Sexual Assault of Men Played for Laughs - Part 1 Male Perpetrators

Summary

El video aborda el trastorno y la trivialización de la agresión sexual masculina en la cultura de entretenimiento, particularmente en la comedia. Se destaca la prevalencia de bromas sobre el abuso sexual de hombres, que se utilizan para generar risas y humillar a los personajes varones, reforzando estereotipos tóxicos de masculinidad y homosexualidad. Además, se discute cómo estos chistes contribuyen a la deshumanización de las víctimas y perpetúan una cultura de aceptación del abuso sexual. Se cuestiona la moralidad de considerar el abuso sexual como una forma de justicia o castigo, y se sugiere que los creadores de contenido podrían desafiar los tabúes mostrando empatía y dignidad hacia las víctimas de agresión sexual.

Takeaways

• 🚨 **Advertencia de contenido**: El episodio contiene discusiones explícitas y clips que involucran violación y acoso sexual.
• 📺 **Tendencia en la entretenimiento**: Hay una tendencia preocupante en la media que normaliza los chistes sobre abuso sexual, a menudo dirigidos a hombres.
• 😱 **Comedia tóxica**: Los chistes que involucran a hombres como víctimas potenciales de abuso sexual se utilizan para crear humor a costa de la vulnerabilidad masculina.
• 🎭 **Caracterización estereotipada**: En la comedia, los hombres vulnerables o emocionales ante el abuso sexual son presentados como débiles o anti-machos.
• 🚫 **Heterofobia subyacente**: Muchas veces, el humor se basa en la insinuación de que la homosexualidad es un resultado de la agresión sexual, lo que puede desacreditar y humillar a los hombres heterosexuales.
• 🏳️‍🌈 **Crimen y justicia**: La violación en prisión se utiliza como una forma de castigo no oficial en las instituciones penitenciarias, afectando principalmente a personas LGBTQ+ y con discapacidades.
• 🤣 **Chistes degradantes**: Los chistes sobre la violación en prisión son tan comunes que se han normalizado y se utilizan incluso en medios dirigidos a niños.
• 🚫 **Racismo implícito**: Algunos chistes también contienen connotaciones racistas, sugiriendo que los hombres negros son más propensos a ser agresores sexuales.
• 🙅‍♂️ **Falso humor**: La idea de que el humor sobre la violación está rompiendo tabúes o mostrando un espejo a la sociedad es una autoilusión; en realidad, se utiliza para obtener risas fáciles.
• 🛡️ **Rechazo a la trivialización**: La trivialización de la violación en la cultura y el humor perpetúa una cultura de aceptación del abuso sexual y silencia a las víctimas.
• 🌟 **Posibilidad de cambio**: Para romper tabúes y promover un cambio cultural, los comediantes y escritores podrían tratar a las víctimas de abuso sexual con dignidad y empatía.

Q & A

¿Por qué es importante tener en cuenta la forma en que se presentan los temas de agresión sexual en la comedia?

Es importante porque la comedia puede influir en la forma en que la sociedad percibe la agresión sexual, y al trivializar este tipo de violencia, puede llevar a una falta de seriedad y empatía hacia las víctimas.

¿Cuál es el problema con bromear sobre la agresión sexual como si fuera algo cómico o algo que merecen los 'malos'?

Esto perpetúa una cultura de aceptación del rape y hace que la agresión sexual en prisión se vea como inevitable en lugar de como un problema grave que debe ser abordado y resuelto.

¿Cómo afectan las bromas de agresión sexual en la cultura y en la justicia penal?

Estas bromas refuerzan una serie de ideas tóxicas sobre la masculinidad, la sexualidad, la raza y la justicia penal, y contribuyen a la deshumanización y estigmatización de las víctimas.

¿Por qué los humoristas deberían tratar a las víctimas de agresión sexual con dignidad y empatía?

Hacerlo sería una forma de romper con los estereotipos y expectativas de la audiencia, y además ayudaría a construir una sociedad más consciente y respetuosa hacia los derechos y la integridad de las personas.

¿Cómo se relaciona el humor que involucra la agresión sexual de hombres con la masculinidad tóxica?

Este humor refuerza la idea de que la vulnerabilidad masculina, incluida la por la agresión sexual, es algo de qué hacerse el ridículo, lo que perpetúa la masculinidad tóxica y la estigmatización de la vulnerabilidad y la expresión emocional en hombres.

¿Cuál es el impacto de las bromas de agresión sexual en los niños y jóvenes?

Estas bromas pueden normalizar la idea de que la agresión sexual es algo cómico o aceptable, lo que puede llevar a una comprensión distorsionada de los límites personales y el consentimiento.

¿Por qué es problemático que las bromas de agresión sexual se centren en hombres como víctimas?

