Comments on: Sexism Watch: Date Rape Gets Mainstream Film Release

By: sevedra

sevedra — Fri, 08 May 2009 09:14:16 +0000

I just wanted to stop by and say thank you for writing this. I did choose not to see this movie. I was a victim of date rape as a result of being intoxicated myself. It has been 19 years now. It took me well over 10 years to work through the PTSD. I can sleep at night cuddled with my husband. When we first married, he could not touch me in a cuddly way while i was sleeping because I would react very badly. Had I seen this movie, or any movie with a rape scene or date rape scene, I can not know that I would not start having trouble sleeping again. I appreciate that you went to the effort to warn women about this. Thanks

By: Melissa Silverstein

Melissa Silverstein — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 01:08:02 +0000

Don’t feed the trolls. They will go away. Thanks

By: Melissa Silverstein

Melissa Silverstein — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 01:05:06 +0000

I will look forward to seeing what you have to say on the film. I haven’t yet seen your review. I am conflicted about Anna Faris. I don’t think anyone should be punished for taking parts cause everyone needs to work, but she seems to really get off on these types of characters, characters that I find disturbing and unappealing. That’s just me. Lots of people like her movies. It’s a free country, I’m just giving my opinion.

By: Melissa Silverstein

Melissa Silverstein — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 01:00:05 +0000

Thank you so much for sharing.

By: Donna

Donna — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:37:31 +0000

Sarah: Funny… I thought “If you don’t think (rape is) funny, don’t pay ten dollars to watch it” was the main point of the post.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 18:27:41 +0000

Get over it, it’s a movie. No one sees this stuff and takes away lessons like “Hey, Seth Rogan is a good role model, I should date rape people too!” If you don’t think its funny, don’t pay ten dollars to watch it. Plain and simple

By: Cat

Cat — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:01:41 +0000

I can’t believe that people here are actually saying that this article holds no truth because the writer “only watched a trailer” and “didn’t look at the bigger picture.” Okay, so lets get this straight – drunk Seth Rogen character fucks a PASSED OUT DRUNK girl. How is this consensual by any means? I don’t care if she intended to have sex with him – any DECENT role model of a man would NOT have sex with her, no matter her original intentions, no matter his selfish desires. It’s like saying because a woman kisses a guy that she is automatically consenting to sex. What is wrong with society? It is illegal to have sex with an intoxicated person. Would you fuck someone in a coma? No. Its about the same damn thing though – you don’t have sex with people in compromised states of mind, whether it be intoxication or mentally.

Unfortunately, I can’t see this movie. I’m a survivor and I have PTSD – I have anxiety, flashbacks, sleepless nights, random pain, heightened fight or flight senses… You see, the thing is, this movie is basically making a joke of what happened to me. I guess I don’t find rape funny because well, my mind is always constantly trying to figure out why everything happened to me the way it did. I thought like anyone, I had the right to drink without being violated. My drink may have also been compromised, but you see, I don’t remember. I just remember bits and pieces. It eats away at me. The cop also didn’t believe me, even though I went to the ER like you’re supposed to, and there was evidence, but I got no justice. I guess he’s like Seth Rogen who also feels that any drunk person is begging for sex. I guess my PTSD is hilarious too. After all I did have to sacrifice college and now I can’t have normal relationship with my loving boyfriend who also doesn’t find this Seth Rogen flick entertaining (but maybe he should laugh at me while he deals with my PTSD on a daily basis.)

Anyone who finds this movie entertaining is disgusting and obviously doesn’t know a rape survivor, and the long lasting mental and physical affects rape has on someone.

And thank you Melissa for writing this great article.

By: Bren

Bren — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 06:13:26 +0000

I don’t understand what boycotting does. Yes, Ronnie does rape her. He also shoots a man in the chest and kills 6 crackheads and beats up cops. But no one seems to mind that. I understand that rape is completely intolerable, but you say Seth Rogen is a rapist. He’s not. Ronnie is. He’s a character in a movie. Seth Rogen isn’t raping anybody. It’s fictional. No one sees Ronnie as a hero or someone to look up to. If anyone here actually saw the movie (which I did) you would understand the whole purpose of the movie. The film is very concerned with masculinity and its effects on the mind. It shows how disturbed Ronnie is and it’s NOT okay to be like him. It’s a movie and it’s not the first movie to show date rape. No one thinks that rape is funny, let alone from this movie. It shows it as sad and pathetic and wrong. That’s what the movie is saying. It’s saying that Ronnie is NOT a hero because of the things he does.

By: Tammy Ponville

Tammy Ponville — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 00:09:47 +0000

Great job “standing up” for the rest of us. It makes me proud to know that you became fully informed before you started writing. Oh, what’s that? You haven’t watched the scene in the full context of the film? You only watched the trailer? Oh, good. It’s exactly the same thing, don’t worry.

