MovieChat Forums > Hostel: Part II (2007) Discussion > What's with all the penis abuse in movie...

What's with all the penis abuse in movies these days?

posted 14 years ago by Capn_Kirk
46 replies | jump to latest

Ok, I'm a guy, and I've had my share of guffaws to a good penis joke or a well-timed blow to the nuts on screen here or there, but it seems lately that things have just gotten extreme and way out of hand. It's getting to the point where it's becoming something of a standard in movies for mature audiences, for Mr Willy to be humiliated, beaten, kicked, electrocuted, twisted, sliced, mangled, torn, shot, or (in the case of this movie and others) bitten off. I'm not talking about fringe cinema, extreme stuff has always happened there - I'm talking about mainstream movies. What's the deal here? I realize that most of these films are written and produced by men - do these guys hate their manhood so much that they want to defile and destroy it onscreen? Sure, there are contexts where it makes sense, or is even justified, but I think we've gone well beyond that and turned it into a twisted form of entertainment. I don't think women would stand for it if vaginas were routinely being shot, lacerated, impaled, sliced, burned etc with the same abandon. Yes, I know that has been depicted in movies before - and those movies are swiftly labeled as sick and mysogynistic - but these days it seems that it's all about Death to the Penis. What's going on?

"What happens to us in the future? Do we become @ssholes or something?"
- Marty McFly

[–] Sensi85 14 years ago

Read Freud and Camille Paglia. This will give you an idea of what's going on.

Male genitalia = symbol of male power.
Male power = symbol of inequality and oppression
Result = mutilation of the male genitals as "equality".

When feminists babble on about "inequality" and "male priviledge", this is what they're talking about, consciously or unconsciously.

I don't think this film can be singled out, though, any more than say, Cross of Iron. In both Hostel films, people of both sexes meet unpleasant ends. Teeth, however...now there's a different film entirely.

[–] Capn_Kirk 14 years ago

I'm familiar with the clinical/pychiatric analysis of the meaning behind actual and symbolic castration. That wasn't really my question - my question is why there's so much of it in films these days. It's a bit hard to believe that western women/feminists are feeling *more* oppressed now as opposed to 30-40 years ago. Also, while castration and mutilation are the worst of it, I'm also asking about all the ha-ha treatment which includes punching, kicking, electric shocks, burns, etc - often rendered in a comedic context or as action entertaiment (shooting, stabbing, etc). And finally, I'm asking, since it's still mostly men who are writing and producing this content: why? Do these men hate themselves, or feel that they are derserving of this kind or treatment? Why has this become an accepted form of entertainment? Would we be so accepting if women's genetalia were similarly beaten and mangled with such frequency in movies, and in the same context (i.e. righteous and/or comedic)? Please understand that I'm NOT suggesting that assault of female genetalia become the new craze, I'm just pointing out the double-standard.

WRT to Hostel II, Eli Roth - who is a complete hack, BTW - went on record in an Interview in 2007 as saying that he considered it a 'Feminist horror film' - obviously the cutting of the penis is what he was saying there - I can't see what else he could of meant, as the rest of the movie was pretty much a by-the-numbers regurgitation of male and female stereotypes. So I probably would single it out as a direct attack, as well as being a generally loathsome and incompetent POS, male hatred aside. I've posted a thread similar to this on the Teeth board and I'm quite aware of that film. There are thousands of others, and you can find hundreds just by searching keywords like "castration" and "severed penis" and whatnot, and those are just the ones where someone bothered to link them to those keywords. How do other men - and women - feel about this?

"What happens to us in the future? Do we become @ssholes or something?"
- Marty McFly

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] cwriter23 14 years ago

Yeah i agree, there is too much emphasis on castration in horror movies today. It's pretty obivious that these movies are playing to angry women. (no surprise the level of sexual violence is at an all time high. hint. hint.) Anyway, i'm going to go out on a limb, but just listen. Don't skip down. Read carefully.

Women were treated with greater respect twenty, thirty years ago. Yes, read that right. And... women were treated with a greater degree of diginity in the 1940, 50's. Before women's rights.
I sense some teeth grinding.

