Dan Fishback: Confront popular culture

[Charlotte Bisland/The Daily Pennsylvanian]

When I look at a magazine rack, I don't set it on fire. I roll my eyes -- not because I believe some media does not deserve to go up in flames, but because it would be pointless to attack. It would be like throwing pebbles at a tank. Mass media is too powerful. It's too omnipresent.

So people like me, people who are sick and tired of seeing women reduced to objects and orifices, people who resent the constant assault on our senses and sensibilities -- people who care -- turn into people who groan, people who shrug, people who roll their eyes. We've become desensitized to our own anger and brush it aside just as we do these dehumanizing images of our sisters.

A whole nation of white youth subculture bases itself almost entirely on a rejection of these ideals and the mainstream marketing machine that spawns them. Aloof and sedentary, the most these kids do to attack the beast is mock it, pastiche it, parody it and deliver it reflexively back upon themselves. They are effectively immersed in the same images they reject, pretending it's all just a joke.

In lieu of a promising strategy against media misogyny, we resort to lame irony. It's defeatist, and it's understandable. The monster is just too big.

The nice thing about college campuses, though, is that they're usually a microcosm for the larger corporate/political world -- particularly this college campus. You have your ominous administration, your tiny groups of largely-ineffective radicals and, perhaps most importantly, you've got the media.

And it's run by students.

It's not the impenetrable fortress of the Big Five corporations. So when it screws up, you can put aside aloofness, irony and defeatism -- you can do something about it.

Some people are.

Recently, after 34th Street magazine ran a few flippant, revolting "jokes" involving rape, students got fed up and made noise. They organized, they sent e-mails, they printed flyers and they have scheduled a public forum for Wednesday to air complaints about The Daily Pennsylvanian and 34th Street.

Their point, shared by many, is that 34th Street, despite occasional insights and occasional wit, often resorts to immature, misogynistic humor. Somewhere along the line, someone decided that sexism alone equals comedy. Someone figured that depictions of prejudice and stupidity are inherently satirical even if they lack comment, condemnation or even a punch line.

The intent might be benevolent or an aloof parody. The jokes might come from the same ironic resignation that prevents me from attacking newsstands.

But they don't work. They just deify the very phenomena they are supposed to attack. Not only is such a comedic platform insulting and often intensely hurtful, but it's just not funny.

If you present something horrible, you're not necessarily presenting it as horrible -- particularly if you do it over and over again. Repetition matters.

And that's how the now-infamous rape "jokes" became infamous at all. They weren't just repulsive or hurtful. These "jokes" alone did not anger people. This was just a garish materialization of an atmosphere that people have apparently been sensing all along. This was just the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.

And that's why it is difficult to take an apology seriously. Whether or not they ever trivialize rape again directly, it seems that parts of 34th Street will always be written for immature, horny, heterosexual boys.

It will always present women as commodities, thus alienating and insulting Penn's women, while encouraging and empowering the more dehumanizing impulses of Penn's "men."

That is, unless we make it clear that rape "jokes" are only the worst examples of a larger, more serious problem. It isn't just an unfortunate oversight that much of 34th Street seems to speak directly to well-off, white, heterosexual men. It's part of a larger media phenomenon that addresses the sexual concerns of this group as its main subject.

Even media meant for heterosexual women addresses mainly the sexual desires of heterosexual men. It's this exaltation of the male libido that allows a rape culture to thrive. And our campus publications do not have to take part.

In her column last week, Hilary Moore wrote, "34th Street needs to change its attitude and approach on a long term basis." I concur and extend -- we should change our approach, too. We should follow the lead of responsive campus voices, speak up when we experience the unacceptable and do our best to positively influence the media around us while we still have a fighting chance.

Dan Fishback is a junior American Identities major from Olney, Md.