Al centrarse en hombres, estas bromas refuerzan la idea de que la agresión sexual es principalmente un crimen de hombres contra mujeres, desviando la atención de otras víctimas y perpetradores, y perpetuando estereotipos de género.

¿Cómo pueden los medios de comunicación contribuir a un cambio en la forma en que se aborda la agresión sexual?

Los medios pueden educar y sensibilizar sobre el tema presentando historias y personajes que reflejen la diversidad de las víctimas y los perpetradores, y promoviendo un diálogo abierto y respetuoso sobre la agresión sexual.

¿Qué es la importancia de la movilización de celebridades y figuras públicas que han sido víctimas de agresión sexual?

Al compartir sus historias, estas personas pueden ayudar a destigmatizar la agresión sexual y brindar visibilidad a las experiencias de las víctimas, promoviendo un cambio cultural y un mayor apoyo a las víctimas.

¿Qué papel juegan las organizaciones como Black and Pink en la lucha contra la agresión sexual y la discriminación?

Organizaciones como Black and Pink brindan apoyo a grupos marginados, como los prisioneros LGBTQ+, y trabajan en la promoción de la igualdad y la justicia social, lo que contribuye a un entorno más seguro y empático para todas las personas.

¿Cómo pueden los espectadores contribuir a un cambio en la cultura de aceptación del rape?

Los espectadores pueden elegir no apoyar ni reírse de este tipo de humor, y en su lugar, buscar y promover contenido que trate la agresión sexual y otros temas serios con el respeto y la seriedad que merecen.

Outlines

00:00

🚨 Advertencia de Contenido Fuerte

Este episodio incluye advertencias fuertes sobre discusiones y muestras de violación y acoso sexual. Se discute una tendencia perturbadora en la entretención masiva que suele pasar desapercibida. Se muestra cómo en programas de televisión y películas, situaciones humorísticas pueden incluir bromas de violación, usualmente dirigidas a hombres, y cómo esto se ha vuelto común y normalizado en la cultura popular.

05:05

😞 La Baja Estimación de la Vulnerabilidad Masculina

El párrafo explora cómo los chistes sobre la agresión sexual hacia hombres están diseñados para humillar o emascular a los personajes masculinos. Se menciona el movimiento #MeToo y cómo ha traído a la luz el abuso sexual en Hollywood. Se destaca la importancia de entender que la agresión sexual no es sobre el sexo, sino sobre el poder. Además, se critica la cultura tóxica de la masculinidad y cómo los chistes disminuyen la seriedad de la agresión sexual.

10:07

🤢 La Homofobia Subyacente en la Comedia

Este párrafo aborda cómo las situaciones cómicas que implican a hombres en situaciones sexuales no deseadas con otros hombres a menudo contienen una subyacente homofobia. Se examinan escenas de películas y cómo la insinuación de que un hombre es gay si es acosado sexualmente por otro hombre refleja una ansiedad extrema en torno a la sexualidad masculina y promueve estereotipos dañinos sobre la homosexualidad.

15:10

😡 El Abuso de la Justicia Penal como Comedia

Se discute cómo los chistes sobre la violación en prisión son una forma común en la cultura de entretenimiento de masas y cómo pasan desapercibidos a menudo debido a que la posibilidad de ser violados no es una preocupación diaria para la mayoría de los hombres heterosexuales. Se destaca la realidad del abuso sexual en las prisiones y cómo los chistes disminuyen la seriedad de un problema que destroza vidas. Además, se cuestionan las implicaciones racistas de algunos chistes que involucran a hombres blancos siendo amenazados por hombres negros.

20:12

👮‍♂️ La Brutalidad Policial y la Justicia Vengativa

Este párrafo explora cómo la brutalidad policial y la justicia vengativa se presentan a menudo como temas cómicos en los medios, donde las amenazas de violación se utilizan para controlar y castigar a los presos. Se argumenta que estos chistes no están diseñados para criticar los abusos de la aplicación de la ley, sino para satisfacer un placer malicioso al ver a los 'malos' sufrir. Se cuestiona la noción de que la violación pueda ser considerada justicia y se señala que tales representaciones perpetúan una cultura de aceptación del abuso sexual.

25:16

🚫 La Necesidad de Cambio en la Comedia

El último párrafo aboga por un cambio en la forma en que la comedia aborda el tema de la violación. Se argumenta que los chistes que ridiculizan a las víctimas de agresión sexual no son una forma de romper tabúes, sino una forma de obtener risas fáciles a costa de la trivialización del abuso sexual. Se sugiere que en lugar de silenciar y avergonzar a los sobrevivientes, los escritores y comediantes deberían tratar a las víctimas con dignidad y empatía. Se ofrecen recursos y se agradece a los asesores del guión, incluido el Reverendo Jason Lydon, fundador de la organización Black and Pink.

