Misogynistic of Just Not Funny?

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by Prince Of Petworth September 22, 2016 at 12:50 pm 111 Comments

Wonder if the @popville community has any thoughts on this awfulness from @wassubdc https://t.co/PqCInw2HIi

— Mike Sager (@msager) September 21, 2016

Ask and ye shall receive. I’ll be back in 45 minutes.

Hey @wassubdc: Your misogynistic "jokes" are disgusting, as, I assume, are your subs. pic.twitter.com/murtURaOA1

— Stephanie (@StephanieWDC) September 21, 2016

Daniel N.

I’m gonna say juvenile and not worth getting worked up about. The subs are good though.
Anonymous

Immature and puerile, definitely, but how is it misogynistic? Also, it’s not funny. But really, some people are just itching to be angered by things.
Ashy Oldlady

It’s not so much misogynistic as it is dumb. Like really dumb.
Kingman Park

What makes you think this only applies to women?
- justinbc
  
  You’re right. How hetero-normative of her. Now I’m offended!
- Bryan Sipho
  
  +1 I thought the same thing. I saw “sub” and “sex” and made a different inference.
m

What about this is misogynistic? I realized I’m asking POPville and not Stephanie…

(Personally, not amused by it. Also don’t love that kids walking by the truck would read it.)
- TJ
  
  Gotta do it: Think about the children!
  So much worse than an underwear ad, it is
  - Anonamom
    
    Pretty sure that even my kids would roll their eyes at this and call it dumb.
- r
  
  i imagine because it’s a bunch of d**k jokes about the shape of a sub
  - j
    
    In that case, it is not misogynistic but misandristic since you are being let down by the sub’s equivalent.
Hill Denizen

Hey @StephanieWDC, learn what misogynistic means. There’s nothing offensive to women in that sign, unless you’re assuming that anything relating to enjoyment of sex for purely physical reasons is offensive to the female gender in some way. The ad is crude, yes, but not misogynistic. It’s also not very funny.
- MsSunshine
  
  +1
- i am woman
  
  +2
Anonamom

I’m going to go with just not funny on this one. I think this list could have just as easily been written by a woman as a man and don’t find it to be particularly misogynistic.
- FridayGirl
  
  +1. Also just unappetizing. Don’t really want to see references to sex while I’m presumably taking a break from work to get lunch. (I haven’t visited this truck and won’t be.)
  - justinbc
    
    I saw this on this truck years ago, if I recall, and I’m pretty sure I passed on them almost entirely because of it. The old saying “all press is good press” doesn’t really apply to food.
    - FridayGirl
      
      Haha! Spot on, justin, spot on.
  - Truxton Thomas
    
    I agree. I’m not offended by it, but I would skip it and do something else. It’s just…not what I’m looking for in a food truck.
  - George Louis Costanza
    
    Unless, of course, the sub has pastrami—the most sensuous of the salted, cured meats.
ABC

It’s simply stupid. I would not eat here based on that sign – it’s immature and I’m not George Costanza so I’m not looking to combine sandwiches and sex. What I think when I see it is “cool story, bros.”
- NotGrinchandNotScrooge
  
  Great reference.
  
  FWIW, the subs are pretty good. But agreed, it’s a stupid sign.
- oh2dc
  
  They just need to add the TV and get the trifecta.
- Derek
  
  I find the pastrami to be the most sensual of all the salted cured meats.
  - lizcolleena
    
    Had KBC last night, though not the Costanza. Such great BBQ!
  - dcd
    
    Go to Stachowskis. You’re welcome.
Anon

Dumb, puerile, crude, etc. – for sure! Misogynistic? Not even remotely.
neighbor

I don’t think it’s funny, but it’s mostly non-gender specific. The only gender specific joke is at the expense of men. Maybe this twitter user is just projecting?
- Anonymous
  
  +1. The only obviously gender-specific joke I could find was aimed at men. Even with a liberal and sensitive reading, this would be equally offensive to both men and women.
  - LittleBluePenguin
    
    +1. Sorry, this isn’t misogynistic at all, really. Tasteless, dumb and juvenile, but not misogynistic.
  - Tsar of Truxton
    