Let me explain. The whole women's lib pushed for what? Equality. It should have been called "freedom of female sexuality." Women wanted all the rights availble to men and in the area of sexuality they wanted to be seen as equally sexual. And sexually aggresive. Alright... However true it is that women before the 60's were seen as only "house wives" it is also true that women were not seen as sexual objects. Now I'm not saying that women weren't depicted in this light prior to women's lib. Just not as much.

Think about it: how often do you see half naked women in provocative poses on billboards? Commercials? Music videos? Movies? Magazines? Bumper stickers? Random signs? Getting tired yet?

How many times do you see half naked men displayed in this manner? Almost never.

You realized what happened? Think: 1950's. Think: 2010.

Women wanted so badly to be sexually liberated that they are now in sexual bondage. (not that kind of bondage)

By appealing to open display of their sexuality they unknowingly appealed to men's number one impulse: to desire attractive women.

Women want to be desirable correct? Men want to desire correct? And for many generations prior to women's lib we, as a people, understood that this was the way human beings work. The family unit. And children come later. Nursery ryhme stuff guys come on.

However, women's lib pushed women to be openly sexual, skin on display. But now the difference was that female sexuality was for show. It was deemed old fashioned for men to become attracted to women, start a relationship etc, etc.
Bear with me here.
The whole "woman on display" thing during the later portion of the 60's and later, the 70's ruined everything. Bluntly, put: women wanted to tease men. And men obligied right? Sure why not? Now came the rise of Playboy etc. "We get to look at women all we want yay! And they like it yay!"
But this becomes very, very frustrating doesn't it? Guys?
Women's lib says: Look at me, but no touching."
And time marches on and we're so used to seeing women on display that they become less of a person and more of our own private show. And some guys take this type of thinking to their relationships. And women get angry.
But they still don't get what happened. And neither do we.

We still encourage this modern American sexual torment.

Long story straight: You can't play with people's sexuality.

Women are now very angry. "Guys are pigs, guy's are disguting et. etc." I hear it all the time. (23 year old male) Well guess what?

What do you expect?

And the sad thing is guys. Most of us don't know what the hell to do. We sit back, we mock our own sexuality. We've tried so hard to appease that we know not only hate ourselves, but we are afraid. And probablly frustrated, but we don't realize it.

[–] bwconk 14 years ago

An interesting read, though I would like to comment on this:

no surprise the level of sexual violence is at an all time high. hint. hint.

Off the top of my head I can think of two reasons why this would be that have nothing to do with the sexualization of women.

First, the populace is more educated now than it ever was about what constitutes sexual crime. There has also been an emphasis on things like date rape and statutory rape, two movements that likely would not have received the focus they have in a more "old school" chauvinist society. The advancement of women's rights has included power over one's body, which no doubt has lead to reports of abuse that would have gone unreported in the past.

The second reason follows the same logic of the advancement of women's rights and applies it to other groups. All minority groups, whether it be racial or sexual (i.e. homosexuality), have gained rights. Crimes that would either go unreported, were not believed, or were not pursued based solely on them being acted upon a minority group are much more likely to be investigated today.

There you have it, two reasons why the number of reported incidents of sexual violence would logically increase with the proliferation of women's rights, without the need for the actual number (adjusted per capita) of cases to increase. (And there are, of course, other possible reasons for the increase in sexual crimes that have nothing to do with women's rights/society's view of women: the increased urban settings--and the accompanying anonymity--the creation of ghettos, etc., again, off the top of my head.)

So while you certainly have an intriguing view of the women's movement, you might be careful of some of the assumptions you're taking as self-evident. After all, if the actual number of cases have not increased (or if that increase can be attributed to other, unrelated factors), then your entire argument is built on a faulty premise.

[–] hbenthow 14 years ago

Women were treated with greater respect twenty, thirty years ago. Yes, read that right. And... women were treated with a greater degree of diginity in the 1940, 50's. Before women's rights.

I agree. Many women who I know who lived in the 1930s-1950s, including my Mother and Grandmother, confirm this.

Think about it: how often do you see half naked women in provocative poses on billboards? Commercials? Music videos? Movies? Magazines? Bumper stickers? Random signs? Getting tired yet?