Keywords

💡Contenido fuerte

Este término se refiere a los temas o escenas de un contenido que pueden ser emocionalmente intensos o perturbadores para algunos espectadores. En el video, se utiliza para advertir sobre la discusión directa y la representación de temas de agresión sexual y acoso, que son centrales para el tema principal del video.

💡Tendencia en la comedia

Al mencionar una 'tendencia', se hace referencia a una dirección o patrón recurrente en la creación de contenido, en este caso, en la comedia. El video aborda cómo la agresión sexual hacia hombres se ha convertido en un elemento común y problemático en la comedia en varias formas de entretenimiento.

💡Abuso sexual

El abuso sexual es un acto no consensuado que implica la integridad sexual de una persona. En el video, se destaca cómo este grave tema es a menudo tratado de manera jocosa y trivializada en la cultura popular, lo que puede tener un impacto negativo en la percepción pública sobre la gravedad de estos actos.

💡Comedia negra

La comedia negra es un género de humor que utiliza situaciones dolorosas o tabúes como fuente de comedia. El video discute cómo la comedia negra a menudo se basa en la humillación y el emasculinado de los hombres, usando el abuso sexual como un medio para generar risas, lo que puede ser problemático y ofensivo.

💡Toxicidad de la masculinidad

La toxicidad de la masculinidad se refiere a las normas sociales rígidas y dañinas que dictan cómo deben ser los hombres. El video argumenta que los chistes sobre el abuso sexual de hombres refuerzan estas normas, al hacer que la vulnerabilidad y la expresión emocional parezcan signos de debilidad o falta de 'masculinidad'.

💡Movimiento #MeToo

El movimiento #MeToo es un movimiento social que ha dado voz a las víctimas de abuso sexual, incluidos hombres famosos como Anthony Rapp y Terry Crews. El video destaca cómo este movimiento ha expuesto la naturaleza endémica del abuso sexual en la industria del entretenimiento y cómo la participación de hombres ha sido crucial para desafiar las narrativas tradicionales sobre la agresión sexual.

💡Heterofobia

La heterofobia es el prejuicio o hostilidad hacia las personas heterosexuales. En el contexto del video, se discute cómo las situaciones en las que hombres son objeto de abuso sexual en la comedia a menudo implican una heterofobia subyacente, donde la homosexualidad es presentada de manera estigmatizante o como algo vergonzoso.

💡Abuso en la cárcel

El abuso en la cárcel es un tema recurrente en la comedia que el video cuestiona. Se destaca cómo los chistes sobre el abuso sexual de hombres en entornos carcelarios refuerzan estereotipos y normalizan una práctica que es un grave problema de derechos humanos, afectando a personas de todas las orientaciones sexuales y géneros.

💡Racismo en la comedia

El racismo en la comedia se refiere a la utilización de estereotipos raciales y prejuicios en el humor, lo que puede perpetuar la discriminación. El video señala cómo los chistes sobre el abuso sexual en la cárcel a menudo implican racismo, al presentar a hombres negros como seres más agresivos y una amenaza para la masculinidad blanca.

💡Justicia vengativa

La justicia vengativa, o karmic justice, es una noción problemática que el video aborda, donde se sugiere que el abuso sexual puede ser una forma de castigo merecido para los criminales. Esta idea es cuestionada, ya que el video argumenta que el abuso sexual nunca debe ser considerado como una forma de justicia y que tales representaciones en la cultura popular contribuyen a normalizar y trivializar la violencia sexual.

💡Empatía y dignidad

El video concluye con la idea de que, en lugar de utilizar el abuso sexual como un tema de humor, los escritores y comediantes deberían tratar a las víctimas con empatía y dignidad. Esto se relaciona con el tema principal del video, que cuestiona la trivialización y la comedia del abuso sexual, sugiriendo que una actitud más respetuosa y empática podría ser un verdadero desafío para la audiencia.

Highlights

This episode contains a strong content warning for discussions of rape and sexual harassment.

A disturbing trend in mass-media entertainment involves making light of sexual assault, often targeting men.

Sexual assault is portrayed for laughs in various forms of media, including TV shows, movies, and even children's content.

The normalization of such jokes contributes to a culture where sexual violence is dismissed or minimized.

Terry Crews, a male celebrity, has spoken out about his experience with sexual assault, emphasizing it's about power, not sex.

The #MeToo movement has shed light on sexual abuse in Hollywood, with male survivors also coming forward.

Jokes often revolve around the idea of men being emasculated or made subordinate, reinforcing toxic masculinity.

Prison rape jokes are common, despite the serious issue of sexual assault in prisons affecting many lives.

Racial stereotypes are often intertwined with prison rape jokes, promoting harmful narratives about Black men.

