This is so sick and wrong I hardly know what to say. Apparently Quentin Tarantino’s character from the new Grindhouse movie Planet Terror, Rapist Number One, is being made into a toy to be sold at Toys R Us stores across the country. In what sick universe is it okay to celebrate a rapist (even if it is Tarantino) by making him into a toy!
So there are rumors that the Toys R’ Us thing is just a publicity stunt to help save a failing movie. So what. Others defend Tarantino as a brilliant filmmaker. I could really care less. I’m not a fan and there is nothing that could ever justify making a rapist doll.
What? Should moms be trying to teach their daughters early that since 1 in 4 of them will be sexually assaulted they need to just get used to it? “Here sweetie is Rapist #1 to play with your Barbies and Bratz. And just fyi its their fault for wearing miniskirts if he’s forced to rape them.”
Okay, so I know that this isn’t meant for children. But its no worse than having it sit on the shelves of Hot Topic shopping loner teenage boys who fancy themselves misunderstood artists. Perhaps we wouldn’t have to teach our daughters to fear men if the boys were actually taught to respect women – wouldn’t that be a novel idea…
Trivializing violence against women in this way just allows for the problems to continue. People freak out at the term “feminist” as if its a bad thing. If you call yourself a feminist you get dismissed by most levels of society. But it’s apparently perfectly fine to to see rape as entertainment or at least call this a harmless joke (and get pissed off that all the feminists are so enraged by it).
And some people wonder why I talk about stuff like this so much. Twisted crap like this is out there – sexism is still the norm for a lot of people. And I will continue to do everything in my power to put an end to it.