    While theoretically applicable to both sexes, I think a few are clearly aimed at stereotypes about (married) women. I agree that the obviously gender-specific jokes are aimed at men, however. I still think people need to lighten-up. It is mostly harmless (#9 is the one joke that is inappropriate for public consumption imo).
- justinbc
  
  A brief perusing of said user’s feed reveals all the expected SJW triggering you might expect.
  - dcd
    
    Justin inspired me, so I checked it out for myself. At some point, she retweeted a list of the 10 Words and Phrases That Too Many Folks Say Incorrectly. Not precisely the same, but still worth a snicker.
    - textdoc
      
      DCD, where is the retweet, or a direct link to the list? I scrolled down through her Twitter postings from the beginning of July, but didn’t see it.
      - dcd
        
        If you click on the media button and scroll down, it’s there.
- INWDC
  
  +1 … or someone just looking for a reason to get upset about something (because, you know, the world is such a calm, level-headed place right now)
asdf

PC thugs getting upset about little stuff like this is like crying wolf and it detracts from their credibility.
- Kingman Park
  
  I’ve been called a greasy thug too.
- anon
  
  I’m a PC thug that sometimes has kneejerk reactions to things that I later realize were probably not especially correct. It happens.
hupster

Yawn… just immature and dumb. If you don’t like it, vote with your dollars.
Grant Circle

Some people just want watch the world burn, others just want to find something that offends them.
samanda_bynes

just dumb. like 90s stand up dumb
- transplanted
  
  +1
bryan

This has literally been around for 4+ years. Everyone get OUTRAGED.
Anonymoose

I was actually more offended by the “Miso Honey” truck which strikes me as racist.
- anon
  
  keep stretching you’ll find something to get upset over eventually
  - neighbor
    
    Context is important here so it’s hard to judge without seeing the truck (which I have not). That said, it seems plausible/possible that this is a reference to the Vietnamese prostitute saying “me so horny” in full metal jacket (maybe the reference is not apparent to everyone?). If that’s the case it may be racist.
    - Bryan
      
      Or you know….”Me so hungry”
  - neighbor
    
    For reference:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BlpecFVIq8
Anonymous

Ugh, that sign is crude and not remotely funny. It’s just lazy humor. However, it’s not misogynistic.
That said, their subs are fantastic.
Bort

Wow, tough crowd. I had no idea the standards for sandwich truck humor were so high around here. These are perfectly fine dumb groan-inducing jokes. I’ll pile on Stephanie up there in recommending that she understand words before firing off scorchers like this from the depths of Lake Take.
justinbc

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
- LittleBluePenguin
  
  +100! Now I wanna go watch that movie!
No Bikes

That truck has been around forever. The signs are dumb, but the guy making the food seems to be having fun. The subs are okay, nothing great.
wdc

Not misogynistic, not really offensive at all, but definitely not funny. Unless you’re 12. Then maybe a little funny, but most 12 year olds are more sophisticated these days.
FridayGirl

I agree with most comments on here but that personal attack was uncalled for….
- dunning-kruger
  
  Kind of like her attempt to publicly shame a food truck purveyor for having a dumb sign which should only offend out of work comedians who write good sex jokes, which could financially ruin this person were she successful in her attempt to make something dumb into something hateful? Uncalled for like that?
  .
  Personally I think if you crank up the faux outrage machine and try to expose someone’s hate, stupidity, incompetence, etc on the internet and wind up exposing your own hate, stupidity, incompetence, etc you deserve most of what comes your way.
dcgator

^Here’s the closest we’ve got to misogyny so far in re: this topic
- Trinidaddy
  
  That was my point…
- subhumorsucks
  
  +1
Halfsmoke

ALL TIME BEST COMMENT NOMINEE
Well

Not funny. Not misogynistic-

And I’m one of the guys that will never to go that waterfront restaurant because of their domestic violence joke.
- ABC
  
  Which one/what joke so I don’t go either?
  - textdoc
    
    https://www.popville.com/2016/08/horrible-sign-or-thinking-too-deeply/
    .
    The “joke” was “TRUE LOVE COMES WITH A SHINER.”
    - Brightwoodian
      
      Speaking of misogyny and the horrible sign referenced above. Anyone ever hear Sean Connery’s opinion on hitting a woman? It is horrible. I just heard about it the other day on Joe Rogan’s podcast.. Out of this world horrible.
      