The threat of sexual assault is sometimes used as a form of control or intimidation in media.

Gay-coded characters are sometimes used in sexual assault jokes, linking them to predatory behavior and promoting homophobia.

The media often frames sexual assault as a form of 'karma' for criminals, which is a harmful and morally abhorrent concept.

Comedians like Cameron Esposito and Lindy West have demonstrated that jokes about rape can target rape culture instead of victims.

The trivialization of rape in comedy routines undermines the seriousness of the issue and the experiences of survivors.

The episode calls for a shift in how media and comedians approach the topic of sexual assault, advocating for more empathy and dignity towards survivors.

The video provides resources and additional information for viewers affected by the topic, and acknowledges script advisors for their feedback.

A second part of the discussion is announced, focusing on media portrayals where women assaulting men are played for laughs.

Transcripts

This episode comes with a very strong content warning for frank discussions of and media

clips involving rape and sexual harassment.

There's a surprisingly disturbing trend running through a lot of mass-media entertainment.

A trend that often flies under the radar.

Let me explain.

You're watching a popular TV show or movie.

Laughing along at the hi-jinks when suddenly, things take a jarring turn.

"Check out the new meat. I'm going to slather you up in Gunavian jelly [laughs] Go to town--"

Wait a minute! Was that a rape joke?

"I'm going to slather you up in Gunavian jelly [laughs] Go to town--"

Yep. It certainly was.

"This one here is our booty!"

Maybe it's just an anomaly.

"This doesn't end with us riding into the sunset. It ends with me dying of cancer and you winning the icebox award for softest mouth."

Hold up. That's another rape joke in another superhero blockbuster.

Let's try something else.

"Don't drop the soap, big homie."

"Where will you be watching the world consume me from?"

"That's right, a prison cell. I'll send you a bar of soap."

How about we try a comedy instead.

"Relax, and open wide."

"Wa--wa--what are you doing? [screams] Dude! That went up my ass!"

Yikes! Let's switch to a TV show.

"As soon as you drop the soap, they rape your butt. That's what happens."

Peter: [screams] No! Stop! I'm saying no!

"Bieber was briefly jailed early this morning, he went to jail early this morning,

"and the police report described him as 5'9" and 140 lbs."

"or, as his cellmate put it, just right."

You've likely noticed the pattern here

In each case, sexual assault is played for laughs, and in each case the targets of the joke are men.

Andy: "You know--" Conan: "He's like a bite-sized Snickers." Andy: "Fun-size."

[Laughs]

Comedic scenarios involving the sexual abuse of men can include a wide range of behavior

"Now we'll do your inseam."

From casual punchlines about unwanted kissing or touching...

[laughs]

to gratuitous one-liners about anal rape.

"They will turn your butthole into a parking garage. Start putting all kinds of cars in there, man."

"Buicks, Cutlass Cieras, Oldsmobiles... somebody gonna put a Hummer in there."

"Now don't bite down. Don't bite down."

It's hard to overstate just how common jokes about men being sexually assaulted are.

Most popular comedic actors and their writers engage in this type of humor.

Kurt: "I can't go to jail. Look at me. I'll get raped like crazy."

Nick: "Fuck. Me too."

Kurt: "Yeah, totally."

Nick: "I'd get raped just as much as you would, Kurt."

Kurt: "Yeah, yeah, I know you would. Of course you would."

Nick: "Think you're more rapeable than I am?

Kurt: "Nick, I'm not saying anything like that, okay."

Nick: "That's pretty close to saying it."

Statistically speaking, men are far more likely to be the perpetrators of sexual violence

than are people of any other gender

and so that's what we will be focusing on in this video.

We'll examine media in which women are portrayed as perpetrators in a future episode.

"He's the one who famously said, 'I'd take a bullet for Donald Trump.' "

"Well, now that he's looking at prison time, we'll see if he's willing to take a dick."

[laughs]

Sexual assault of men as comedy is so ubiquitous and so normalized that you may not have even noticed

it shows up everywhere. And when I say everywhere, I mean everywhere.

Even at the Oscars.

[sings:]"And why does a prisoner drop the soap? 'Cause no one wants to do it alone."

Speaking of songs about male rape, there seem to be an awful lot of them.

[sings:] "Hands against the prison wall, choking on a mouthful of balls."

[sings:] "He gonna make you his sex slave, you gonna gargle mayonnaise."

[sings:] "Pin me down and I try to fight you, you come inside me, you fill me up..." "Whoa, whoa!"

The sexual assault of men is a go-to joke for many popular animated sitcoms.

"Rick and Morty go to giant prison. You know if somebody drops the soap,

"it's gonna land on our heads and crush our spines, Morty.

"You know, it'll be real easy to rape us after that."

"Yeah, get his pants down. Get his pants down."

