Saturday, June 11, 2011

Follow up on Foreskin Man

Remember when I said Foreskin Man was gonna end up fighting Jews? Issue #2 Bitches!
Torah, Torah, Torah!

Now, I'm not accusing the makers of  Foreskin man of being racists. I'm just saying that making villains out of people who participate in culturally attached rituals is gonna really, really look racist, and it's gonna get called out as such. And I'm sure Foreskin Man will eventually fight vagina sewing practitioners in the Middle East and Body Piercer freaks in South Carolina and whatever it is they probably do in Africa. My point is if you're trying to be educational, you can't have the potential audience (that is to say, people who might be considering a circumcision.) become EVIL MONSTERS. That said, I read the whole thing and Cultural insensitivity is the least of it's worries.
Yesh! First a baby's foreskin and then...the World's Foreskin!



Tha major plot of the story revolves around a Bris(some kind of Jewish event thing, I guess?) being thrown for a baby, in which normally I guess they would snip at a babies dick-skin, but they won't because they babies mother says no. There is also a subplot where all the circumstraints(which I could not find in Wikipedia, but I'm guessing they're penis related) in town are stolen by a group known as the Intactivists.
PUNS!

So you know, the Bris, which our hero is attending, is interrupted by the only Jewish looking people in the whole comic, led by a man named Monster Mohel, who increasingly looks more like the 90s Mortal Kombat comics. Apparently, the father remained steadfast on that his son should be circumcised, and as such, incited armed Jewish priests to take the event by storm and perform the ritual. He confesses as much to his mother.

This is...illogical. I mean...Circumcision is not illegal, but I'm pretty sure if you organized armed anything to break into anything, you are going to jail. I'm also fairly certain, as the boy's father you could work something less legally wrong.
Someone's gonna sleep on the couch tonight!

However, the Genital Guardian himself shows up, and beats the hell out of Monster Mohel and his goons in some panels that are either totally unaware or comepletely  thought out for lols.
 
Fapp him in the face with your ball, Foreskin Man!

 But all is not well.  Defeated, the father and the Jew guys swear they will continue to try to cut this baby's foreskin undaunted, until they succeed. The Boy's mother was knocked out by one of the goons, so Foreskin Man did the only thing that makes sense. He took the boy away for the Intactivists to take care of.

That's right Nancy. Despite the mother being alive(and in need of medical attention) and despite the father and the other guys probably facing legal charges, and despite the boy having other family (that fucking appears on-panel) our hero decides the only solution is to give the boy away to a group of radicals who immediately take the baby to a bonfire of the circumstraints they stole.
Because Nina Loco here seems so trustworthy...

Now, this are Comic book Superheroes we're talking about. We should know they aren't exactly following legal procedure. But this is way beyond the scope of  what is necessary and  far beyond troubling. I mean, the comic's own philosophy is that babies are too young to make such a choice, and yet here is our hero, unilaterally going "fuck your Jew-ass Family! You're gonna live wherever I, a stranger that is unrelated to you say you will!"

I'm not a Jew. I don't care. Hell, I'm a a Christian and I wouldn't care if you where knocking that , either. However, if you're mission of AWARENESS, your comic should have a certain amount of tact regarding it's own issues. You're not trying to make Anti-circumcision fantasy, but if you are well, you're succeeding. Then again, maybe I expect too much from a comic called Foreskin Man.
I regretted it shortly after.

Still, now that you successfully wrestled the elephant in the room, how's it about that Foreskin Family?

Images from the comic used under Fair use law.If you want to see the comic, it's here. If you want to buy the comic, it's here, big spender.



2 comments:

  1. "I'm just saying that making villains out of people who participate in culturally attached rituals is gonna really, really look racist"

    Does that mean that opposing Muslims who cut the genitals of their little girls is gonna make people look racist? Is that a concern of yours too?

    =====

    "And I'm sure Foreskin Man will eventually fight vagina sewing practitioners in the Middle East"

    Intactivists are opposed to ANY form of forced and unnecessary genital cutting. In America it is illegal to cut the genitals of little girls, but boys are currently being denied equal protection under the law. That is what intactivists are fighting at the moment. If female cutting was still legal in America, rest assured we would be fighting that as well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. "Does that mean that opposing Muslims who cut the genitals of their little girls is gonna make people look racist? Is that a concern of yours too?"

    What do you mean by "concern"? I mean, If I see a comic about blank eyed, evil grinning middle eastern people chasing a girl through an Atlanta mall to cut off their clitoris, and then someone tells me it's supposed to create awareness and or educate, I'ma be like "you know, that's not exactly how it works" and also "that's a little insensitive" and also "hey, hey, blogging material!"


    However, as I've said from the beginning, I'm not opposed to the idea of making comics against circumcision, or abortion or clown sex or the Legalization of Marijuana. However, I am against making Superhero comics about this important social issues because, quite frankly, not only does it frame complex social and moral issues with many gray areas into simple black and white "good or evil" conflicts, but literally require the conflict have a physical resolution, or as I call it "reform by punching". In real life, at least parents usually have to consent to circumcision, but the author doesn't let real life get in the way of making the opposition into monster freaks who thirst for baby foreskins. There's some ethical strangeness if "raise awareness" and "demonize" reside together.

    However, I feel this comic COULD have had it's Monster Jew-guy and still have been less racially troublesome if it had tried. Could have worked on the angle the mother of the child was also Jewish.

    "Intactivists are opposed to ANY form of forced and unnecessary genital cutting."

    Are...um...you the guy who made the book? Did you just confirm Foreskin Man won't be traveling to the Middle East? You heard it here first guys! Foreskin Man to stay insular!

    Again, this goes back to my previous write up: Foreskin Man doesn't really have that much to do. The book tackled medical circumcision and Religious circumcision. There are no more types of circumcision left are there? Whose gonna become a monster now? Creative corner, roight ahead!

    ReplyDelete