Sexually aggressive Cirque du Soleil clowns: no laughing matter

I recently attended the Kooza Cirque du Soleil show in Vancouver and was appalled by the clown behaviour.   It involved subtle misogyny and behaviours suggestive of sexual aggression towards both women and men.   I find it difficult to believe that this inappropriate behaviour was approved for a 4:30pm performance attended by families with young children.

Please watch this video to see a few of the types of behaviours I am talking about https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJGU6V06l3M .  Note the woman’s look of discomfort as the clown kisses her arms, how they joke about making a porn video of non-consensual sex, how one clown knocks the other out after realizing they were in the midst of sexual activity, the pretend beating the clown delivers to a young girl, and the spanking scene.

In the show my friends and I witnessed, many of the jokes revolved around male clowns being attracted to the physical appearance of a female volunteer – chosen at random from the audience.  I am listing only some of the most offensive behaviours, but these types of jokes were pervasive throughout the show.  At one point a clown grabbed the woman’s arm and started kissing it up and down.  He also grabbed the woman’s hand and put it down the front of his pants.  A clown also implied that he was flashing the woman by ripping off the outer layer of his clothing and saying "I want you."  Jokes were also made about the clowns becoming sexually aroused by the woman, insinuating that they had erections.  At another point, the clowns began spanking each other and prominently displayed their buttocks towards the woman, prompting her to spank them with a meat shaped prop.  One clown then turned at the last minute so that the woman ended up hitting him in the groin instead of the buttocks. Further, a clown humped a male volunteer’s leg on a number of occasions, while another clown yelled “no humping!”  They also lifted up this male volunteer’s shirt, exposed his stomach to the audience, and demonstrated a “raspberry” towards his stomach.  To my knowledge, all of this was done without consulting the volunteers or demonstrating to the audience that the volunteers had consented to being treated in this way. 

These jokes normalize sexually aggressive behaviour and suggest that it is not only appropriate, but also funny.  I think it is particularly important to address this issue because misogyny and sexual aggression can be harder to detect when veiled by a cloak of humour.  It is easy for us to recognize and speak out against overt sexually violent acts.  However, it is also important to speak up when subtle offences occur.  Indeed, the covert messages that are intricately woven into the fabric of our society are the ones that pose the largest threat by influencing our beliefs without our explicit awareness.  These are the types of messages that we don’t realize are harmful unless we examine them closely.  When we do this and take the time to discuss these issues, we come to understand that a societal acceptance of subtle misogyny and sexual aggression provides the foundation upon which overt sexual violence is based. Please help me to chip away at removing that foundation by discussing the inappropriate behaviours @cirquedusoleil.  Please also make a pledge to not second guess your outrage when you experience subtle misogyny and sexual aggression and to address it when it occurs #subtlesexualaggression

I have tried to contact Cirque du Soleil to express my disappointment in their show, and to explain why I believe it was inappropriate.  Community shows, especially those that involve children, should not deliver harmful messages that condone misogyny and sexually aggressive behaviour.  It has been a week since I wrote to Cirque du Soleil and I have not heard back. If you have read this far, I would really appreciate your help in communicating to them that this type of humour is offensive, harmful, outdated and not at all funny.