"No. Stop! Rape!"

"What, do you collect vaseline? [laughs] Oh!"

"Ok. Let's do it." [screams]

Peter: "No. Jake, not like this. [screams]"

"Because while you slept, I violated you repeatedly."

You might be surprised to find out that slightly less explicit variations on these jokes also show up

in children's media with alarming regularity.

Henry: "This is never going to work."

Paddington: "Of course it will. You look very pretty."

Henry: "That's what they'll say in jail."

"Love is in the air. [inhales] Mm...can't you just smell it!"

"Did you see what that bear just did to that guy's cherry?"

"You got any idea what they do to eggs in San Ricardo prison? It ain't over easy."

Notice how these jokes are all designed to demean, humiliate, or emasculate a male character

for being the victim or potential victim of sexual violence.

The #MeToo movement has brought to light the rampant sexual abuse

perpetrated by powerful men in Hollywood.

While many of those telling their stories have been famous women,

there are also a handful of male celebrities coming forward as survivors,

including actors Anthony Rapp and Terry Crews.

Crews has been especially vocal, even testifying about his experience in front of Congress

in support of the Survivors' Bill of Rights, where he stressed that

sexual assault isn't really about sex-- it's about power.

Crews: "I was sexually assaulted by a successful Hollywood agent."

"The assault lasted only minutes, but what he was effectively telling me,

"while he held my genitals in his hand, was that he held the power, that he was in control."

Since coming forward, Terry Crews has faced a good deal of backlash from other straight men

and it's no coincidence that much of the ridicule directed at him bears an uncanny resemblance

to the punchlines we're discussing in this video.

Crews: "This is how toxic masculinity permeates culture. As I shared my story, I was told over and over

"that this was not abuse. That this was just a joke."

As with all comedy, it's important to ask who or what is being targeted by the joke.

So let's take a few examples from popular mainstream comedies

and talk about what we're meant to be laughing at, and why.

because it's the why that help illuminate how underlying messages

can have a negative impact on the way we think about assault and masculinity.

"I want a proctologist standing by, the best one you can find."

In the 2015 comedy, Get Hard, Will Ferrell plays a wealthy hedge fund manager

who finds out he's going to prison for embezzlement.

The core premise of the movie is that Ferrell's character is terrified of being raped in prison.

"There's a 100% chance that you're going to be somebody's bitch."

Kevin Hart's character exploits that panic to get hired as a toughness coach

to help prepare him for life on the inside.

This setup, as you might imagine, leads to a steady stream of rape jokes.

Darnell: [grunting] "You know what that is? That's a big ass Black man on your pale white ass."

James: Awww...

Darnell: [grunting] "You: 'No, I don't want anymore. Stop. That's enough.' Too late! He done tag the next guy in."

At the heart of these jokes is the perceived emasculation of men who are scared of

or become emotional over the possibility of sexual assault.

James: "Hey listen up everyone. I'm extremely sad. Please don't sexually assault me. I'm already too sad."

James: "Hey fellas, my heart's already been raped."

Get Hard is just one of many many examples where males on the receiving end of sexual assault jokes

are framed as weak, cowardly, effeminate, or unmanly.

Kenny: "I'm scared."

"Kenny. Kenny, stop crying! Stop crying, Kenny! Look at me! Show me a mean face, Kenny!"

Kenny: [squeaks]

Men's vulnerability is an endless source of mockery in mainstream comedy

and vulnerability that results from sexual violence is no exception.

[screaming] "Ok, it's just I don't want to go jail. You know what happens to a handsome guy like me in jail?"

"It rhymes with grape! It rhymes with grape."

John: "Just keep your mouth shut and try not to cry."

Nelson: [crying] "It's alright to cry. Crying takes the sad out of you."

The idea behind the joke here is as obvious as it is toxic:

that men who aren't tough or manly enough to avoid being victimized are pathetic

and therefore deserving of ridicule or worse.

Kelso: "Hey guys, do you think he's anyone's girlfriend yet?"

Fez: "Kelso, he's been in jail for 3 hours. Of course he's someone's girlfriend!"

Punchlines about men being sexually assaulted usually revolve around the idea of a man

being made subordinate to another man,

and therefore, forced into a role that is stereotypically feminine

"I'm, uh, ...never going to be the same."

Emasculation jokes are supposed to be funny because in a patriarchal culture like ours

we're meant to think that there is no greater humiliation for a man than to be treated like a woman.

We'll talk extensively about the 2005 hit comedy Wedding Crashers in part 2 of this video series

but the movie deserves a mention here as well because of how it frames one of several sexual assaults

committed against Vince Vaughn's character.

Jeremy: "Go to sleep, honey."

The basic setup is that Vaughn, as our lovable chauvinist, suddenly has the tables turned on him.