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo0d1zTAFKA
    - Anonymous
      
      Thinking too deeply
      - ABC
        
        Thanks text doc. Disappointing to see as I’ll frequent that bar every so often. Anonymous – there’s a shitty tradition among stupid bar owners and managers to put misogynistic “jokes” on advertisement boards, often making light of domestic violence or reaffirming a woman’s place. It’s not thinking too deeply – it’s a serious cultural problem.
Cam

I don’t read it as necessarily promoting hatred toward women. But I think it’s pretty tasteless.
Gumball

Not misogynistic. The jokes are about sex not women.
bruno

Sex is used to sell so much other stuff… this is just more up front about it. But in all cases, not appealing to our better angels, right?
anon

….and you’ve just given them a large amount of free publicity. Congrats. FWIW, I’ll join the 963 others who have correctly concluded that the sign reads like a trashy boardwalk t-shirt but is really not gender specific. Seriously, calm down.
- anonymous
  
  haha that’s exactly what came to mind. Beach Week t-shirts.
Sultan of Shaw

So I’m pretty sure that the misogynistic attacks on the OP are WAY worse than the arguably misogynistic Wassub sign. Keep it classy PoPvillers.

FWIW: that sign has been on the side of the Wassub truck for over four years (it was dumb at the beginning too).

Also: Wassub’s subs are dang good, just don’t get them if you are planning to have a productive afternoon.
- dcd
  
  Which ones are they, specifically?
  - hehe
    
    korean stuff on a sub.
    
    stuff varying from kimchi, bibimbap, bulgogi, etc.
    
    it is damn good fusion.
- justinbc
  
  Didn’t even realize the relationship, good reading.
ABC

POP – you allowed this comment to go through?
subhumorsucks

who cares about semantics- stephanie’s point is that the sign is gross and plays on dumb stereotypes and people let it slide because “boys will be boys”. imagine if someone tried to sell something by comparing it to a woman’s parts. can you come up with a singe joke that you would feel comfortable putting on the side of your business? yet somehow all this gets is a pass and an eyeroll.
- Brightwoodian
  
  The jokes are really lame but you’ll have to explain to me which female body part they mean with “Our subs are 9 inches not 6.”
  - Anon.
    
    Brain circumference.
- Bort
  
  I know of two people who maybe should care more about semantics. (Unless you are Stephanie–then I can only think of one for right now).
kt

I think with jokes like this, a lot of the time they are written in a way that the intended audience is clearly straight men, and women are the object of the joke. I think that’s why the OP called it out as misogynistic. In this case, the ‘jokes’ are actually mostly gender neutral. The jokes are also just really really bad, and in poor taste. I wouldn’t order from this place either.
2 and 3 do strike me as misogynistic, also, eye-roll inducing.
- r
  
  +1
- dcd
  
  Translation: “A lot of the time, jokes like this are misogynistic. This one isn’t, but never mind. Maybe no one will notice. Plus, complaining that something is in poor taste lacks wattage – I need to bring misogyny to the table to really get people riled up.”
  - kt
    
    Thanks for the entirely unnecessary English to English translation. I don’t know where the ‘never mind’ sentiment came from. In no way am I trying to prevent people from noticing – obviously dozens of people have noticed. I specifically included the words, most of these jokes are gender neutral. You’ve projected a lot onto my reply. Just an offer of an explanation of why someone might have labeled this as misogynistic. Also, it’s not my place, nor is it yours, to tell someone how they feel and what they should or should not be offended by.
    - dcd
      
      The translation was my interpretation of what the OP was thinking, not you – in response to ” I think that’s why the OP called it out as misogynistic.”
      .
      I completely disagree with “Also, it’s not my place, nor is it yours, to tell someone how they feel and what they should or should not be offended by.” If the
      OP going to post something her disapproval of some ridiculous sign on social media in an effort to elicit a response, she can’t be surprised, offended, or butthurt when some (in this case, many) people tell her (i) she’s being ridiculous, and (ii) her understanding of the term misogyny is flawed. Plus, we’re surrounded by so much faux outrage these days that sometimes you have to push back, if only for your own sanity.
Anon

Can we just get past the “outrage” culture already…why can’t people just take a fucking breath and realize that they are making a stupid fucking joke? Getting old that it seems like everyone has a problem with something and takes it to this level…
textdoc

The “jokes” are mainly just stupid and not funny. It seems like some are aimed at (stereotypical) heterosexual men and others are aimed at (stereotypical) heterosexual women.

