# Why is Violence against Men funny?



## Jetsune Lobos (Apr 23, 2012)

Sheep tend to follow, not think. 

Because thought eventually leads to deviation.


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## Duck_of_Death (Jan 21, 2011)

Arrow said:


> Why is Violence against Men funny?


Because the strange people on the television say so.


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## Mendi the ISFJ (Jul 28, 2011)

I dont think it has so much to do with the men as it does the woman being considered a weaker partner or the underdog, and who doesnt love to see the underdog win out? I dont think its fair, but in the oikos commercial he was being an ass. Perhaps there is a justification that the women involved put up with alot and then finally explode. Hard to say it should be reviewed on a case by case basis.


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## tangosthenes (Oct 29, 2011)

Well, look at it this way. Men are aggressive and more likely to invite pain(see testosterone), because they forget how bad it sucks(see testosterone). 

Then on shows like Jackass, when they actually get hurt, there is the joy of seeing someone stupid try to do stupid things and not get hurt, and they fail at this, because, fuck, that hurt and they are not so tough about it.

Women don't tend to invite pain(see estrogen) and want to induce harmony(see estrogen), being seen as primarily feeling types, and when they are in pain, one is less apt to see the humor.

You cannot deny that men and women are characteristically different on many levels, it's no good trying. Testosterone equals aggression and estrogen equals cooperation.


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## Narcotic (Jun 20, 2012)

Just to take a sidestep to the main argument, it can sometimes be really funny if a guy in a movie full-on punches a woman out as if she were a man. 

I think it's the shock value, but given the right setup (i.e. a really mean and irritating female character that has been giving the male character shit all the way through the show/movie) finally getting her just desserts, because she took the 'men can't hit women' maxim for granted, it can be quite jarringly funny to witness.

I'm struggling to think of an example, but I'm sure I've seen it play out many times before.


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## Subtle Murder (May 19, 2012)

(TW: discussion of rape in this comment)



Jennywocky said:


> I was kind of offended by her, although I'm not typically one to care either way. She really just needed to get her damned hands off him and respect his wishes, it got old really fast; she was exploiting her power over him as his expense.


The way I looked at it was: if that were a man doing that to a female employee, that shit would _not_ fly. So why should it be okay for a female to do that to a male employee? She was totally skeezy. :\ *shudders* And I seriously can't get over how many of my male friends were saying how hot she was in that film, or what an idiot that guy was for not "hittin' that". 

There was another movie too (sorry, just remembering this one now) with Ellen Page and Rainn Wilson where Ellen Page's character rapes Rainn Wilson's character. During that whole scene my male friends would not stop moaning about how hot Ellen Page was. I literally felt sick in the stomach. Then later on in the film, Liv Tyler's character is raped and they were all so appalled by it. I don't quite think they understood the former scene was a rape scene. :\

Read more here if you're interested:

http://lookatmygun.blog.com/2011/04/06/super-rape/


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## Jennywocky (Aug 7, 2009)

La Petite Sirène said:


> The way I looked at it was: if that were a man doing that to a female employee, that shit would _not_ fly. So why should it be okay for a female to do that to a male employee? She was totally skeezy. :\ *shudders* And I seriously can't get over how many of my male friends were saying how hot she was in that film, or what an idiot that guy was for not "hittin' that".


It seems there is definitely a gender divide on the issue. I can't assume it's all just sociological and learned, there's likely an interplay occurring. I would even say that 'rape' is experienced differently by genders even just due to average size concerns; an average male is typically larger and has much more upper body strength -> a woman can be physically held down and penetrated and impregnated with the rapist's child even if her body is not responding sexually to the rapist, while for a male there's much less physical vulnerability (far less chance she can overpower him without assistance of something), there's probably a conflict between mind and body (the mind is what is saying no and the body is just doing its thing), and afterward he's not the one liable to get pregnant. Even the biological imperatives seem to play into this, where the male body is designed to have sex and procreate many times, whereas for the female it's more about mate selection in terms of provision and thinking long-term. Someone mentioned hormones in this thread; there's a reason that once their babies are born, a male's testosterone level naturally drops, because it impacts behavior. Whatever the politics that are involved in arguments like this, those factors do seem to play into how people respond.