Jeremy: "Jesus Christ, not there, not there. I'm not comfortable. I'm not comfortable with that."

Todd: "Let's play tummy sticks."

Jeremy: "What's tummy sticks? I don't wanna play tummy sticks! I don't wanna play tummy sticks!"

It's your typical gross-out comedy scenario designed to make audiences laugh squeamishly

at seeing straight male characters thrust into awkward sexual situations with other men.

[screams] "So gross!"

There's an underlying homophobia running through scenes like this.

Jeremy: "Hide. You gotta hide."

Which is connected to some extreme levels of anxiety around straight male sexuality.

"This is no dream! This is really happening!"

Todd: "I'll pop out at the right moment."

Jeremy: "No, you will not."

The insinuation is that if a man is sexually harassed by another man--

Steven: "Don't do that! Jesus Christ, you're going to get me killed!"

--it means he's perceived as gay.

The Cable Guy: "Oh Billy!"

And being perceived as gay is supposed to be deeply humiliating for straight men.

Big Bob: "Get down on your knees and open your mouths."

Kumar: "All the guards in Guantanamo are gay?"

Big Bob: "Ain't nothing gay about getting your dick sucked! You're the ones that's gay for sucking my dick!"

Captain: "I will report you. You will go to jail where you won't have to pretend to be gay

"because your asses will be busier than a test bench in a plunger factory."

Despite what media may tell us, it's critical to remember that being sexually assaulted

has absolutely nothing to do with someone's sexuality--

"Pardon me."

--just as it has nothing to do with their masculinity.

Creep: "Escusi, escusi. Me escusi."

If the perpetrator is coded as a gay man, or a character of ambiguous sexual identity

then sexual assault is usually framed as a product of some uncontrollable sexual desire.

"I'm still horny."

Which then works to demonize gay men by directly linking them to predatory behavior.

"I have a question. Are you single?"

"Uh, I'm not gay--"

"I don't care. You're hunky and I'm what they call predatory gay."

It's made worse if, as is often the case, the rapist is the only gay coded character in the whole production.

"I have to make certain that you're not armed."

All of this contributes to the long-running pattern in Hollywood where gay sexuality is framed

as a clear and present danger to straight people, which it isn't.

Queer sexuality is not a threat to straight people.

Rapists are a threat to straight people, just as they are a threat to people of all genders and all sexualities.

In 2016, the meta-ironic superhero movie Deadpool, starring Ryan Reynolds,

became the highest-grossing R-rated film in history.

And one of its opening scenes provides us with a good example of another common media pattern:

The scared straight style rape joke.

"Wait, wa--"

"Even look in her general direction again, and you will learn in the worst of ways

"that I have some hard spot too."

"That came out wrong. Or did it."

The punchline here revolves around a male superhero weaponizing the performance of

an ambiguous, queer sexuality as a form of intimidation.

The joke comes from the same place as the Overprotective Father Freakout.

"Whatever you do to my daughter, I do to you."

Woman: "Now you guys have a good time."

Mike: "You ever made love to a man?"

Reggie: "No."

Mike: "You want to?"

Reggie: "No sir."

Scenes like this end up accidentally illustrating an important point.

Because it's not just the act of sexual assault itself that functions as an instrument of domination

and control in our culture--

Neal: "Get in."

--it's also the threat of sexual assault.

Neal: "You know what turned out means?"

Kid: "No. No sir."

Neal: "It's when a straight dude rolls into prison and gets his ass fucked, then becomes a girl."

"Big boys will come in, push a little boy like you down,

"maybe stick a textbook in your mouth, and go to fucking town."

Neal: "You want that to happen to you?"

Kid: "No."

Neal: "Yeah, I didn't think so."

Sexual assault is, in many ways, simply another form of violence.

And leveraging the threat of that violence as a deterrent to keep young men and boys in line

is a frequent theme in media.

"Boy, you better keep your damn mouth shut! Or you're going to be going back to the showers."

"And the only speed you going to reach is 88 dudes per hour!"

You've probably noticed by now that a lot of this comedy has something in common.

It involves prison rape.

Prison rape jokes are so pervasive in mass media entertainment that the phrase "Don't drop the soap," has become a routine sight gag.

Despite the insinuation of anal rape, "don't drop the soap" punchlines have also found their way into children's cartoons.

"Word of advise--Don't drop the soap."

Sponge Bob: "Doubloons...don't drop them!"

One of the reasons these rape jokes pass under the radar is because for straight adult men

of able body and mind, the possibility of being sexually assaulted isn't a real concern in their everyday lives.

The one exception to that, and it's a big one, are straight adult men who are incarcerated.

Prison rape is a rampant, horrifying problem that destroys lives.

Each year, over 200,000 people are raped or sexually assaulted while imprisoned in the United States.

