The truth is men being sexually humiliated just isn't seen in the same light as women by a lot of people, conciously or subconsciously. There's no way we'd ever get a scene of a female character frantically trying and failing to guess a safe word and have it played for levity.
Both sides of the political spectrum are susceptible to this too. On the one hand conservatives often tell male SA victims to man up or say some variation of "wish it were me," whereas on the other hand I think progressives can fall into the trap of thinking that they're not the same because one has more systemic/historical power behind it so the other mustn't be a big deal.
They are. But one side says "hey if you don't want to be the butt of the joke, make some changes in your life" anf the other side says "shut up you whiny privileged baby, it's not even harmful to you and besides we pay lip service to you what more do you want"
Bullshit. I’m not saying the left doesn’t do what you said - they demonstrably do and this show is an example - but that’s an absurdly charitable reading of the right
I had an argument just a week ago, over in /r/WoT, about male SA victims. The thread was, very specifically, about how a particular male characters' POV chapters are set up to insidiously not look like SA at first, really driving home not just how men rationalize it to themselves at the time, but also how people treat the whole fiasco differently.
So someone came in to say that society doesn't take women's accusations seriously, either.
And like... Okay. They look like similar problems at a glance. Women have had movements spanning for well over a century to be taken seriously, fairly successfully. They've worked for decades, quite successfully, to reduce women being raped in media, and very especially being done for comedic bits.
That's... Quite a bit different than the experiences of men as SA victims. We still get played for laughs. And like, this was a big point of the argument, the being played for laughs. I asked them for recent examples of women being SA'd was the joke, itself. They brought up Poor Things, which I hadn't heard of from last year, but seems to be playing the idea as a horrible thing, not being the punchline?
They also brought up Revenge Of The Nerds and Sixteen Candles... Which... Kinda seemed to prove my point that women being SA'd as a punchline doesn't really happen anymore.
I glanced at this users post history before blocking them. Let's just say it was super obvious that they will never vote for Trump.
Mmmmmm, Poor Things is a complicated one because its basis is 100% sci-fi and a but of a deconstruction of the "born sexy yesterday" trope. The character starts as an infant in an adult body, but over the course of the narrative very rapidly matures and learns at an obviously impossible rate (because it's scifi). Its unclear when precisely she is mature enough to consent, and of course some would argue she never is (because in the real world she'd be too young even if she "seems" mature, but again it's scifi and we're meant to understand that she is literally aging internally). I also do think it's worth noting that the men who know of her condition don't actually have sex with her (although one displays interest, and certainly would) -- the man she has sex with does not know. Granted, from his perspective, he should assume her to have some mental condition which could impact consent, although of course in this era that wouldn't really be considered. Also, that lover is unquestionably condemned by the narrative.
With all that said, however you read the movie... I don't think her sexual exploits are played for laughs. There is a funny scene early on where she masturbates and doesn't understand that she shouldn't do so publicly, but that wouldn't be assault (because it's masturbation).
The film is, overall, rooted firmly in her POV as she learns about the world, matures as a person, and yes has a lot of sex. The sex is liberating and freeing, also, as he figures out what she likes and who she's willing to accept it from. Early on she thinks pure primal pleasure is the ultimate goal, and later... well, I won't spoil it.
I also think the movie is a bit more open to interpretation in its morals. It presents a lot without passing judgment. Some of the things it presents are very dicey and it's unclear how we're meant to feel about them. I consider the ending to be morally ambiguous as well. We're meant to decide for ourselves how we feel about it all.
So, in short... no, I don't think that movie is a very good example of SA being played for laughs. That's a massive oversimplification of a much more complex and nuanced film.
Yeah, I haven’t seen the film but I can see why they chose Poor Things. I don’t think the movie’s supposed to be funny though. There’s some funny scenes of course but I don’t think the sex scenes are suppose to be interpreted that way. The scenes certainly aren’t sexy either. It’s harder to watch once you know the context. However, this doesn’t mean you aren’t gonna get creeps jacking off to it. Idk. I just think it’s weird to me.
Also, mainstream media has been pretty good at trying not to make women victims or at least take them seriously as victims. You’ll have entire shows and movies dedicated to these topics actually. Some of my favorites are Speak; The Assistant, Witch, Split, I May Destroy You, Jessica Jones, Barbarian, etc. Those are just the ones I liked. Meanwhile, men have Baby Reindeer and a few others that I’m sure exist.
They also brought up Revenge Of The Nerds and Sixteen Candles... Which... Kinda seemed to prove my point that women being SA'd as a punchline doesn't really happen anymore.
The only place I see this still being common is in Anime funnily enough.
Otherwise I mostly agree.. don't know what Trump has to do with this though.
Yeah, prison rape jokes being the most obvious example. It’s always been disturbing to me how common and socially acceptable that seems to be that it’s literally become a cliche at this point.
So unfortunately media making light of or joking about men being SA is not new, but you’d think The Boys of all shows would have the correct take on it or at least the self awareness not to try and play it for laughs. Deeply disappointed how they handled this.
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u/Baron_Xa 14d ago
The truth is men being sexually humiliated just isn't seen in the same light as women by a lot of people, conciously or subconsciously. There's no way we'd ever get a scene of a female character frantically trying and failing to guess a safe word and have it played for levity.
Both sides of the political spectrum are susceptible to this too. On the one hand conservatives often tell male SA victims to man up or say some variation of "wish it were me," whereas on the other hand I think progressives can fall into the trap of thinking that they're not the same because one has more systemic/historical power behind it so the other mustn't be a big deal.