Character with outrageously long penis stars in Danish children's TV show
Meet John Dillermand, the fictional character of the animated children’s television series of the same name, who caused quite a stir when the show premiered recently on Danish channel DR Ramasjang.
John Dillermand (whose last name literally translates to “penis man”) is a middle-aged man in a red-and-white striped clothing with an extremely long and unruly penis (seen with the same color as his outfit), which he uses to do everyday tasks like drawing, fishing, walking the dog, and even taming a lion to save kids.
The show’s catchy opening theme has the lyrics, “John Pee-Pee, he has the world’s longest pee-pee. There’s almost nothing he can’t do with it. He can swing it around, he can get embarrassed, he can save the world if he’s just allowed…”
The show, which uses stop-and-go animation, is reportedly aimed at four- to eight-year-olds and was developed by Danish Broadcasting Corp., together with the sex education association Sex & Samfund. Thirteen five-minute episodes of the show (all in Danish) are currently available for streaming online.
In one episode, John Dillermand is trying to light the grill, but he is afraid of the fire. So, he steps back, uses his prehensile penis (which extends several meters) to get the gas can, pour gas over the charcoal, and light a match.
In another scene, he is walking his neighbor’s dogs and he is tasked to pick up an order at a sausage shop. So as not to disrupt the dogs’ walk, he ties their leash to his genitals as he moves closer to the shop to get his order.
Since its release, the show has received both praise and criticism. There have been heated debates between parents, with some calling it inappropriate and others going as far as saying it is normalizing rape culture and indulging pedophiles. Many of them also trooped to the network’s social media accounts to raise their concerns.
Professor and gender researcher Christian Groes told The Guardian that the program’s focus on the power of the male genitalia could set equality back.
“It’s perpetuating the standard idea of a patriarchal society and normalizing ‘locker room culture’ that’s been used to excuse a lot of bad behavior from men. It’s meant to be funny—so it’s seen as harmless. But it’s not. And we’re teaching this to our kids,” Groes said.
However, clinical psychologist Erla Heinesen Højsted pointed out that there is nothing sexual about the show’s character as he is depicted as an impulsive and not always in control, like kids are, but the character always makes it right.
“He takes responsibility for his actions. When a woman in the show tells him that he should keep his penis in his pants, for instance, he listens. Which is nice. He is accountable,” Højsted told The Guardian.
In a statement provided to Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet, an executive at the Danish Broadcasting Corp. said that they believe that the series is not harmful in any way and that the network’s content stays true to its tradition of “being true to the target group.”
“With the series, we acknowledge the budding curiosity about the body and genitals, and also the embarrassing and funny thing about the body —it is something that is exciting for the exact age group that Ramasjang addresses,” the statement reads.
"'John Dillermand' is a fictional and humorous universe where we want to tell a funny story that captures the kids. It is an animated series where humor, exaggeration and magic are at the center, which is something that children know and can easily decode.”
Watch the show’s intro here:
Photos from DR's John Dillermand