Some of the ones that seem to be aimed at heterosexual men seem sliiiiightly misogynistic… but only slightly.
.
The Shiner “joke” from a while back was a lot more troubling.
Brightwoodian

I have to agree with most of the comments above. This isn’t misogynistic at all. Sex jokes or sexual innuendos do not equal misogynistic. The sign just isn’t funny. People love to fine things to be outraged about. Case in point, there is an entire TV network setup over pointless outrage. Its the most popular 24 hour “news” station. That’s right you guessed it. Fox News….
Anonymous

It’s neither misogynistic nor un-funny (a couple of the lines are amusing).
It’s definitely not worth getting worked up about. And not something that would stop me from trying their subs.
Kit Kat

Stephanie, it might be heteronormative to say it’s mysogynistic. Only #3 could refer to female sexuality specifically, because the rest of it might as easily be describing male-male relationship.

STILL: Crude and gross, yeah, and makes me NOT want to eat their food. Ew.
- Kit Kat
  
  Yes, I know I misspelled misogyny. Words, ammirite.
r

im not really sure why people see “misogynistic” and assume outrage. the jokes are stupid and sexist and the tweeter is calling it out. i think that’s reasonable.
anon

I can’t believe no has said it yet, but “lighten up Francis”
- Reed_Walter
  
  Humor (like music) is very much about personal taste. Just because you don’t find it funny (example: I find the fact that Tyler Perry has a comedic career perplexing) does not mean that other people don’t find him funny (they obviously do).
  
  If these jokes offend you, don’t buy sandwiches there. End of story.
- textdoc
  
  Did you mean “Frances”?
- dcd
  
  Dammit, I’m usually right there a Stripes reference. [Hanging head in shame.] Good call.
  - textdoc
    
    I had no idea this was a reference. (Until now.)
    .
    https://www.quora.com/What-does-the-phrase-lighten-up-francis-mean
Irving Streete

I realize that many people don’t have the same reaction (and that this is not a problem if your attention isn’t drawn to it) to the extent this sign likens these subs to the male organ, it makes me less likely to want to put it in my mouth. (Or am I just lying to to myself myself because of my repressive upbringing?).
hiphop anonymous

I can’t wait until the day when my biggest complaint is a dumb list on a food truck.
- anon
  
  Ha. Yeah. I heard the barrier to sharing thoughts on the internet is so high that people only do it for their biggest complaint at any given time.
anon

The ones who say ‘people are always looking for little things to be outraged about’ are probably the ones who are in positions of power and privilege, and not the ones who are the targets of aggression and harassment and “jokes” like this over and over again.
- justinbc
  
  Yeah, definitely no women commenting in this thread. All powerful white men, for sure.
- Anonamom
  
  Hi, anon! ‘Female’ here! One who does not enjoy a position of power or prestige, and one who has been harassed from the age of 11 including verbal harassment, being groped, and other ‘fun’ things. I’m not one of those who normally says that people are always looking for outrage, but in my book, this is. The person tweeted it, then her husband retweeted it to PoP. They were expressly looking for the community to be outraged. It didn’t happen. Crap like this – bad jokes about sex geared towards all people – are not the same as harassment. Please don’t cheapen the argument by comparing them.
anonymouse_dianne

Your Early Afternoon Outrage, now appearing on a daily basis.
anon

Sounds like the consensus is that it’s probably not misogynistic, but it is gross and/or dumb and doesn’t make anyone more likely to eat there.
.
Sounds like they’ve got their money’s worth on the sign, having put it up for four years now? Maybe time to retire it?
i am woman

#1, 2, 6 and 7 seem to be strong slams against men. I say it depends on perspective and how sensitive the reader is, but it isn’t funny or clever any way. I would not call it misogynistic.
katinka

A prime example of why people suck. Its a joke. Instead of complaining to popville go purchase a dictionary.
phog

lame jokes aside, lighten up people. this is what stands for outrage these days.
bruno

By the by, the font used to write SUBS and SEX is hard to make out, so to speak.
SEDC

Over 108 comments so far….. That sign did just what it was supposed to do… get people talking about it, aka MARKETING. Like it or not, it got you talking.

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