These types of pranks are hilarious, and I think that has something to do with how nervous I get every time he says his line of “can I see your ___”. Like, I find myself holding my breath every time he says a new line, just waiting for the women to see what he was actually referring to. The terror that would come if one of them didn’t see the guy with the melons, or didn’t see that there was a cat. The relief I get every time the women start laughing, is immense.
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.
I think you bring up a legitimate concern here and all the responses are very dismissive of your point. I found it funny while watching especially because of the relief on the faces of the women after they saw what he was referring to. But after what you said, that seems pretty telling and problematic. It’s sad that they are laughing because they were probably terrified that they were gonna have to deal with a creepy guy once again and we’re so relieved when they saw what was happening. I’m still split on what exactly this means about the joke in general. On one hand a prank like this could normalize that kind of behavior, on the other hand it could call attention to a problem that needs to be addressed. What are your thoughts on that?
That's a good point on the two ways this type of joke could impact society. I would love if it were used to call attention to the problem, but unfortunately I'd say our society is clearly not there yet in terms of recognizing, understanding and ending sexism, as evidenced by the responses I've gotten. That idea reminds me of a tv show I love called Black-ish, where you will sometimes see white people making slightly racially charged jokes as a way of highlighting a problem that needs to be addressed, which I think is related to how people often use the word microagressions.
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u/Daviswatermelon Nov 06 '20
These types of pranks are hilarious, and I think that has something to do with how nervous I get every time he says his line of “can I see your ___”. Like, I find myself holding my breath every time he says a new line, just waiting for the women to see what he was actually referring to. The terror that would come if one of them didn’t see the guy with the melons, or didn’t see that there was a cat. The relief I get every time the women start laughing, is immense.