It is important to remember that, just like on the outside, sexual assault in prison should not be confused with

consensual sex between prisoners.

Madeline: "Do you know what they do to soft, bald, overweight Republicans in prison, Ernest?"

While the vast majority of the comedy we've been looking at invokes the rape of straight men,

in reality, it's queer and transgender prisoners who are most likely to be the targets of sexual assault in prison.

Many prison rape jokes also carry with them some explicit racist overtones.

It's no accident that punchlines regularly involve white men being threatened with rape by a big, scary Black man.

"So I got me a volunteer, huh? Well let me tell you cupcakes what your first day up in here gon' be like!"

"And don't expect no flowers afterwards."

Scenes like this one are built around the racist idea that Black men are more brutal, aggressive, or predatory

than other men.

And that therefore it's Black men specifically who pose a special threat to white men's masculinity.

"So what's a beautiful white boy like you doing in a place like this?"

Terry Crews' story about being sexually assaulted is so powerful because it disrupts that "scary intimidating Black man" narrative.

Before his personal evolution, some of those scary characters were even played by Crews himself.

To see him now choosing to speak up and be publicly vulnerable challenges those racist media myths

about Black masculinity.

Crews: "When my assault happened, quite honestly, I probably would have been laughed out of the police station."

It's not unusual for police officers or other authority figures to be shown engaging in forms of dark comedy

that involve the sexual violation of men.

Procedural style dramas in particular, frequently depict law enforcement officials

threatening male suspects with rape as a way to get them to talk.

"Do you have any idea what it's like in Sing Sing for a guy with your limitations?"

"You are going to be the poster boy for bitch of the month."

Fin: "Money, you know how to play getting the dice?"

Money: "Nope."

Fin: "Here's how it goes. Your celly rolls the dice."

Fin: "Nine. That's how many days you get to play his girlfriend."

"Prison guard as an inmate--"

"I hear they make you prom queen, and every night is prom night."

"You talk now, and we'll make sure you're not put in with the general population."

"When I get to see the look of love in a meat wrangler's eye the day I make some spoiled rich kid his new celly..."

"Look on the bright side: In prison, you won't have to pay for dates.

Writers seem to love these extrajudicial taunts and use them as a source of schadenfreude.

"What?"

"Schadenfreude. It's German for when you feel good because your enemy's anus has been violated."

The quips are designed to elicit a satisfied snicker from viewers at seeing the bad guys squirm.

"Sup?"

"Could be staring at a felony. Or you could be sharing a cell with this fella right here."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"See there. You're already making friends.

For some reason, Denzel Washington has a lot of dialogue to this effect in his filmography.

"This time next week I'll be sucking down piña coladas in a hot tub with six girls named Amber and Tiffany."

"More like taking a shower with two guys named Jamal and Jesus, if you know what I mean."

"And here's the bad news: that thing you're sucking on...it's not a piña colada!"

"So you better have some divine intervention, buddy."

"You're gonna need it."

"You better have some KY. You're gonna need it."

"To a term of no less than 4 years in a federal, pound-me-in-the-ass prison."

So why does this matter?

Well, the harsh reality is

that rape is one of the unofficial but widely sanctioned ways that criminal justice institutions

punish undesirable prisoners.

Especially queer men, trans folks, and people with mental disabilities.

"Do you know what this means, don't you?"

"Yes."

"I do."

Make no mistake, the powers that be allow prison rape to happen

sometimes through passive facilitation and other times through direct participation.

It's part of how the prison system maintains control over men's bodies and sexualities while they're incarcerated.

"There's just one other thing I've got to check."

The type of police brutality as comedy that we've been talking about here isn't designed to critique

or illuminate the widespread abuses of law enforcement.

Even when police officers are shown as humorously incompetent, the jokes are still made at the expense

of those being victimized.

By and large, audiences accept these sadistic punchlines

because of who the rape threats are directed at

"You know what happens to pretty boys like you who go up to the farm on stat[utory rape] charges?"

"Would you look at that? I gots an 11!"

As long as it's criminal suspects being victimized and likable authority figures doing the victimizing,

then it's widely seen as criminals getting what they deserve.

Scully: "Mulder!"

Mulder: "You wanna know about anarchy? You don't tell me where that other bomb is, and I'll make sure..."

"...you spend your prison time on your bigoted hands and knees putting a big smile on some convict's face."

"What?"

"He's saying to tell the whole story. Or train your ass to be an entrance."

"I know brothers inside'd tear your guts up fucking you stupid."

When it's a cop drama, the lead characters are generally presented as tough guys,

or occasionally tough gals, who are being tough on crime.

"And when he comes for you, in the middle of the night, when you're least expecting it..."

"...you do me a favor. Play along."

