From the annals of good ideas gone horribly, horribly, wrong, comes this seriously misguided attempt at a domestic violence awareness campaign.  As hatched by a Danish advocacy group, the “Hit The Bitch” website allows you (or someone like you), in the guise a meaty male hand, to beat the crap out of a woman.  And, for the sake of convenience, to simulate the beating, you can use either your mouse or your webcam.  Here’s what Gwen Sharp at Sociological Images has to say about it:

The woman gets increasingly bruised and bloodied as you hit her.  I forced myself to try the site and hit her twice, and it was honestly sickening to watch her head jerk backward or to the side and hear the sound of the slap and her reacting.  At the top, a counter keeps track; you start out as 100% Pussy, 0% Gangsta, but your Gangsta rating goes up every time you hit her (below).

Apparently, though, when you get up to where you?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢d be at 100% Gangsta, it instead says 100% Idiot, as though this is a real put-down that is going to make you think really seriously about domestic violence.  I am trying to think of any context that would make this seem like a good idea, or an effective way to combat domestic violence.  I mean, ok, yeah, I guess people might be made more aware of it after hearing about or playing the game, but is it likely to have any positive effect?

It seems more likely that people who don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t already take domestic violence seriously would either be uncomfortable, leave the site, and never think about it again, or find it funny to play for a few minutes just to see what would happen?¢‚Ǩ¬¶and somehow encouraging people to slap around an image of a woman for fun seems like a really weird way to get people to think more seriously about domestic violence.

 
(via Sociological Images)

I have to agree that this is an EXTREMELY misguided effort for raising awareness about domestic violence and abuse. I am sure there will be several kids/teens who will just enjoy the beating portion - I am sure there are several who either won’t get to 100% or who won’t care when they get the 100% idiot remark. Sadly, their enjoyment of hitting won’t be affected by the knock of ‘idiot.” Most likely they will just call the maker an idiot and then proceed to “beat” the girl again. It just takes off of games like Grand Theft Auto that promote violence.

I had to hit her because the site was slow.

Man, I am SOOOOOOOOOO gangsta

Perhaps the intent is that by simulating the regret that one feels after actually experiencing what it means to brutally beat someone, anyone who may have ever been tempted to do so will lose the temptation.

Most people, having never experienced the aftermath or the emotional pain, will fail to anticipate it. Maybe after trying this ‘simulator’, they will.

She says herself: “I forced myself to try the site and hit her twice, and it was honestly sickening to watch her head jerk backward or to the side and hear the sound of the slap and her reacting.” You think maybe *that* is the point?

Her explanation of why this doesn’t work is: “It seems more likely that people who don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t already take domestic violence seriously would either be uncomfortable…” So it makes someone who doesn’t already think about domestic violence uncomfortable about it—that sounds like a much bigger win that the emotional effects of seeing an “END DOMESTIC VIOLENCE” bumper sticker.

The “Gangsta/Idiot” language may be bit cheesy, but then again it’s Danish.

“It just takes off of games like Grand Theft Auto that promote violence.”

You’re an idiot.

She made me hit her.

Bitch had it coming. Next time she’ll have my money.

You are not looking at the PSA in a danish cultural context, so you are probably missing a lot of the underlaying points.

Gwen Sharp probably doesn’t speak danish, because, even though the interface is english you need to understand the voice after you get 100% gangsta to get the message.

Since I’m from Sweden I can’t translate it for you right now, but I remeber feeling very guilty and sick of myself after getting too 100% gangsta/idiot.

Well they took the site down for those of us not in Denmark.

Now I’m going to have to hit the bitch extra hard when it comes back up.

I accidentally deleted my post about this. I’m so glad you saved my commentary so I could recreate it! The link above is broken, but you can find it at:

http://contexts.org/socimages/2009/11/18/hit-the-bitch-danish-anti-domestic-violence-campaign/

Those who don’t hit women will be sickened by it. Those who do hit women will get off on it

Alas, the website is no longer available to people outside the UK, so I can’t view this gargantuan fail for myself. It sounds comically bad though.

Oh boy, 4chan is gonna have fun with this.

ich will die schlampe auch schlagen nur kein scheiss link funktioniert!! :-((((((((((

Read a male and female perspective on this campaign: http://womenspeakout.wordpress.com/2009/12/03/hit-the-bitch/ -

What idiot hacked this site? And why are you an idiot?

Once there were Dictators or Monarchs,which you could easily assassinate,but those men could hold a whole country together,even though everybody else would to fight each other,rather than live in peace.yes,those men used questionable methods to archive there goal of unit in there countries.TODAY,we have Democracy,which you can’t assassinate so easily’cause you need to shoot many more than only one.Today in our Democracy,children are not educated and brought up,by there parents.there are taught by strangers,why is that,that our generation has no principles,i ‘ll tell you.Women got too many rights,everybody thinks about there carriers now adays,when a mother is responsible for the right upbringing of her child.We got weak,we can not put our women in place like it was used to be,now we have democracy and a man cannot be the monarch of his family anymore,they made us the bitches of our wifes.Now,I do not say women need to be slapped,but like a dog she needs to know her place,next to her man.A man has to work hard to keep a family running these days,and we are not meant to be EQUAL.God or no God,women can never allowed to have the status of a man,whats wrong with all of you.You know,once a woman knows her place,everthing works just fine,slap your bitch,if she tries to overcome you,no democracy in the house,only dictation.A man needs to know that he can punish whats his.That’s all folks,take a minute and think real hard,if democracy works for you and your future household,it won’t,now be true.When you give to much freedom,it won’t be appreciated anymore,look at fucking Amerika.Put the Dog in it’s place,or it will run you over sooner than later,believe you me,grow a spine MF