So it sounds like your male friends had that kind of underlying foundation for their response -- plus the reality that she likely would have been on the pill and regulating her own body, so they wouldn't even have to worry about getting her pregnant and becoming financially enmeshed. The male conflict seems to be more a war between conscious intellectual and emotional thinking vs autonomous body responses that would prep a male for sex he consciously doesn't want to be part of for whatever reason. Women seem more holistically consistent -- if she doesn't want sex, her mind, heart, AND body are against it.



> There was another movie too (sorry, just remembering this one now) with Ellen Page and Rainn Wilson where Ellen Page's character rapes Rainn Wilson's character. During that whole scene my male friends would not stop moaning about how hot Ellen Page was. I literally felt sick in the stomach. Then later on in the film, Liv Tyler's character is raped and they were all so appalled by it. I don't quite think they understood the former scene was a rape scene. :\


Wow. I don't think I've heard of this movie before. But again, see above.... I don't think social norms come out of nowhere... they're built in some way off "nature," otherwise the conflict between nature and nurture would eventually change the norm after prolonged conflict. In this case, nature is supporting the social double standard.

EDIT: I just went to IMDB to look up this movie and read the synopsis. There is no mention of any rapes anywhere in the blow-by-blow synopsis.

There is just this one line: "...When they return to his house, she [Ellen Page] makes a pass at him [Rainn], but he declines, stating he is a married man."

So now I'm confused, without having seen the movie.


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## Temur (Jun 14, 2012)

It follows the reasoning that, when a man cannot defend himself, it is a sign of impotence in his masculinity. That is really why its 'funny' when a man is victim of violence, because it is not the violence we laugh at, but his humiliation, impotence, and degradation as a man.


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## Abyss Soul (Jul 11, 2010)

*Why is violence against men funny?* 

This question is too vague to be definitely answered. Violence against men in what context? I mean I wasn't laughing while watching "Saving Private Ryan" or "The Patriot". You see, what we find humorous depends on the context and how the actions within it are executed, not so much the sex of the parties involved. 

Let's use an example to demonstrate the point: the classic kick-in-the-crotch joke. Why is this funny to us? To answer that question, we must first answer, what happens to the guy? In comedic films, he shows comical facial expressions (eyes and mouth wide open) and bends over and says something like, "oh mummy" or some shit like that. That's psychologically funny for two reasons: 1) because you can tell that he's not _seriously_ hurt and we resultantly laugh as a mechanism to release the built-up tension. 2) We develop a superiority complex because of the now perceived, comical situation. 

Okay, let's take the same kick-in-the-crotch example and switch the context to a horror setting. So, the guy gets his nuts kicked and instead of displaying comical expressions, he shows signs of severe and serious pain: crying, wincing (you start feeling sympathetic). And there's BLOOD stains all over that region. The background music is more grave and disturbing. Now, ask yourself, would you laugh at this? No, you wouldn't. 

So there you have it. Violence against men, women, and children (Scary Movie 3 and 4 are good examples of this) CAN be funny, if you do it right. It just depends on the context and how the actions are executed; there is no issue of sexism that I can see.


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## YOLOsodie (Jun 26, 2012)

I don't find it funny whatsoever, i think it's disgusting how society makes jokes about men's misfortune for ex: predominantly female talk shows can't go a day without slagging men off if it's their husbands or old work colleagues and they seem to get away with it, they is why i don't watch morning shows anymore it's degrading to half of the population.


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## Jennywocky (Aug 7, 2009)

YOLOsodie said:


> ...Predominantly female talk shows can't go a day without slagging men off if it's their husbands or old work colleagues and they seem to get away with it, they is why i don't watch morning shows anymore it's degrading to half of the population.


Yeah, I don't watch those shows, but I've seen some news articles come up every so often when the Gossipy Girls do their thing on the morning show channels and end up sticking both feet in their mouths. 

I mean, maybe generally these women and the repeat viewers bitch about their men when they get together, in private, by force of habit; but broadcasting it to millions of homes on a daily basis is completely different. They've gotten heady with their newfound power. Men, likewise, can have issues in how they talk about women...


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## gwennylou (Jun 19, 2009)

I don't find violence in any form funny regardless of who it happens to. I still don't understand why people think other people being injured is funny either.