That’s like me saying Melissa Silverstein only writes snap judgment articles, pulling info from her first Google search. I won’t do that though, since by the merit of reading one article alone I can’t tell she’s a hack.

By: Meredith

Meredith — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 19:03:34 +0000

Thank you so much for writing this. I actually considered seeing that movie and I’m so glad that now I won’t have to face the embarrassment and trapped feeling of being triggered in a public place. I do have PTSD and there are a lot of triggering “jokes” or inappropriate uses of the word rape in the media. People act like it is completely trivial and meaningless and I’ve even lost FEMALE friends because they say they don’t get how a word being used inappropriately, or a joke could be triggering. This is the best explanation of that shock you get when you think you’re going to be able to see something funny and get a break from being “abnormal” or “traumatized” and then you get blindsided.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 11:32:14 +0000

Answer me this:

What is entertainment?

Do we really need it?

I thank you for your response. :p

By: Observe and Report’s Date Rape Controversy - Majority Post

Observe and Report’s Date Rape Controversy - Majority Post — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 22:32:45 +0000

[...] film Observe and Report has sparked outrage with a date rape scene, which Melissa Silverstein has commented thoughtfully on, excerpted here: …there for all the world to see is Seth Rogen raping the passed out Anna [...]

By: spielster

spielster — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 21:15:56 +0000

Melissa,

I am conflicted with this because from what I have read, Faris said that her character purposely got to annilated in order to have sex with him. I have yet to see the film and will be doing so this weekend, and plan on presenting my review on my site.

I just hope that in these circumstances we would look at the full picture, not just a trailer or the assumption that this is a laugh a minute comedy, like the ridiculously wrong advertising is attempting to convince us it is. Everyone has the right to be offended and women do need much greater opportunities within movies, but I would hate to see Anna Faris being dogged for this if she thought this was an interesting step for her career.

By: kristin

kristin — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 19:02:08 +0000

kelly is exactly right. sure, she says ‘why are you stopping’, but if you are drunk and/or unconscious, you are in no way giving consent. and sex without consent is rape. period. that’s absolutely no way around that.

and let’s think about who has the power to make these blockbuster films, and what happens to films that try to legitamtely empower women in any way. who are the people making these films? and what is the content they produce? so yes, we can say, oh go make your own movie, but that is so incredibly weak to say, given that anything i would make for example, would never ever make it to the big screen like this movie – i lack the resources, the social and economic capital to make that work. period.

By: Megan

Megan — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 01:31:16 +0000

I think you’re right on, Melissa. What scares me about this new genre of stupid sexist flicks is that this is what teenage boys and young men are watching – and is one of the places where they’re learning what it means to be in relationship with women. This normalizing sexual assault, making it into a joke, is exactly what’s wrong with the media we’re offered today. It’s anemic, unimaginative, violent, sexist crap. It’s why we need more women filmmakers. Thanks for a great post.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 01:05:22 +0000

“What a joke” Even if she didn’t say no, it was rape because he started having sex with her while she was blacked out. She was clearly intoxicated, having just thrown up all over the place, and intoxicated to the point of blackout=no consent. That is the law. When you are that intoxicated you lose the capacity to make an informed decision, and because he started having sex with her while she was unconscious she never was given the chance to make that decision. Regardless of whether she later wakes up and decides that she wants to, it was rape from the beginning because it started while she was unconscious, he didn’t give her the chance to make that choice by waiting until she was conscious and sober. Their addition of the “why are you stopping” line does nothing to change the fact that it is rape, because she wasn’t allowed to make that statement before the sexual encounter happened. College guys all over are already doing this very same thing, and movies like this just make that act more socially acceptable.

By: Movie goer

Movie goer — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 20:17:04 +0000

Hey, wake up “what a joke”! its a movie with writers that put that crap in, of course they are going to write in “why are you stopping” how else are they going to justify their scene? Not interested in making my own movie, got a job thanks, that is why I pay for someone else to do that. Enjoying life too, just a little selective about what constitutes enjoyment…rape scenes just aren’t up high on my list.

By: What a joke

What a joke — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 19:59:06 +0000

You have got to be kidding me. The old no means no still sticks. She never says no, but instead says “why are you stopping…..” This is not date rape by any means, she made stupid decisions and decided to make a more stupid decision by sleeping with him. Women have more rights than men do now so stop bitching, enjoy life, and relax. If you don’t like what they put in this movie, then make your own movie.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 19:55:07 +0000

For those of us who have a sense of humour and intelligence; we understand that equating rape with art or comedy is crossing a line that does not enhance either of the two. There is nothing funny about rape and knowing that comes with a compassion and maturity these people who made the film and those that defend it lack. Comedy done well, wouldn’t need to go down the road of date rape being a bankable laugh.

By: Ennetee

Ennetee — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:51:25 +0000

I linked to this with some choice comments of my own.

Sigh.

Will also send this over to Shakesville for a head’s up.

Ennetee