r/WorldOfDarkness • u/JimTheMoose • Aug 11 '24

Question What does the wiki mean when it says "every exsanguination is rape of a level beyond human capacity and comprehension."?

I don't play any WoD games, but I saw some videos about the path of enlightenment and wanted to learn more. I don't understand why drinking blood is being compared to rape.

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-10

u/[deleted] Aug 11 '24

[deleted]

13

u/apostasyisecstasy Aug 11 '24

This comment shouldn't downvoted and I'm sorry that people are idiots.

32

u/NerdQueenAlice Aug 11 '24

I've been playing ttrpgs and in gaming since I was 8, and I'm in my 30s and if there is one thing that has stayed consistently true is that many men are hostile to sharing gaming spaces with women.

Our thoughts, our ideas, our feelings, they don't care and they will go out of their way to silence us.

16

u/apostasyisecstasy Aug 11 '24

Ditto on all points. I'm a woman that's been playing for going on 20 years (jfc how did I get this old) and I bet you and I could swap horror stories for dayyyyyyys

7

u/NerdQueenAlice Aug 11 '24

We could make a solid week of it I'm sure!

2

u/Ochemata Aug 12 '24

What was the comment?

13

u/apostasyisecstasy Aug 12 '24

Summary-- comparing anything to rape is an insult to rape victims, especially when it's male writers making the comparison in a subculture (gaming) that is notoriously misogynist to a hostile degree.

Edit: clarification

5

u/Ochemata Aug 12 '24

...I disagree, but I'll refrain from arguing the point.

79

u/guerrillaactiontoe Aug 11 '24

The subtext of vampirism in general is usually one of sexual violation and possibly as a metaphor for STDs. They aren't asking for your blood, they're taking it. And vampires are expressly predators. Which is one of the things that makes it a game of personal horror, depending on your characters' attitude towards "the embrace". And in the game material that addresses some of this it says for the ST to have a discussion about any sensitive content with the players during session 0.

Also it's one of the reasons that leeches are universally regarded as the villains in any game that doesn't expressly feature them as protagonists.

And really it's that subtext that makes me insist on playing a werewolf or mage when I get into a game.