Comments (27)

wow there's a lot of feedback on this article. it seems that many penn students are concerned about male-female relationships. i ask, "have you had sex recently?" if you have not, you should be working on that instead of squaking bullshit over the internet. i happily indulge in said activity because i have crazy monkey sex four times a week, and that leaves me free to philosophize sans sexual preconceptions. in my enlightened state i declare, "make jokes that would shame a. crumb, then watch 'kids', then snort a couple rails and tell me what you think. rape is not funny, making fun of women is classic. fight back bitches. naked lunch nietzsche, amateur southern hemisphere quattroj@wharton.upenn.edu

Wow, I love how the evil misogynists and rapists always have to be "white" males. I'm surprised you didn't throw in "Christian" too, and oh yeah, upper class. Maybe you haven't looked at the facts, but the majority of rapists are BLACK MALES even though they make up much less of the population than white males. Maybe you should check out some crime statistics instead of whining like a weak little priss and blaming everything on the horrible white upper-class heterosexual Christians (who are the only ones capable of wrong and the only ones who can be judged and disparaged apparently). You are the biggest hypocrite, always judging and criticizing everyone - not everyone, only white male hetero-Christians of course because no non white male hetero-Christian could have done "wrong" - else (this time for laughing at a joke they didn't take seriously), while you cry when someone actually judges you for your disgusting lifestyle. The sad thing is that you probably think that you are open minded. I know it's hard for you, but be a man. If you are going to dish out your prissy little crap, be willing to deal with other people's opinions and don't have the urge to burn media items like they are yesterday's bloody-ass aids infested underwear. Goaphuk Yerscelph goaphukyerscelph@altavista.com

I think all of Fishback's points about misogyny, racism, and homophobia on Penn's campus were proven quite clearly in the response posted by Goaphuk Yerscelph. Perhaps Mr. Yerscelph should double check his statistics on the race of most rapists. Last time I checked, the majority was overwhelmingly comprised of white men. Catherine, Student Penn

i could have sworn this column was written by Hilary Moore last week-- must the DP columnists this semester be so completely redundant [with themselves and each other]? it really makes the page a pain to read when no one has anything new to add and has to refer to their fellow columnists topics-- if they want to concur and extend, they can feel free to post online feedback-- don't waste the DP ink. wow

What the semi-humorously named poster above fails to do is rebut Fishback's points without mucking his own credibility in the process. Anyone with a good view of our mass media that is not suffering from a University-induced victim fantasy can say rather easily that our mass media is, in fact, powerfully feminine. Hardly any film or television show can succeed without a female audience, aside from unavoidable exceptions such as wrestling, almost all of which are not taken seriously. Women's magazines sanctify the male libido, and men's magazines do the opposite. What Fishback falls victim to is the same sort of victim mentality that magically transforms a Christian prayer group on a campus into the Gestapo. It's that sense that the oppressors of yesteryear are somehow persecuting everyone just by being around that destroys most of our chances for open dialogue. However, in regards to what 34th street did, I can only say that, as former Ed in Chief of Punch Bowl, they can rot in hell! I believe there can be such a thing as humor about rape, but it requires compassion, and a sense of identification with the victim, not the criminal. Scott Ganz, Alum, Writers' Assistant L.A. doctorsuarez66@hotmail.com

About 81% of rape victims are white; 18% are black; 1% are of other races.[Violence against Women, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Justice,1994.] Lucy, Student Penn

1) Dan's article is not redundant to Hilary's 2) How is it "over doing it" when Women and/or minorities get two editorials in one week? How many lame "news" articles were printed about John Fry last week? 3) If you're so concerned, put your money where your mouth is and show up for a community discussion: MEETING WITH VPUL / DP / COMMUNITY MEMBERS WEDNESDAY, FEB 27th 6:30pm CALL WOMEN'S CENTER FOR LOCATION (215) 898-8611 Things to Do email@email.com

Things to do, YOU ARE A MORON. John Fry leaving Penn is second to only Judy Rodin leaving Penn -- it's that big of a story. Just because you haven't heard of him (because you're a moron) doesn't mean he shouldn't be written about. In fact, he SHOULD be written about. If Judy left, do you think there should be just one article about her? MORON. Z

Z, how many of those "news" articles about John Fry looked critically at his time here? How many of those "news" articles investigated the issues of Tramell-Crow? Regardless of how the DP remembers him, this community will remember him as the man who fired hundreds of African-American community members. Where did the DP mention that? This "MORON" wants to know how the DPs "important" coverage addressed the complicated issues of "the second most important" Penn leader? Things to Do Things To Do email@email.com

Fishback's faggeddy comments are unappreciated and ridiculous in both thought and action. Of course 34th Street caters to "white male heteros." We make up the majority of the population. Censoring content is a communist notion and should be restricted to communist or fascist societies. 34th Street should not censor their rape jokes. Rape itself may in fact not be funny but jokes are by design humourous. I suggest Mr. Fishback change his opinion to mine, which is much less radical and more practical. You don't live on a cloud Danny boy. hetero

to hetero...the least dan would have done would have been to spell faggoty correctly...then again why would we expect an uneducated, ignorant, and obnoxious person like you to know something like that. homo, Alum hmmm homo@homo.com