Well, women were very often portrayed in swimsuits and such all over the place (movies, magazines, etc) back before women's lib, and "Playboy" was not the first "girlie magazine", and pinups were very popular. Also, fairly short dresses, swimsuits, etc, were popular. However, it was in a different manner. Women were portrayed as more of the "girl next door" type, in a Norman Rockwell type of manner. They weren't very often portrayed as slutty or overly provocative.

However, women's lib pushed women to be openly sexual, skin on display. But now the difference was that female sexuality was for show. It was deemed old fashioned for men to become attracted to women, start a relationship etc, etc.
Bear with me here.
The whole "woman on display" thing during the later portion of the 60's and later, the 70's ruined everything. Bluntly, put: women wanted to tease men. And men obligied right? Sure why not? Now came the rise of Playboy etc. "We get to look at women all we want yay! And they like it yay!"
But this becomes very, very frustrating doesn't it? Guys?
Women's lib says: Look at me, but no touching."
And time marches on and we're so used to seeing women on display that they become less of a person and more of our own private show. And some guys take this type of thinking to their relationships. And women get angry.
But they still don't get what happened. And neither do we.

Since when is the "look, but don't touch" thing being used much anymore? The reason women are less respected these days is because they do allow "touching" much more than in the past.

[–] cwriter23 13 years ago

Seems strange to me that everybody picks on my comment instead of the other ones above mine. And that "look, but don't touch" thing? I hear women saying it all the time. Hell, I just heard it a couple days ago. And I saw it on a T-shirt. For whatever that's worth.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] cwriter23 13 years ago

Pretty much yeah. I mean, anybody notice, its always the women that cut off the dicks of guys? Nope. From what I hear in Japanese anime, there's a lot of guys cutting off women's nipples. I wonder what feminists would say to that.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] cwriter23 13 years ago

Lol. I have a problem with it ALL dude. Torture porn in modern horror; even graphic depictions of violence in general outside the realm of horror films. If its pointless. And no, Chucky, I don't watch any of that stuff. I prefer non-violent horror. You know what they say about assumptions....

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] cwriter23 13 years ago

Thanks. Yeah, I saw some of the movie. Hated it. Looked it up. Saw this post. Made one myself. Ran into you. And the rest is history.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] cwriter23 13 years ago

Lol. Yeah, a friend of mine thinks like that too. We always argue over movies.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] cwriter23 13 years ago

Remakes Chuck, remakes. Bah humbug, original or nothing.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] grinch031 13 years ago

Name ONE movie in the history of movies where raping or torturing a woman is considered a heroic act?

[–] isolated_ions 13 years ago

excellent point... and yet ChucksCherubs or whatever hasn't responded to you yet.

[–] lornamd-1 13 years ago

"Name ONE movie in the history of movies where raping or torturing a woman is considered a heroic act?"

The film Vixen depicts the attempted rape of the main character as being deserved (the director says himself that she has it coming), Evil Under the Sun ends with a woman who is taking off to be hanged being smirked at by the good characters, blinding Elle Driver in Kill Bill, Rhett raping Scarlett in Gone with the Wind, James Bond raping Pussy Galore and if you allow tv Dexter tortured to death several women.

The murder of that man at the end wasn't acceptable because he was a man just because he was a brutal killer just like Axelle, Natalya, Svetlana and the man who killed Josh. Hostel 2 is the only film I've ever seen of a man being castrated so it is hardly a widespread thing.

What Eli Roth meant by it being a feminist film is most likely that a woman was tough and clever enough to get out and survive against the odds (albeit also rich enough).

[–] mfentruck 13 years ago

Pretty much yeah. I mean, anybody notice, its always the women that cut off the dicks of guys? Nope. From what I hear in Japanese anime, there's a lot of guys cutting off women's nipples. I wonder what feminists would say to that.

WHO GIVES A CRAP!!! God, you sound like a whiny baby.

"If it bleeds, we can kill it."

[–] cwriter23 13 years ago

Apparently you do cause you bothered to look this up, scroll through this thread and post a reply.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] cwriter23 13 years ago

And by the way Chuck, you'd be surprised to hear the comments of a few female friends of mine have made after seeing Hostel. Especially Teeth. Yeah, they're pissed off.

