.

It is no secret that Canberra has been rightfully under fire over the last month or so, after several cases of harassment against women were brought to light. There has been a number of missteps and fumblings by government officials since, and of course video games had to take part in the blame.

As spotted by Kotaku, Peter Dutton, the Minister for Home Affairs took to the Today Show this morning and suggested that the toxic behaviour displayed by men was linked to young boys playing Grand Theft Auto and watching TikTok. He also said that this needs to be spoken about more often as a part of the ongoing conversation about the treatment of women, that’s happening around the country at the moment.

Speaking to Karl Stefanovic, Dutton said: “If you’re playing Grand Theft Auto, as a 13-year-old boy … in that game, not just, you know, drive cars recklessly, you can go for a lap dance, you can go and shoot police and so we need to have a broader conversation about the influences on those young boys, both in a family setting and a societal setting, and particularly online“.

Video games have been linked to violence and inappropriate behaviour many times before, particularly by Australian government officials and on breakfast talk shows. Right now, more than ever, especially in the context of the respectful treatment of women, it does feel like a bit of a stretch and totally out of place. Needless to say, women have been experiencing toxic behaviour long before the advent of video games or TikTok for that matter…