John Dillermand has an extraordinary penis. So extraordinary, in fact, that he can carry out rescue operations, record murals, raise a flag and even steal children’s ice cream.
The BBC’s Danish equivalent, DR, has a new animated series aimed at children aged four to eight over John Dillermand, the man with the longest penis in the world who overcomes adversity and challenges with his record-breaking genitals.
Unsurprisingly, the series sparked debates about what good children’s television should – and shouldn’t – contain.
Since opening on Saturday, opponents have condemned the idea of a man who cannot control his penis. “Is this really the message we want to send to children while we are in the middle of a huge #MeToo wave?” wrote the Danish author Anne Lise Marstrand-Jørgensen.
The show arrives a few months after TV presenter Sofie Linde kicked off Denmark’s #MeToo movement.
Christian Groes, associate professor and gender researcher at Roskilde University, said he believed that celebrating the power of the male genitalia program could only undermine equality. “It is perpetuating the standard idea of a patriarchal society and normalizing the ‘dressing room culture’ … which has been used to excuse many men’s bad behavior. It’s supposed to be funny – so it’s seen as harmless. But not that. And we are teaching this to our children ”.
Erla Heinesen Højsted, a clinical psychologist who works with families and children, said he believes opponents of the program may be thinking too much about things. “John Dillermand talks to the kids and shares his way of thinking – and the kids really think the genitals are funny,” she said.
“The show portrays an impulsive man who is not always in control, who makes mistakes – as children do, but, crucially, Dillermand always gets it right. He takes responsibility for his actions. When a woman on the show tells him that he must keep his penis in his pants, for example, he listens. That is good. He is responsible. “
Højsted acknowledged that the timing was bad and that a show about bodies could have considered the representation of “difference and diversity” in addition to a size diller (Danish slang for penis; Dillermand literally means “man-penis”). “But this is categorically not a sex show,” she said. “Pretending it is, projects adult ideas.”
DR, the Danish public service broadcaster, has a reputation for pushing boundaries – especially for children. Another strong person in the children’s programming is Onkel Reje, a popular figure who swears, smokes a pipe and avoids bathing – I think Mr. Tumble knows Father Jack. A character from Gepetto News made the conservatives shiver in 2012, when he revealed his love for the transvestite. AND Ultra Smider Tøjet (Ultra Strips Down) caused outrage in 2020 for introducing children aged 11 to 13 a panel of nude adults, but, argues Højsted, such criticism was unjustified.
“What kind of culture are we creating for our kids if they see ‘perfect’ bodies on Instagram – enhanced, digitally or cosmetically – but not ‘real bodies’?” she said.
The DR responded to the latest criticism by saying that it could easily have done a program “about a woman without control over her vagina” and that the most important thing was that the children liked John Dillermand.