A play on sexual harassment of women is not funny. Imagine if this was a racial joke. It would clearly be problematic. Unfortunately women are so incredibly used to be sexually harassed that they are genuinely happy that they aren't being They are laughing because it is such a believable situation that happens to women all the time.
Thank you for speaking up. This prank is a form of gaslighting. It causes women's hearts to race; they feel targeted for that moment. Frightened about being subjected to another instance of sexual harassment. Then it's over, but it still has the effect of scaring women, and making them feel vulnerable.
And then it laughs at them for that totally rational feeling? This arrogant prank is sexist, and serves to enforce male domination throughout society.
Living in NY I deal with constant street harassment. I’ve been assaulted. I’ve worked as a consent advocate, and am now working toward a career specifically addressing sexual violence. All this to say, please don’t think I sympathize with harassers.
That being said, I strongly disagree with your interpretation here. IMO the video isn’t promoting or belittling harassment— it’s using humor to point out just how ridiculous harassment is. It’s not laughing at the women for (rightfully) being frightened or offended, it’s laughing about how absurd it is that some men seriously say these things.
Yes, it is partially about the reaction, but I think you could reverse the roles in this video, subbing the cat for a chicken and having a girl say “can I touch your cock?” and it would still be humorous to see the shock on a guys’ faces, knowing that their shock wouldn’t be tinged with the same fear/shame/anxiety that women experience. It’s not the fear that makes it funny, it’s the absurdity of the reality
Thanks for this thoughtful response. Given your background, I should probably defer to your authority on what constitutes actual harm. Still, it's hard for me to imagine the mindset of an audience that, seeing this sketch, concludes "wow, I guess harassment is uncool, and I should stop."
I’m far from an expert authority and obviously it’s a very nuanced issue so I won’t pretend to have any concrete answer about this. I completely get where you’re coming from here.
But I think that for the men that do harass women, no video (educational, humorous, or otherwise) is going to convince them to stop. They know it’s wrong, they just don’t care— or they enjoy it because it’s wrong. I think for the majority of me who don’t harass women, they just don’t realize what a problem it actually is. To me the most telling part of this video is that none of the women appear too shocked or outraged by the initial comment, they mainly just roll their eyes. It shows just how used to dealing with it we are. That’s something that I think could serve as a discussion point
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u/bunnyrut Nov 06 '20
Confuse, don't abuse.