I usually really like The Oatmeal. Especially their grammar posters, which I want to own. But they recently published an absolutely appalling cartoon about sex workers. It’s called “5 Super Neat Ways to Use a Hooker.” I should have been called “5 Super Awful Ways to Dehumanize a Sex Worker.” Let’s take a look, shall we?
Oh, look. Verbally abusing and talking down to her!
Complete dehumanization in which she’s ridden like an animal and forced to humiliate herself!
More verbal abuse!
Are you noticing a theme yet? This one combines them all! Verbal abuse, dehumanization, AND humiliation! Plus, physical labor!
Physical labor! Calling her a “whore!” This is almost like slavery of some kind.
This isn’t funny. I don’t see the joke here. This isn’t even using humor to make some point about the way sex workers are presented and treated by this society. No, instead it’s a fucking awful, offensive piece of crap that is everything that’s wrong with the way sex workers are viewed in this country.
I'm Britni, a snarky bitch and generally awesome person. I write about sex, love, and bullshit. If sex-positivity, discussions about BDSM and kink, queer issues, and topics that are completely inappropriate by society's standards make you uncomfortable, then this blog is not for you.
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7 Comments
I think that part of why The Oatmeal comics are funny is because they do balance between “edgy” and “very, very, tasteless”. I mean, the comic about “Why Bacon Is Better Than True Love” featured a couple in which the husband verbally abused his wife, and had no problems with cheating on her, with a goat no less. However, the reason why that comic still “works” is because we can tell that the author is exaggerating: This unhappy couple is a magnification of unhappy couples, and is used to exaggerate his (possibly true) claim that bacon is better than true love.
I think the problem with this one is that mistreatment and abuse of sex workers is an all too real problem, and while the examples are somewhat lighthearted, they aren’t too removed from some of the abuse sex workers face.
Perhaps if it didn’t pander to stereotypes, and said that hookers made good chess partners, arm werstlign opponents, etc, it would be funnier, and less offensive.
Ack. I sounded like a college professor up there. Can I get a PhD in long winded blog comments?
Maybe long, but well thought, Nell Gwynne – I think you’re right…
I agree that they shouldn’t be dehumanizing the sex-worker.
But on the last one, you took issue with a prostitute being called a “Whore.” I’m going to have to disagree with you on that one. While it’s a bit more derisive-sounding, “whore” is a completely acceptable synonym for “prostitute,” or anyone who takes payment for direct sexual acts.
I suppose that, once you consider yourself a whore, as I have (Not for sex, but for just selling out my body to do menial labor, for small money), you don’t find the term so upsetting.
It’s not slavery if she’s getting paid.
I’m not a fan of that comparison, it belittles slavery.
But the rest I agree with.
I can’t tell if it’s being sarcastic or chauvinistic. Maybe I don’t have a sense of humor, but something so overdone strike me more as disgusting than funny.
Whoa. I like the Oatmeal too, but this is really just sad.