Hetero- How can White, Heterosexual Males POSSIBLY make up a majority of the population, when over 50% of the population are women?????? The fact that you assume you are a majority is proof that you're domination is blindingly unaware! Jill

Rape is not funny. Mild sexism is. JDG jljelj@otk.com

Oh, and for the racist guy who posted first--- the majority of rapists are NOT black men. 78% of rape victims are white. 90% of rapes are between people of the same race.... Therefore the massive majority of rapists in America are actually white. These are Department of Justice Statistics. Jill

I don't feel that the writers at 34th Street should be censored or shut down- I feel that many people are ignoring the real issue by citing statistics and arguing over which races commit rape more often than others. None of that was even remotely part of Dan's argument and it all really has nothing whatsoever to do with the real problem with 34th street's writing. I am a humor writer. I am also a rape survivor. And to be honest, the thing that i was most offended about in 34th street's last issue was not the fact that they trivialized and ridiculed rape, but the fact that they viewed that as humor writing to begin with. The real problem is that they are unoriginal, terrible writers who mistake insults and poor taste for humor. They have nothing clever or intelligent to say, they obviously don't have any real writing talent to speak of, so they turn to the easiest thing to get a cheap laugh- shock value. They're not funny. To be honest, 34th street hasn't been really intelligent or witty in a long time (not since my freshman year- I miss Gary Kiang!). Yes, they were insensitive. Yes, they were self-centered assholes. But hey, so are a lot of people in this world, and if you want to survive you have to just learn to suck it up and deal with it. You can't go crying to the powers that be every time someone says something that upsets you or pisses you off. People have the right to say what they want to say, no matter how stupid or infantile it may be. To censor them would be just plain wrong- they didn't do anything illegal. Offensive, yes. Reprehensible, yes. But certainly not worthy of censorship. The best weapon you have is just not to read it, and to encourage others to do the same. Once their audience has dried up, well, then, they'll thankfully stop writing their awful stupid drivel. So, basically, what I'm saying is that people are getting all over-sensitive and overblown over a bunch of kids who think that they're funny just because someone lets them print their crap in a school magazine once a week. They fancy themselves a group of bohemian, witty Village Voice-types, when to be honest, they're terrible, unimaginative writers. Maybe this will teach them to think a little harder and be a little more sensitive about the world around them. NYC Alum New York

Response to Hetero: I have just read your posting several times. You write with all the eloquence of a third grader scratching out his first "What I Did On My Summer Vacation" paragraph. I hope for the sake of our world that you are not a Penn student. The thought that someone in the Ivy League would argue "but jokes are, by design, funny," makes me tremble. And the "greatest disservice we can do to rape victims" is to criticize a University publication that trivializes rape? I hope you don't present yourself so foolishly on occasions when you are "man" enough to sign your name to your work (I know you need things spelled out -- what I'm doing here is insulting you because you're hiding behind anonymity -- and, by the way, anonymity means we don't know who you are). You also call Jill's assertion that more than 50% of the population is female an "accusation." It isn't. You're free to use a dictionary for the hard words. And how, I ask, do you suppose your threat of censoring rape victims (whatever THAT means) might come to pass? Will you be proposing legislation that denies all victims of rape the right to speak in a public forum? Oh, and then there's the dramatic, closing flourish: "Real times call for real solutions. Get smart." What solutions are you proposing? Which problems are you solving? What does any of this have to do with the rest of your disjointed, profanity-laced drivel? By the way, if you have questions about any of the big words I've used that I didn't already clarify for your reading level, please let me know. Erik Naft L'00 Pittsburgh, PA enaft@yahoo.com

So rape by Black men would be funny? By Jews? By gays? An hispanic woman left to die in her apartment when she tells her boyfriend she's not feeling romantic - that's a good punchline, but not if she's white? Your mothers, your sisters, your daughters - I'm sure they'll make for great laughs someday. I don't give a shit about your statistics. I don't care who does it, I don't care who takes it. It isn't funny. Transparent attempts by simple-minded, unloving, and unread number-mongers to derail what could have been an important and intelligent discussion aren't funny either. K-Piddy

