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Here’s A Breakdown Of How Male Rape Has Been Trivialized In Mainstream Media Over The Years

After <i>The Boys</i> showrunner Eric Kripke sparked backlash for calling a male sexual assault scene “hilarious,” we take a look at the damaging way that male rape has been represented onscreen since the ‘70s.

In fact, in Scarce’s book, he details a competition that ran on WLVQ Radio in Columbus, Ohio, after the film’s release, where listeners were apparently told to call in when they heard an audio sample of Bobby squealing like a pig to be in with the chance of winning a hog roast and barbecue. As for the movie, the rape is never explicitly mentioned after it is shown, with the film’s conclusion seemingly placing all of the men’s journeys through the rapids as a “rite of passage,” with Bobby ultimately appearing to be less traumatized than his friends who earned physical injuries from the trip. This can also be seen in Quentin Tarantino’s 1995 movie Pulp Fiction, which includes an arguably out-of-place scene where Ving Rhames’s character, mob boss Marsellus, is raped in a shop after chasing his enemy Butch, played by Bruce Willis.

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