Okay, let me start this out by saying that Futurama is my all-time, hands-down, no-question, favorite show of all time. It is smart, witty, hilarious, occasionally sad, deeper than you’d expect, satirical, and mathematically correct. The characters are fantastic and the humor is never forced. It is my go-to background noise for when I can’t sleep.
BUT… There’s always a but, isn’t there? But there is one episode that, even though it’s just as well done as every other, toes right up to the line of offensive. In case you couldn’t tell by the title, the episode in question is S03E05 Amazon Women in the Mood.
And my whole complaint is summed up in one simple image:
Second disclaimer: I am NOT a prude. I’m not easily offended or on any kind of tirade about late night style comedy. In fact, it’s my favorite kind of humor. If you’ve been reading my blog or my books (especially Table Five), you’ll know that my biggest pet peeves are sexism and lack of consent.
Unfortunately, Amazon Women in the Mood pushed both of those buttons… repeatedly.
I’ve really been on the fence about this episode for years, because despite its problems, I still love it. I LOVE Futurama! All of it, even this episode. So the purpose of this post is to dissect this specific episode and how it flaunts sexism and lack of consent.
Overview
For anyone who hasn’t seen this episode, here’s a quick overview. The entire crew (plus Kif and Zapp) is stranded on a planet inhabited by very large women called the Amazonians. There, the men in the group are immediately taken prisoner by the Amazonians, and while being taken to their leader, the men make a series of sexist jokes against women in general.
The leader of Amazonia, the Femputer (played by Bea Arthur), sentences them to death by snu snu (sex) for the crime of being big jerks towards women. Fry and Zapp are repeatedly snu snu’d, but Kif escapes with Amy’s help. Bender “interfaces” with the Femputer (a big sex theme in this episode, lol), and convinces her to let Zapp and Fry go.
Lack of Consent
“Death! By snu snu!” was just hilarious, wasn’t it? When Bea Arthur’s voice announced the men’s fates, we all smirked.
Except that it’s basically just a pg way to say rape.
So yeah, RAPE. Repeatedly RAPING three men with the intention of killing them. Because they made a few asshole jokes about women. And because Bender couldn’t be raped (not having the proper equipment), he got off scot free.
Talk about the crime not fitting the punishment.
There isn’t a whole lot to say about this. Basically, rape is bad, m’kay? And it’s kind of fucked up that my beloved Futurama would use it in any context other than “horrendous.”
Sexism
First of all, I’d like to clarify that I wasn’t even a little bit bothered by the sexist jokes made by the male characters when they first arrived on Amazonia. Snarky remarks about women’s basketball or female leaders were honestly right on point. And they weren’t played off as if the writers were being serious.
By sexism, I mean the fact that the men were raped, not the women. If this episode were gender swapped, and it was Leela and Amy getting raped by a planet full of giant men, suddenly it wouldn’t be so funny, would it?
But because it’s men, the rape is viewed as a desirable thing. They’re so desperate for sex at all times, they’ll take it any which way, even if they don’t have any say in the matter.
Women, on the other hand, would never be portrayed as being happy about being repeatedly raped, especially not for comedic purposes.
What are you, gay?
This winner was spouted out by the ultimate alpha male, the man with no name, Zapp Brannigan. When Kif expresses distress at the prospect of being repeatedly raped, Zapp mocked him by asking, “What are you, gay?”
This line is particularly disgusting. It has been said to thousands and millions of boys and men who were assaulted. They were encouraged to be grateful for their sexual assaults. Because sex is sex, right? And sex is ALWAYS good. If you weren’t happy about being assaulted, it could only be because you’re gay.
This kind of thinking completely invalidates a man’s body autonomy, their natural emotional responses, and their sense of self.
And getting back to the sexism thing, if a woman called another woman gay for not enjoying rape… oof. That would go down like a dead Seymour.
Yeah, I’m sorry for bringing up this heartbreaking moment, but seriously. I shouldn’t have to bring up a dead dog to get a proper reaction to rape.
But did they actually cross a line?
As I always say, context is king. Doesn’t it matter who said what? And how the victims reacted to the abuse?
Yes. Absolutely it does.
Who said what?
In terms of the “What, are you gay?” comment, I think this one can be given a pass. Why? Because Zapp is the one who said it, and Kif was appropriately horrified. Zapp Brannigan has been set up as an ignorant asshole from the first moment he was introduced. “Kif! I have made it with a woman! Inform the men!”
And they did double and triple duty during this episode in particular by giving Zapp a notebook full of sexist pickup lines. He is straight up an asshole. It is entirely within the scope of his characterization to call someone gay for objecting to rape.
Because no one else supported this statement, and because Kif was horrified in response, it’s clear the writers aren’t actually offering this sentiment as a correct one.
But the one thing I had a hard time excusing was how willing Zapp and Fry were to be continually raped, despite increasing injury.
Was it really rape?
All three cry out in alarm at their sentence to death, but Fry follows it up with a thoughtful, “Although, the snu snu part’s gonna be pretty good.”
Later, after a few rounds of snu snu, Zapp begs for a break. “The spirit is willing! But the flesh is spongy and bruised!” But no, they’re not given that option, and they’re dragged right back in for more.
