----------------------------Original message----------------------------
On Thu Apr 19, Ronald Tuch wrote:
 
>  "The reason the rape of women is not discussed with the same
>  enthusiasm given PF, is that it is too disturbing to consider,
>  it places spectator into such a moral and aesthetic state of
>  confusion that the only response could be denial and avoidance.
>  Ironically enough, I feel, that male rape is somehow less
>  disturbing: men can talk about it, joke about it,
>   and take distance on it.
 
Disregarding the possibility that men perceive male rape as *less disturbing*
and  *more distant* than images of the rape of women,  and with respect to
Tuch's reference to Mulvey -- it appears to me that even before yer basic
homophobia, there is also the stress for men generally in being *the object
of the gaze,* which is part of Tarantino's game, IMHO.
      As we learned during the "gays in the military" controversy, "straight"
men are not very comfortable being the *object* of anyone's sexual gaze --
men's or women's -- they own the gaze.  To view Tarantino's (involuntary
sodomy) scenes is to see/feel objectified and subjugated.
 
Ray Ishigata  Arts Analysis Inst Cambridge MA [log in to unmask]