This is often referred to as reciprocal punishment

or karmic justice.

"Nice petite white boy like you, in a federal penitentiary..."

"Let me just put it this way: I don't think you'll be able to remain anal retentive for very long.

It's a morally abhorrent but widely accepted idea

best encapsulated by the idiom, "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."

Willow: "Don't you feel kind of bad for them?"

Buffy: "Sure I feel lousy, for her. He's a murderer, and he should pay it."

Willow: "With his life?"

Buffy: "No, he should be doing 60 years in a prison, breaking rocks, and making special friends with Roscoe the weight lifter."

Xander: "Yikes! The quality of mercy is not Buffy."

Sometimes these karmic rape plot lines involve villains being sexually assaulted with a weapon

or, alternatively, raped by a large male animal.

The word for this isn't justice.

The word for it is revenge.

Brodie: "You know where you're going, they screw people in a very uncomfortable place."

Now it should go without saying that rape can never ever be a form of justice.

When media frames the sexual assault of men, even bad men, as "getting what they deserve,"

it perpetuates a culture of rape acceptance.

Don Jr: "Subpoenas, not some penis."

Don Jr.: "And that means you could go to jail."

Eric: "Where you could get some penis."

It also makes prison rape seem inevitable, which it's not.

There are solutions to the prison rape epidemic

namely, keep people out of prison

which means working towards mass deincarceration

through a combination of decriminalization and a focus on education and rehabilitation programs

instead of locking people up.

But with every casual prison rape joke, it makes those goals more difficult to achieve.

"I'm trying to talk about sexual assault. It's not like that's a new topic in comedy."

"We've had rape jokes forever, but it's just like those jokes have usually been like: RAPE!"

"That's the full joke."

"And an audience, because that's a taboo word, will have a response... [laughs awkwardly]"

"And then that comic will hear that response: Ooo, I have done a good joke."

As comedians like Cameron Esposito and Lindy West have pointed out,

it is possible to tell jokes about rape from a survivor's perspective

where the punchlines target rape culture.

But that's not what's happening in the movies and TV shows we've been looking at here.

"Oh. Oh, no no nonono. I'm actually getting married today, so I can't."

As we've seen again and again, the targets of these jokes are the victims of sexual assault and harrassment.

"Get ready 'cause here it comes."

"Here what comes?"

[Scream off-camera] "That's my butt!"

Which is why, when actors writers or directors try to defend this type of comedy from criticism

their arguments don't hold any water.

Will Ferrell: "Any time you are doing any comedy--"

Kevin Hart: "Somebody is going to..do this, do the face..."

Will Ferrell: "Oh my word!"

Kevin Hart: [laughs]

Will Ferrell: "But that's kinda what we do. We provoke, we prod, we..."

Will Ferrell: "We also show a mirror up to what's already existing out there."

The idea that these comedians are somehow bravely pushing boundaries or fearlessly transgressing taboos

by telling prison rape jokes is pure self-delusion.

"So now here comes the guy who wants to rub your face. 'Oh, I like his hair.'"

"He's breathing on you. That's disgusting, but guess what? You can look forward to ten years of it."

When Will Ferrell or Kevin Hart or Adam Sandler or any other famous comedian

amplifies dismissive and toxic ideas about rape in their comedy routines,

it's not meant to raise awareness.

And it's certainly not designed to hold up a mirror and give voice to rape survivors.

[screams]

"Let me guess. You dropped the soap."

"Please take that out of my ass!"

They're acting out these rape jokes because it's an easy way to get cheap laughs.

"Hey Charlie."

And the price of those laughs is the further trivialization of rape in a culture that already doesn't

take survivors seriously.

Elaine: "Ok. So you were violated by two people while you were under the gas. So what? You're single."

While at the same time, as we've talked about, reinforcing a whole bunch of regressive ways of thinking

around race, masculinity, sexuality, and criminal justice.

Beyond that, these jokes also give people permission to continue silencing and shaming survivors.

Peter: "Brian, if you don't mind, we'll start thinking about prison rape jokes immediately."

If Hollywood writers and comedians really want to break taboos and push boundaries

they could try treating survivors of sexual assault with a measure of dignity and empathy

because that would be a guaranteed way to shock their audience.

Thanks for watching. Now I know this can be a difficult and intense topic,

so I've left a bunch of resources and additional information in the text below this video.

I want to thank all of my script advisors for their invaluable feedback in writing this episode

especially Rev. Jason Lydon, who founded an organization called Black and Pink,

which is dedicated to supporting queer prisoners.

You can find that link in the description below as well.

In part 2 of this discussion, we'll shift focus and talk about media where women assaulting men

is played for laughs.

If you'd like to support my video series, you can do that over on Patreon.

And I've left a link to PayPal in the description below.

See you next time.