Even going by your statistics, of 81% of rape victims being white, 18% black, and 1% other races, while 90% of victims are raped by their own race. First of all, Hispanics are grouped into the white category, skewing the statistics. Second of all, according calculations from data at www.fbi.gov, 90% of interracial crimes are committed by blacks on whites. It's safe to assume that blacks make up 13% of the population and commit at least 20% of rapes. Per capita and relatively speaking, black men are the most likely to commit rape. Maybe this is more of the reasoning the first poster had in mind. Jill is stupid

Jill - Can you point us to those statistics you give? According to this document: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/soo.pdf 52.2% of rapists (in prisons) are white, while 43.7% are black. (page 27) As "Jill is Stupid" pointed out, the "white" classification includes Hispanics, which may (but doesn't necessarily) skew the results. Dave dpheitzm@seas.upenn.edu

OK, here are some sites- there are loads, and I couldn't find one of the ones from before, but these offer the same kind of info: http://www.watervillerape.org/statistics.html http://abc.eznettools.net/D302506/X329849/stats.html http://feminist.com/rainn.htm I know statistics are always deceiving, but Dave I think both yours and mine are probably correct... which says something about the arrest and conviction rates between black and white. The numbers on the first site here, are maybe the most shocking, since they talk specifically about the college experience... Hope this helps. Jill

Using statistics to prove a point, especially when discussing WHO commits acts of rape, is VERY problematic! MOST rape victims do not report their rapes, or have them dealt with at the law enforcement level, through which most of these statistics are being formulated! So, if you consider that most unreported rapes are acts of acquaintance rape, you really can't so easily discuss WHO most rapists are.....because the rapists that statistics discuss are more than likely those who are strangers to the victim, and those acts of stranger rape are the minority of rapes committed. Dee

In response to "homo": does it really matter if I know how to spell faggedy correctly?? It isn't even a real word, so shut the fuck up. Anyway, my point still stands and rings true. In response to Jill: White male heterosexuals are in fact the majority. Women are not over 50% of the population, and I challenge you to cite a single source to defend your accusation. The greatest disservice that can be done to rape victims is to censor other people. If we censor 34th Street, why wouldn't/shouldn't we censor rape victimes? Real times call for real solutions. Get smart. hetero

Dan, while right in criticizing Street's obnoxious attempts at getting laughs, resorts to his same tired lines about "white males" dominating both himself and women. Somehow the media, which is controlled by the "evil white male", is creating a "rape culture," as Dan puts it. What this terribly naive statement suggests is that the media is able to make people into rapists. Because certain magazines show pictures of women in skimpy outfits, men have now been driven towards rape. The truth is, rape is a violent act perpetrated by individuals who are sick in the head. Usually victims of abuse themselves, rapists are most often created by parents who were as brutal to them as they are to the women they rape. The notion that rapists are created by the white dominated media indulging male heterosexual fantasies is yet another attempt by Dan to inject his own feelings of being the "persecuted homosexual" into another one of his columns. The fact is, Dan himself is a white male, who happens to be homosexual. And what he needs to realize is that there are indeed people out there who are not going to accept that, because ignorant people can be found by the dozen, as can be demonstrated by perusing these forums. However, this is not an excuse for wasting a weekly column complaining about the domination by male heterosexuals over his life. Peace Mr. Peabody says: Favorite contradictory statement from Dan's article: If you present something horrible, you're not necessarily presenting it as horrible Try not using the same word twice next time Dan. Mr Peabody

Response to Erik Naft L'00: I have just read your posting several times. You write with all the eloquence of a third grader scratching out his first "What I Did On My Summer Vacation" paragraph. I hope for the sake of our world that you are not a Penn student. The thought that someone in the Ivy League would argue "You also call Jill's assertion...an 'accusation.' It isn't." makes me tremble. And the "big words [you]'ve used" is to criticize a University student who has more money now than you will slave away for during your entire career? I hope that you don't present yourself so foolishly on occasions when you are around other people. Which probably occurs quite infrequently. Judging on your disgusting response. hetero

Apology: "Hetero," I apologize. You didn't make it clear in your earlier submissions that you have a lot of money. Your drivel makes a great more sense now. Cheers! Erik Erik Naft L'00 Pittsburgh, PA enaft@yahoo.com