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## Arrow (Mar 2, 2012)

GloriousEnd314 said:


> *Why is violence against men funny?* This question is too vague to be definitely answered.


That's because you have taken the question out of context. Obviously I wasn't talking about The Patriot or Private Ryan (war dramas which glorify death) when I approached this topic as you can see in the first two videos posted in this very thread. I'm asking why violence against men is often used as a comedic tool for laughs and why the violence implied in such context is considered funny.


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## EbonyTigger (Apr 13, 2012)

pinkrasputin said:


> I don't think violence against anyone is funny. I remember when I first saw the Pink video and I was really offended. I couldn't believe it was allowed to fly. I also can't stand that yogurt commercial just because it was so dang violent. I rarely laugh at violence but I'm glad you brought this topic up because I truly cannot stand those videos.
> 
> Violence of any sort is not okay. These videos are perpetuating a myth that it's okay for women to do this to men, when it's not. It's a criminal offense. We can't water that down. Videos like this aren't good for men or women.


I totally agree with this post @pinkrasputin


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## Abyss Soul (Jul 11, 2010)

Arrow said:


> Obviously I wasn't talking about The Patriot or Private Ryan (war dramas which glorify death) when I approached this topic as you can see in the first two videos posted in this very thread.


I know you weren't talking about them. I just randomly listed them as they were relevant examples for my point. 

I'll admit that I should've read your OP first; I shouldn't have responded so hasty and carelessly. But I did go back to the OP. The first yogurt video I actually thought was funny (for reasons explained in my previous post). However given that the second video (Pink) was a dramatic, musical video with a serious tone, I couldn't find any humor in it. 



Arrow said:


> I'm asking why violence against men is often used as a comedic tool for laughs


What you said in the OP is probably right as far as why it's acceptable for them to be used: it has to do with culture and what we think of masculinity. Some filmmakers don't want their name and reputation spoiled and so they follow suit with political correctness when writing the script. 



Arrow said:


> and why the violence implied in such context is considered funny.


I already explained some of the psychology behind this in the "kick-in-the-crotch" example of my previous post (please read it if you have not). In your first video, in would've been just as funny if the man head-butted the girl and she responded the exact same way...that is, as long as you weren't ultra-sensitive about it or didn't read "sexism" into it. Shit, Meg getting picked on all the time in Family Guy is humorous too. 

Why are people getting so sensitive in regards to the content of these types of media when humor was intended? It's reached a point in our culture where they have disclaimers at the end of comedies. It's pretty sad especially when you see it at the end of a fucking Three Stooges movie. *sigh*


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## Radiant Flux (May 7, 2010)

My uncle was driving on day and say this couple in the car. The man was driving, and the woman was screaming at him and actually PUNCHED him in the face! Twice! He didn't even report if or anything, but if it was a man punching a woman like that, he would've gotten out of the car and beat the shit out of that guy.


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## Persephone (Nov 14, 2009)

Why is anything funny? First, we should analyze the elements of humor. It always contains an element of surprise. The first time you hear a joke, it's the funniest. The second time, not so much, and so on. Secondly, surprise also consists of _not_ interpreting reality in a conventional manner, which is why a senses of humor is actually correlated with intelligence. So what's so surprising about a man being beaten up? Especially by a woman?

We should then turn to human behavior, and schadenfreude. In a sense, we humans are bullies: violent and cruel. Public executions and punishments used to easily be the biggest events around and it is obvious we take some pleasure in seeing violence or humiliation against others. Look at YouTube, and you will see lots of videos of people being abused or humiliated "going viral". We like this stuff.

So why is male genital mutilation (and humiliation in general) funny? We next turn to gender roles. Males are generally the aggressor. As an example of this, in Ancient Rome, a free man (a citizen) can only be the penetrator in sexual intercourse, and can penetrate slaves (male and female) and women. If he lets himself be penetrated and it becomes known, it is social suicide. In fact, society sees the male genitalia as a member of aggression, which is why men get raped as well. In some ways the Ancient Roman taboo has not died. A raped man is a man whose virility and power have been compromised. Being beaten up is one thing, but being beaten up by a woman, of the gender that is scripted to be weaker, more submissive and agreeable, is doubly humiliating. If there is any doubt that the male genitalia is symbolic of aggression, then recall eunuchs. Women don't make the decision to castrate eunuchs; (male) monarchs do, and in the past war prisoners, especially of the ruling class, have been castrated as a punishment, and castrated men (and in Byzantine society, blinded men, robbed of their sight, thus political sharpness) cannot have supreme power because they are seen as no longer worthy of being a man.

