Kick Him Where We Laugh

Few things elicit the crowd-pleasing merriment of watching a grown man take a monster shot to the groin. Is it the exposure, the vulnerability or simply a white-hot resentment of men?

Does it seem odd to you that a society that treats off-color jokes about and erotic images of women as punishable examples of sexual harassment portrays the kicking of men in the groin as acceptable? Such portrayals are an increasingly common staple in modern films. The increasing depiction of sexual assault against males as acceptable in the media is reflected in a recent study which indicates increasing numbers of children are getting the message that it is OK to sexually assault someone as long as they're male.

It's perhaps odd that no one -- particularly men -- seems terribly upset about the frequent attacks on the most sensitive area of the male anatomy. There's a good reason for the lack of protest and abundance of laughter.  Men, in society's eyes, deserve it.  Women would certainly be screaming and complaining if men were kicking women in the genitals [in popular culture]. But men by and large still hold almost all the positions of power in society, and the powerful are always targets for humor.

The action levels a man, literally and sexually, and the joke may be especially effective when the force behind the blow is a woman. In " Anchorman," an up-and-coming female television reporter gives a workplace sex harasser -- who has just groped her -- his comeuppance with a fist to his private parts.

 And it's not just slap-happy times at the movies. TV sitcoms and advertisers frequently capitalize on the visual gag's comic potency too. Audiences today can't seem to get enough -- and perhaps they never have and never will. There's something about the things that stick out of the body -- noses, ears, a woman's [chest] -- that seem to be funny. They make people laugh.

When a woman kicks a man, it's a way for her to temporarily assert her power relative to a man -- in a short, sharp way.  It has to be clear the injury is not really terrible, not life-threatening. I mean, if they castrated a man, that wouldn't be funny.

 
A measure of schadenfreude also undergirds a man's laughter as well. Quite simply, a man is tremendously relieved it isn't him bent over and bug-eyed.
It's well disguised, but there's still an element of sadism here.  I'm really a firm believer in the basic tenet of Freud's theory of humor, which is that it's grounded in hostility and aggression; the cream pie in the face is a substitute for a punch in the nose.

As long as there are human beings," said Ben Karlin, executive producer of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," "there will be film depictions of guys getting hit in the testicles.  Just klick the "testicles" to see the list of movies, make sure you don't klick them too hard!