Ahhhhg, THAT Steve Bell cartoon

"What Steve Bell has done here, is tap into the rapey idea that when a man fucks a woman, he is degrading her. "

So
Much
This.

Thanks, Basil.

As I've said, I don't agree with fighter jets, but being Northern myself I know how much the local economy depends on BAE. Theresa May has a job to do to protect those workers and their families. That is the choice she made when becoming PM. It's not a position I would want to be in but she cannot simply tell the Turkish she won't do business with them because there would be families who would literally lose their houses within a few months when the redundancies come in.

You'd think so, wouldn't you?

But he is now president. And all media coverage will reflect the man and his character. So more satire like the one in the OP will be forthcoming.

The 'disgusting' element is not of the satirist but the subject. You don't blame a mirror for its reflection... do you?

In short, surely running for president should require something like an advanced CRB check.

Yeah but Turkey cowgirlsforever?

Donald Trump has been accused by multiple women of raping them, including one who was 13 at the time.

I'd almost forgotten about all that. What has come of those allegations? It's bizarre. If anyone was applying for a job as a teacher or a solicitor then sexual assault allegations would probably disqualify them from the job. But it seems they're no barrier to becoming leader of the free world. And that's not to mention the dodgy Russian connections and all the financial misconduct.

Crazy.

Representing the jobs of BAE workers in Lancashire is part of Theresa May's job msanonymouse .
Having said that I hate that fighter jets are necessary in this day and age.

Sorry, that was to Ms post about sexist jokes and women/men

I hope not! Feminism, equality, etc are about equal opportunities and not special protections.

Such satirical abuse should be equally acceptable re either sex.

And such satire should be an acceptable part of societal/political comment... or we become anodyne, far too interested in stifling 'offense' and being seen to be nice, fair, and other odd illogical wants.

There is no protection against being offended, nor should there be! Think it through and it becomes very frightening...

Great post, AskBasil.

I agree, OP, it's horrid. For those who say that rape didn't occur to them in looking at the cartoon; Donald Trump has been accused by multiple women of raping them, including one who was 13 at the time. Others have accused him of attempted rape. I don't think you can discount that context from the meaning of the cartoon.

I am just finding so much in the Guardian to be misogynistic these days. it really saddens me that this is what is supposed to be a clarion for the Left.

May has refused to condemn Trump's outrageous ban on migrants. She has also just sold £100m worth of jets to Erdogan, which he will doubtless use to massacre Kurds.

Neither of these things are inevitable parts of her job.

Theresa May has a job to do. She would probably prefer not to have to spend time in Trump's company but like other women in the professions she has to ignore the personality and get on with the job.

That line of thought does lead you to the conclusion that any sexually inflected joke about a woman is off limits while those about men are permissable. Think of Bell's dom /sub Cameron and Osborne.

Maybe that is the way it has to be. I'm not sure.

Point taken, but would it be different if a male PM had been depicted in a sexual scenario with another female leader? With perhaps her on top? I don't know. I kind of see your point.

What Steve Bell has done here, is tap into the rapey idea that when a man fucks a woman, he is degrading her.

Yes, but is he countenancing that trope? Or employing it for satirical purposes? In 'A Modest Proposal' Swift proposed that the rich should eat the babies of poor parents, but he was of course taking the piss. See also Chris Morris's skewering of tabloid hypocrisy in the Brass Eye Paedophile Special.

And is it even suggested that May is being 'fucked'? Is not the point of the image more that she is just getting into the bed with him - engaging in the political equivalent of a torrid affair? You could interpret it as a comment on the hypocrisy of a leader effectively prostituting the better values of her country by defering to an openly misogynist sexual predator.

It's questionable to interpret satire on such a literal level.

May has been sucking up to racist, misogynist, crypto-fascist lunatic. She deserves to be pilloried for that. Cameron's penis head and Osborne's bondage get up were also justified.

And of course as someone else said, the image is a homage to a Gillray print.

That's really shocking. Genuinely taken aback by that. Comments aren't allowed anymore, wonder if there were critical ones deleted.

I'm slightly confused by what you are arguing LordR.

This is the feminist board. It's a place to discuss things from a feminist angle.

No-one's arguing this isn't satire, or that satire isn't a valuable strand of political commentary.

But the OP is trying to have a discussion about the way satire taps into societal misogyny from a feminist angle. Satire isn't free from racism, sexism, homophobia etc., on the contrary, it often taps into those attitudes, to make its point.

What Steve Bell has done here, is tap into the rapey idea that when a man fucks a woman, he is degrading her. Fucking is in of itself, seen as a loss of power for a woman. "We're fucked" as an expression, is not understood as "we've just had a really good time", but "we've lost". "I'm going to fuck you if you don't do as I say" as used in Tarantino-type films, is not a promise of orgasms and sexual ecstacy, but a threat of (metaphorical) rape, an experience of pain and humiliation. Because rape and sex are used almost interchangeably in patriarchy, hence why some people see rape imagery and others see merely sex.

And, dammit, I'd forgotten about Bell's depictions of George Osborne in bondage gear until this discussion made me dredge it up from the depths of my suppressed memory.

Bell depicted David Cameron as a condom, something which Cameron was reportedly furious about

I didn't think that was clever or effective.

Sorry, I see you don't think it's about rape, Lass but object to the image's ridiculing of a Tory female PM. On that point, the rest of my post still stands. Satire is part of the British political landscape. Our politicians have been subjected to images like this (and, yes, worse), since at least the seventeenth century. The royal family also used to be targets (though not today, for some reason). Would you be happier with censorship? With women PMs not being satirised because it's rude (even though it goes with the job)?

Satire, incidentally, has traditionally been seen as an important aspect of the British constitution, an expression of the liberty of the people. In the eighteenth century, European visitors to Britain were astonished by Gillray's prints and the freedom that the public had to ridicule with impunity those in power.

You are reading into this cartoon a rape narrative that simply doesn't exist

I wasn't reading a rape narrative into it.

I have already pointed that out. It is a feeble excuse.
A feeble excuse for what, exactly? You are reading into this cartoon a rape narrative that simply doesn't exist. I don't think that wilfully misreading a satirical image and implying that May should be beyond the satirist's scope because of her sex does women any favours at all. Bell, like Gillray, produces shocking, visceral images of politicians. It's what satirists have been doing for hundreds of years. Bell depicted David Cameron as a condom, something which Cameron was reportedly furious about. If we want women to have equality it makes no sense to say that a woman PM should be afforded some sort of chivalrous exemption from satire.