What is the deepest form of humiliation? I'm not sure about that, but one of them is surely sexual humiliation (removal of the sexual capital and pushing the victim from his or her gender role), and this is different for males and females. In the Netherlands during WWII, women who slept with or collaborated with the Germans for money or food were later publicly stripped and shaved (a woman's hair seen as a powerful sexual weapon) while the crowd jeered and mocked her. What essentially happened is that the vengeful crowd decided (perhaps unconsciously) that depriving her of her femininity is the highest form of humiliation. After all, a woman, in the traditional gender role, is supposed to be submissive, guarded of her sexuality, and pretty. In one stroke, they moved the most important parts of her sexual and social capital, making her no longer a "proper" woman, more into the whore (because everyone in the town has seen her naked) that they thought she was for prostituting herself to the hated Germans for food. For a man, a potent manifestation of sexual capital removal is castration or being bested- by a girl. Society, men and women, have little sympathy for those humiliated as such.

Lastly, feminism. Many women feel, and sometimes with good cause, that men have dominated the society for too long. In fact, even I have felt that some men are bullies, using the sheer weight of their presence to coerce me into certain things. A big cab driver once compelled me to give up 400 dollars and I couldn't refuse. And everyone likes to see the bully put in his place. Humans are conceptualizing and categorizing animals, and sometimes we can't distinguish between the bully and other men who share the same sex as the bully, just as misogynists and "nice guys" can't distinguish between the women they dislike and women in general. It is, however, still true that most domestic violence and murder (the most violent ones anyway) are perpetrated by men, and many women will experience male sexual or physical aggression at least once in her lifetime. I'm 19, and I've had a taste of it. Let's not forget that depicting violence against women is no longer politically correct. SOMEONE needs to get it. How can we go a day, as a society, without watching at someone's misery? After all, we no longer have public lynchings, burning at the stake, drawn and quartering...

So why is violence against men funny? Because humor is surprising, and with gender roles being so prevalent, men getting abused is a surprising reversal of it, we are bullies and voyeurs and love watching people getting abused, and feminism. It's complex and simple at the same time.


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## Arrow (Mar 2, 2012)

Persephone said:


> Secondly, surprise also consists of _not_ interpreting reality in a conventional manner, which is why a senses of humor is actually correlated with intelligence.


I think it's actually the opposite. Buy I see what you are saying. The consensus here seems to be that men (in general) deserve the treatment in someway because they are the stronger gender and thus it's not seen to be a true violation or source of pain and in some case their also seems to be an underlying note of misandry. It's funny in part because it's "deserved."


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## SugarForBreakfast (Jun 25, 2012)

Radiant Flux said:


> My uncle was driving on day and say this couple in the car. The man was driving, and the woman was screaming at him and actually PUNCHED him in the face! Twice! He didn't even report if or anything, but if it was a man punching a woman like that, he would've gotten out of the car and beat the shit out of that guy.


And it's that kind of double standard in our society which makes it possible for women to get away with abusing men far more often than men towards women. In my opinion, abuse of men is just as big an issue as abuse of women, it's just that men are more afraid to call the police and are even believed less. In fact, if a man makes a police call on his abusive wife, he's more likely to go to jail than she is.


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## Vaan (Dec 19, 2010)

Socially speaking males express themselves physically usually, which results in displays of bravado or daring to acts of stupidity of which we now see as funny. Humans are a ratther twisted species in that we are so accustomed to violence that just like policemen who have been on the job too long they have to joke about it in order to cope. If we stand back and see the world in we can really see just how messed up we are. Not them or those people standing over there but US, every single one of us is warped and twisted in some way and this follows through to society.

Females are becoming more and more violent as the years progress (Or perhaps the violence that was always there is merely being highlighted more?). I'm not sure but it could be good to see this violence because while desensitising, it allows us to accept the fact that we are not perfect, as compared to older days where if someone wasn't perfect they hid it and refused to adress the issue.


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