A petition requesting that Australia's Target stores stop stocking Grand Theft Auto V has succeeded.

"[GTAV is] a game that encourages players to murder women for entertainment. The incentive is to commit sexual violence against women, then abuse or kill them to proceed or get 'health' points", the petition reads. No mention was made of the violence against men portrayed in the game.

The petition was apparently created by three former sex-workers in Australia, and has received almost 40 000 signatures. Target Australia has responded by removing the game from their shelves.

One of the creators of the petition, known only by the first name "Nicole", reasons that GTA5 is more egregious than previous GTA games because it allows players to play the game from a first-person perspective. The most dangerous part, she says, is that players can have their character pay for sex with a prostitute in the game, and then recover their money by killing the woman. Nicole believes that simulating this behaviour in a video game will encourage violence against women.

However, this is contrary to research on the effects of video games. As porn star Mercedes Carrerra pointed out in her recent article on the intersection of pornography and video games, sex and violence, research has shown that violent video games either have no effect on people's propensity for violence, or may even be responsible for a decrease in such behaviour.

Feminist scholar Christina Hoff Sommers, too, has addressed the claim that violence against women in video games encourages the same in real life. She underscores the fact that research has shown that, as video games become more widespread, the prevalence of violence and prejudice in society decreases. This does not necessarily disprove the claim that video games cause violence – it is possible other factors compensate for video games' effects – but she points out that no solid scientific evidence exists for the claim that video games cause violence or misogyny.

Other research has shown that "bad" video games improve players' empathy and moral decision-making.

This isn't the first time a store has refused to sell video games with graphic content. New Zealand's The Warehouse this year decided to stop stocking all R18+ games. Sony and Nintendo both refused to publish Manhunt 2 in America, and Gamestop refused to carry the game.

Australia, particularly its Office of Film and Literature Classification (which is also responsible for video games classification), has been regularly and widely criticised for its attitude toward video games.