In the end, I have to give this one a pass as well. Why? Because of Zapp’s comment. “The spirit is willing.” He and Fry WANTED to have sex with all those giant ladies. So is it really rape?
They don’t want to die, but they do want to go to giant pound town.
And if you think about it, the one man who DIDN’T want to have sex… never actually did.
Kif hid from the Amazonians until Amy came in and rescued him.
So even though this whole scenario is fucked up, can I really call it destructive? Zapp and Fry wanted the sex. And even though Kif’s case would have been legit rape… he escaped.
Conclusion
So considering the contexts, I have to say this episode isn’t technically destructive. But even though the writers didn’t quite cross a line, they got really, uncomfortably close to it.
At the very least, this episode could use a couple of trigger warnings for sexism and consent.
“I am not a prude” Proceeds to act like a prude.
its an alien race. their dangerous. Its told for comedic affect. One of the most snow flake hot takes i’ve ever heard.
Respectfully disagree. Completely aside from any “it’s fiction/alien” argument there may be, if this story were gender swapped and Amy and Leela were the ones getting raped by gigantic men to the point of pelvic fractures, it wouldn’t be funny anymore. And that’s simply because they can’t “want it” for comedic effect. Only men can “want” rape in comedy, and even that is kind of an outdated comedic trope (like men being desperate to prove they’re not gay… not that there’s anything wrong with that. Get what I did there? Seinfeld reference?).
The point is, women can’t “want” to be raped. That’s not funny just… by a matter of fact. I think the only female character that has ever been a possibility for that would be Gail from Letterkenny, and she is purposefully portrayed as gross and a pervert. And if she did want to be raped by gigantic alien men, it wouldn’t be “haha!” because it’s funny when women are raped. It would be funny because holy shit she is GROOOOSSS and a pervert.
The part I find questionable is that it IS supposed to be funny for men to be raped in this situation. And that is what I find gross. I think at least questioning this is very reasonable.
I always considered that scene to be a parody of the exact mentality you’re describing. It’s ridiculing the sexist mentality that men want to be raped by women by putting Zapp, Bender and Fry in a situation where such a mentality would directly result in their death. Then the writers contrast that mentality with Kif, who has a much more reasonable reaction to the prospect of being raped and killed and thus escapes.
Parodies such as this are of course done for laughs, by putting a common trope on its head by taking it to an extreme. But such parodies can be an important tool for reflection. Even the most sexist men would agree that if put in this situation, Kif’s response is the reasonable one. Some viewers may reflect upon less extreme situations and conclude that the mentality being portrayed is ridiculous even in those situations.
It’s becoming increasingly difficult to parody such tropes, because some viewers may be offended/triggered by the very trope being ridiculed. This has the unfortunate effect of writers increasingly avoiding such topics altogether, making such tropes immune to ridicule and thus losing what I think is an important tool for reflection.
Attempting to challenge someone’s sexist mentality by calling them out on it often results in people becoming defensive and entrenching themselves further. Sometimes the only way to change someone’s world view is by making them laugh at how ridiculous it was in the first place.
I don’t think this episide went over the line. Of course it would be different and gross if the genders were reversed – but that is sort of the point and what comedy can sometimes help delineate. The fact is, they didn’t delineate the genders. As an aside, there’s a whole genre of porn/fetish devoted to very fit and strong women dominating men physically and even wrestling them down and crushing them – googal “Headscissors” or “Mixed Wrestling”. The men on that thread might, just might take the death by snu option.
My God, just laugh and move on, will you? Women and men are not the same. We will never be the same. What applies to women, does not apply to men and vice-versa, and the mere fact that teenage girls that have sex with male teachers get counselling and teenage boys that have sex with female teachers get a high-five is clear proof of it.
No. I will not be laughing or high fiving at any time when a boy is sexually assaulted by an adult. That is so incredibly fucked up, man. Just because it does happen, doesn’t make it any less fucked up.
You repeatidly used to word rape when referring to Fry and Zapp but they were both consenting so i fail to see your point.
The sex was happening whether they consented or not. If they hadn’t consented? Rape. The Amazonians were okay with that, and I’m not.
“At the very least, this episode could use a couple of trigger warnings for sexism and consent.”
this article, this little ending disclamer, is everything wrong with society lol
lets dissect an edgy comedy show , and give people a warning that “hey, the edgy show you decided to watch ? it maybe edgy” …
also “The stove might be hot” , “you could drown if you go underwater” , how many disclaimers should we put up ??
the fact of the matter is this… you cant take nature out of nature…and 99% of young/horny men love the idea/fantasy of being “forced” to have unlimited sex with unlimited amount of awesome beautiful women , its a gag … a line of everlasting , giagantic gorgeous beautiful women, wanting you for sex ,its the idea of heaven, the fantasy of the idea, not the reality of it , for fux sake , comedy comes from drama , stop focusing on the drama
I’m gonna have to disagree that my stance of “don’t normalize rape as a good thing” and “sexism is bad m’kay” and “boys can be raped, too” and “if it was the girls getting raped to death, it wouldn’t be funny” is what’s wrong with society.
lol