[–] zds79 13 years ago

So what were the comments? WTF?

...and Cannibal Holocaust and I Spit on your Grave were loppin off puds decades ago...this is nothing new.

[–] TalesfromTheCryptfan 13 years ago

Ever seen Cannibal Ferox or Cannibal Holocaust?

"Killer Klowns from Outer Space? Holy S***"

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] NumberOneHoffBunny 13 years ago

I worked as a dominatrix for a period of time, and not just your light fuzzy handcuffs and feather stuff. I belonged to a club locally called "The Edge" which specializes in edge play (which includes knives, blood, needls, even one guy did cruxifiction, I do not lie I saw this myself) now there is a reason why I am telling you this.

I was really into learning about medical play. As I am a lesbian I never had sex with any of the men I dominated (That was part of the fetish and arousal for them, getting off on the fact that I hated them and only wanted to abuse them) made good money off it too, 100 to 150 dollars an hour. A dominatrix who caters to the more dark side of fetishes is in high demand. The only thing I refused to GIVE were roman showers or brown showers (Google exists for a reason if you have no idea what I am talking about)

Back to the point I was trying to make. I had more than a few male clients that had castration fantasies, and even more who were into CBT (To put it nicely, that means torturing the penis and testicles and I do not mean just a mere pinching or slapping, it got rough, electroshock was involved a lot, but keep in mind the men PAID for this and sought it out for me to do it)

Getting back to castration fantasies, I had a sub who actually wanted me to remove his testicles in the most painful way possible. Of course that is something I would NEVER do, you couldn't pay me enough for one, as that's just over the line and two even if you found the right sum of money to get me to do it the legal contracts and hoops you would have to jump through to satisfy me that I would not be sued afterward would be staggering. So I played his game, threatened his balls, knife play was involved, nothing permanently damaging but he really got off on it.

That being said, when I did see this movie (I was still in the fetish line of work) and as much as it disgusted me and made me cringe my ass off watching it, it made me wonder how many men were watching thinking this was the ultimate fantasy come true. I am not saying that this castration and CBT fetish is off the hook popular, but you would not even BELIEVE the number of men I came in contact with that sought me out through word of mouth, referrals, and internet ads, who would pay me sick amount of money to step on or kick them full force in the balls. Hell I couldn't believe it, the work paid my rent and a whole bunch of luxury items for years. Then I got into a serious relationship, my girl wanted me to stop, I did, and after we broke up I just never got back into it.

It is very possible that Eli Roth was living out some sort of erotic fantasy. I know that you are thinking either that this is sick or that I am making this stuff up, but really, google CBT (Cock and Ball Torture not the psychological procedure) you will fine sites and images of an unimaginable nature, and there will be hundreds of them if not thousands. I was even privvy to an underground video of a (supposedly real) self castration. I mean special effects being what they are these days I'm sure it could have been faked but if it was, then it was done VERY well (and trust me I watch A LOT of horror movies, underground and legit so I am more apt to say when something is MORE realistic than something else)

So my only response to your question is that it's quite possible that this is a fetish making it into mainstream cinema.

When in doubt, God prays to Hoffman.

(And yes I am FEMALE!)

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] Rainbowboys22 13 years ago

Think of this, in the usa. Baby boys are cut up on a whim. Girls are not. It is burned into our heads cutting up boys junk is okay and acceptable but dont dare think about doing it to a girl.

[–] code_999 13 years ago

ya.. penis in any form should not be in Hollywood but Hollywood is run by a bunch of girls.

naked male or female should only be in porn. the end.

[–] honeyblood 13 years ago

I think it is mainly because in most Hollywood films (I see it is much less the case in foreign films)males are more often the "bad guy" so the characters who get their so called "revenge" take it out on the douche bag's manhood!!!

I'm a female.. and I'm all for a male cutting off a woman's boob...or er..whatever the parallel is :P if she is torturing/raping/attempting to kill him :)

....ah I love the revenge part of films hehe.. no matter the gender, I love seeing characters I hate in pain ;)