.authored by something.of.substance.

.if she's breathing, she's obviously into it.

Why do Seth Rogan’s characters seem to always have to get their dates black out drunk to have sex with them? In “Knocked Up”, Rogan and an (initial) one-night stand Katherine Heigl were both so drunk they couldn’t communicate the condom issue which landed them in the title mess. In “The 40 year old Virgin”, Rogan scored only with the fall-over drunk bar flies. Even Rogan, in an interview with Starpulse, acknowledges that he prefers his women unwilling to engage in any action: “I gotta say, they should make a support group together, Blonde Girls Forced to Have Sex With Seth Rogen in Film,” Rogen joked. “You’re in there, Anna [Faris]. Sorry.” Drunken “conquests” aside, the forced sex he has with co-star Anna Faris in their new movie “Observe and Report” sounds like nothing short of rape.

What’s at issue here is that pesky concept of “informed consent”. Without having seen the movie, I am approaching the questionable scene at-hand from the stand-point of film reviews, press interviews and public commentary. During the scene depicted by the above screen shot, Farris’ character is beyond intoxicated on a combination of alcohol and anti-depressants.  Escorted home by mall cop Rogan, she vomits before he goes in to kiss her and eventually ends up in bed where he has sex with unconscious, puking torso.  What makes the scene “OK”, according to Rogan, is that she wakes up mid-fuck to ask him: “Why’d you stop, motherfucker??”.  This, everyone involved is telling us, is her consent…and our reason to laugh.  I, personally, don’t understand what’s supposed to be funny.

A poll of readers on The Huffington Post suggests others are not so humorless as I when it comes to the comedy of consent.  In an article commentary of the same scene described here, 36.46% of respondents voted that this sort of sex is “…a JOKE people. Get upset about more important things” while only 29.06% of those polled sided with the other end of the spectrum tha “[T]otally unacceptable. It’s sick and wrong”.  To put those stats into words, over one-third of readers find rape funny always with nearly three-quarters of people finding it funny at least sometimes.

As a sexual assault victims advocate, I have yet to meet a sexual assault survivor or friend / family member of a survivor who finds date rape funny. In fact, quite the opposite. Usually the survivor is so filled with shame that she consumed intoxicants in a culture which doesn’t expect that kind of outrageous behavior out of “proper” ladies , that she is hesitant to even report what happened, fearing she’s to blame.  And, if the survivor is male, the shame comes not only from our society’s intolerance toward same-sex interactions,  but the feeling that participating in a traditionally testosterone-condoned pastime of heavy drinking resulted in their victimization, effectively further “feminizing” them.  Either way, the point is it’s shameful to drink and be female (or handled like one).  The “love” scene in this movie goes further to victimize women by making it seem as though, no matter what state of consciousness, she should (and would!) always want it.  Making a poorly-timed mockery of a crime which occurs to  over 80% of females in this country isn’t a laughing matter.

But, as website The Frisky points out, what is Seth Rogan teaching the millions of teenage boys who will sneak into this average Joe comedy?  Ours is already a culture which condones and even glamorizes rape.  If this scene were part of a dramatic movie without the one-liner from Anna Farris to supposedly muck-up the consent issue, everyone would have no trouble agreeing what Rogan does is at least wrong, if not criminal.  But, because he’s supposed to be funny and the movie is billed as a comedy, the audience expects to laugh; date rape plus body fluids equals guffaws from discriminatiing audiences.  Yet, how discriminationg can teens and even adults s be who no longer have sex education while growing up nor exposure to sex and sexuality that isn’t skewed toward completely virginal (The Jonas Brothers and purity rings) or cash and carry (reality tv culture, any and all).  Adult commenters on The Frisky’s denouncement of the movie sadly varied between the two extremes numerically collected in The Huffington Post poll.

Male user “thegr8brownie” declared that it wasn’t rape because “an incapacitated person can’t call out the wrong name!”.  Female commenter “mikeyellenlee” backed up “thegr8brownie“’s claim that it wasn’t an assault by adding: “No, that’s not rape. I’m on the same page as you. He even looks at her and says, “Brandi?” It’s so obvious that she just passed out during sex!

Female users Lynn and the PinkRanger, on the other hand, saw things completely differently.  Lynn replied to “@mikeyellenlee – that’s what I was thinking. He stops and says “Brandy?” like he doesn’t expect her to be passed out like that. I’m assuming that in the scene they start fooling around, she passes out, so he kind of stops right there while he tries to figure out what’s going on, and she tells him to keep going” with PinkRanger adding: “Reread that definition of what rape is that retro chic [another commenter] posted. If she is incapacitated to the point where shes passing out during, and especially if he keeps going, then its considered rape.”

Legally, anyone who is under the influence of drugs or alcohol cannot give “informed consent”.  This means that any level of impairment in their motor skills and basic functioning also interfere with the decision making abilities necessary to  agree, safely, to sexual acts.  And, when it comes down to it, why would anyone want to have sex with someone passed out and/or vomiting?  There is nothing consensual or even sexy about it!  Waking mid-pump to slur encouragement does not fall under the umbrella of “informed consent” either.

Sex can be funny.  Mocking sexual blunders should be allowed.  However, a line needs to be drawn.  Seth Rogan repeatedly demonstrates that he needs to “force women” to have sex with him in his film roles.  The language is even his own.  If we all agree that “forcing” sex is rape, why do we still find it so funny?