“You don’t have to be a rapist to have that bad boy rapist style”
By Louise Livesey | 28 January 2009, 17:04
OK so I admit this was first put up on YouTube in September 07, but I only just heard about it. Apparently it was promoted by Maxim magazine. Oh and he’s also done “paedophile beards” which he describes as “the look women can’t get enough of”.
I’m sorry but did someone confuse “edgy” with “senselessly insulting” again?
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Aimee said:
I think this is trying to be witty and satirical... y'know, making a "statement" and what not.. I just wonder why they always have to be aimed at men!? Can't women enjoy a good joke too? Or do they always have to be the butt of them?
Posted on 29 January 2009 at 8:08 AM
Ledh said:
it's a joke. Jon Lajoie makes this type of movies about a lot of stuff. 'breathing' to avoid death and death-related symptoms, and 'being gay'. I think it's rather funny :)
Posted on 29 January 2009 at 10:54 AM
Aideen said:
Do I lose my feminist credentials if I think the paedophile beard was funny?
Posted on 29 January 2009 at 10:56 AM
Louise Livesey said:
I am not sure it works on the level of a joke.
I am not sure that it clearly enough sends up the idea that rapists and paedophiles are easy to spot - initially it feels like it might but then it goes on to insist that women are attracted to/sexually aroused by rapists (he doesn't go so far as to make the assertion that children are attracted to paedophiles but does say women are which seems strikingly wierd).
Second it implies that the best way for men to structure their interactions with women they find attractive is to pose as a sexual threat - surely we need to be moving away from a notion that power, coercion and force are a central part of heterosexual relations.
I also wonder about the implicit message communicated about rape and abuse survivors - it suggests to me that he believes, or believes it's OK comedically to suggest, that women who are raped are actually secretly attracted to some pitiful stereotype of a rapist. Victim baming any?
Posted on January 29, 2009 11:56 AM
Laura said:
I actually think one could read it as sending up all the ideas you mention above, Louise: the joke could lie in the falsity of the culturally popular idea that women are attracted to sexually predatory and dangerous men. On that level I find it funny.
But tbh I think he's probably just making a rape related joke because its the done thing atm. Which is lazy, unfunny, and insensitive to rape victims.
Posted on 29 January 2009 at 12:59 PM
This Girl said:
I think it's funny. Sue me.
It's clearly sending up the popular notion that you can tell a rapist by their appearence. If anything this is a positive thing, at least in my opinion.
It's a light-hearted joke. I certainly don't think John Lajoie intends to be offensive to women AND I think there are far better targets for our ire than this. Check out his 'Show me your genitals' clip on YouTube where he sends up the infantile phallocentricity of popular rap music. I nearly wet myself the first time I saw it ;-)
Posted on 29 January 2009 at 2:44 PM
Anna said:
I'm all for rape-related humour as the way I choose to deal with personal tragedy is to laugh at it. This just fails at being funny.
Posted on 29 January 2009 at 3:38 PM
Aimee said:
I think I agree with you all. I DO think it's funny... kind of... but "funny" always seems to be aimed at men and at the expense of women... I dunno...
Posted on 29 January 2009 at 3:57 PM
Shell said:
I think the harm is.... whether he realises it or not he's making a joke out of women who are raped etc, in saying guys should try to be like that.
I know he was trying to insult rapists etc... but joking it's a cool look to get the ladies?? When these women get raped?
Deadbeat dad, we don't need your comments ;/
Posted on 29 January 2009 at 9:19 PM
Cara said:
I am with This Girl & others. This is clearly satire.
It's sending up the idea that you can tell a rapist from his appearance...and that women are attracted to bastards. I certainly don't think it's implying that rape survivors are attracted to men who might/ will rape them again, either.
It's mocking the idiot type of guy who thinks in that way, i.e. women are only attracted to bad guys (aka Nice Guys).
Viewed in the context of Jon LaJoie's other videos, that is the way I interpret it, anyway.
(I don't think it's helpful to tell someone to 'get a life' because you disagree with them, though).
Posted on 29 January 2009 at 9:20 PM
Leigh said:
This is difficult because it's quite an ambiguous piece. We can't tell if he's being sexist or sending up sexist assumptions. I think that may be his failing as a comedian.
Posted on 30 January 2009 at 9:39 AM
Aimee said:
Yeah Louise. Stop being so concerned about being constantly belittled and undermined by people who are completely ignorant of their own priviledge not to be subject to just that.
*rolls eyes*... Why is it that when an issue doesn't directly effect someone, or they don't immediately agree that it's a problem then it's not important?
Posted on 30 January 2009 at 5:13 PM