The reaction to the controversy over the rape scene in the movie Observe & Report should be shocking, but it isn't. To give a background:
Anna Faris' character gets horrifically drunk, throws up, and passes out in a bed. As Seth Rogen's character is basically grinding away, he suddenly pauses and appears to have a crisis of conscious, soothed immediately by Anna Faris' character coming to and grumbling, "Why'd you stop motherfucker?"
Cue roaring laughter in theater. Last Friday, Courtney at Feministing made a post saying the following:
It's not funny Seth. First of all, one out of six women in this country is sexually assaulted in her lifetime. Which means a whole lot of your bromen are confused about what consensual sex is. Is the laugh you get worth making them even more confused? Basically giving them permission from one of the most adored dudes of the moment to not take rape seriously?
At first, I failed to see what was problematic about the scene. Yes, Faris's character consented. Yes, we laugh at murder and violence all the time, and other outrageous things (in this movie) so why not rape? The problem is how this scene treats date rape in particular and the misinformation that it sends out.
Non-consensual, non-actively-resisting rape was a gray area in the past and has only relatively recently become accepted as rape. It is a fragile area in the public conscious where despite education campaigns, wrong ideas can easily be planted in people's minds. Forcing oneself on another person who is unconscious or unable to consent, although it is still rape, is harder for the public to picture as 'outrageous' than the stereotypical media portrayal of violence savagery (which is not how most rape situations develop).
We do not want young men to believe that if a woman is passed out as a party, she is freely offering herself up, and we do not want juries to think that if a woman is passed out, she somehow has lost her bodily autonomy and 'can't' be raped. This is the stuff of horrific, life-destroying mistakes and controversies, and we want young people to be very clear about what is and isn't rape.
Hence, in this scene, Seth Rogen's character was doing the right, responsible thing, what every sexual assault awareness educator wants young men to do: make sure the woman is able to consent before starting. And for doing this, he is called a "motherfucker", made the butt of a joke, and forced to apologize, which he does without argument. In other words, he's apologizing for making sure that he was not raping Anna Faris's character, and the audience gets a good laugh at the idea that "unconscious women who you bring home really want it."
A lot of 16 year olds are not going to understand that 'oh it's just a joke' and it's never appropriate to start having sex with a woman who is unconscious and unable to consent. With such a popular public figure in pop culture doing it, it's 'cool', now, thanks to Rogen, Faris, and writer Jody Hill.
But here is the rub:I don't think that if you enjoyed this scene, or thought it was "fucking hilarious" as the Wired writer did, that you're a sexist or a misogynist. I firmly stand in the camp that this scene perpetuates a very regressive social message, but I won't jump to the conclusion that Seth Rogen hates women or that the scene was badly intentioned.
However, it seems that many of the commenters at Wired aren't willing to extend the same courtesy to Courtney, the original blogger that pointed out the problems here. Just a sample of the responses:
Posted by Mark:
F*cking feminist morons, here, chew on this a bit:
Q: What do you tell a woman with two black eyes?
A: Nothing, you've told her twice already!
Q: Why do woman have smaller feet than men?
A: It's one of those "evolutionary things" that allows them to stand closer to the sink!
How do you know when a woman is going to say something smart?
A: When she starts her sentence with "A man once told me...."
With attitudes like these in society, who can deny that we have a long way to go?
This is a movie right?
Please join my facebook group "I won't support feminism because it is flippant about excessive alcohol intake."
Comparing excessive alcohol intake with rape? The last I heard, the former was not a crime.
oh look, a lesbian on youtube
-- "chauvinistpig69"
Any time a socially regressive person encounters some commentary from a woman feminist his first instinct is to call her a lesbian. What a way to ignore the possibility that said woman's actual thoughts and points and reduce it all to ad homineim sexuality. For the record, Courtney is not a lesbian, but even if she were, her points would still be worthy of response.
Some people tried to argue that date rape was being portrayed badly:
And that scene, while a bit surprising to me, doesn't reinforce date rape being a GOOD thing.
The whole movie shows how this guy is such an asshole and that he makes terrible decisions.
But the problem isnt' date rape being a GOOD thing, it's that RESPONSIBLE avoidance of date rape is portrayed as a BAD thing. The guy doesn't behave like an asshole in this scene, he behaves as someone who is making the RIGHT decisions-- and he's promptly punished for it.
"Do women secretly desire to be brutally murdered but not fucked?
The feminest in the video seems to give that empression."
Cept I wouldn't even want to go near that stupid bitch's cunt in that feminists video with my dick or anyone's elses for that matter.
.
Whoops. Shame on me for calling that woman a "stupid bitch" and her naughty bit a "cunt". But in her case, the label fits.
Threaten violence, and use crude profanity, wonderful.
Perhaps this will all blow over. One commenter noted that
Saw the movie last night - VERY few laughs in it overall. The audience didn't seem shocked, either - just bored. This will be gone from the theaters after a week or two. Rogen's upcoming film Funny People looks like a stinker too.
After a while, the comments got a little more thoughtful. But half the people defending the movie were like "There's no way ANYONE could possibly see this as an endorsement of date rape," and the other half were saying things like "It's not really rape, she deserved it" or using profanity or threats. Nothing could be more contradictory. If you society is so enlightened and morally pure that films that have regressive messages can't affect audiences, then what's with the profanity and threats? What's the most troubling is that comments like the above should be shocking, but aren't. Whenever a woman or feminist calls out sexism, the online comments where anonymous users feel free to express their true thoughts are filled with blatantly misogynistic and sexist remarks. This is not about laws but about attitudes. With comments like the above so prevalent in society, doesn't it show we have a lot further to progress?