A new children’s TV show was launched in Denmark, about a man with a giant penis.
John Dillermand is a program about a man of the same name, who performs a series of tasks and rescues, aided by the longest penis in the world.
The program, aimed at children between four and eight years old, was launched in the Danish national broadcasting service, DR, over the weekend, and has received criticism and praise since it aired.
“Is this really the message we want to send to children while we are in the middle of a huge #MeToo wave?” Danish author Anne Lise Marstrand-Jørgensen wrote in response to the program, with gender researcher at Roskilde University, Christian Groes, adding that it is “seen as harmless”, but in fact it is the opposite.
Watch the first episode of John Dillermand via DR here, and see its introduction below.
“It is perpetuating the standard idea of a patriarchal society and normalizing the ‘dressing room culture’, which has been used to excuse many bad behavior by men,” said Groes. “It’s supposed to be funny – so it’s seen as harmless. But not that. And we are teaching this to our children ”.
On the other hand, clinical psychologist Erla Heinesen Højsted supported the program, saying: “John Dillermand talks to children and shares his way of thinking – and children find the genitals funny.
“The program portrays an impulsive man who is not always in control, who makes mistakes – as children do, but crucially, Dillermand always gets it right,” added Højsted. “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. “
In response to criticism, DR said (via the Guardian) that John Dillermand could easily have been a program “about a woman without control over her vagina” and just wanted people to like the program.