The retirement of Dapper Laughs

Ten days ago, controversial internet sensation Daniel O’Reilly appeared on an exclusive Newsnight interview to announce the retirement of his comedic persona, Dapper Laughs.

For connoisseurs of quality humour the nation over, it is a welcome end to what has been a meteoric rise of internet stardom characterised by a litany of increasingly poor taste, misogynistic diatribe, culminating in O’Reilly telling a woman that she was “gagging for a rape” at a stand up show. Why exactly anyone would be “gagging” to be raped is anyone’s guess. Rape is hardly a trivial matter; it leaves physical and mental scars that may never fully fade, if they fade at all. It destroys people’s lives, minds, bodies and relationships. He may as well have accused the woman of “gagging to have her legs blown off by an IED”.

Of course the resultant media furore was rightly targeted at Dapper Laughs himself. I will not repeat the many complaints against his puerile antics here; they have been articulated hundreds of times before in editorials, social media, the blogosphere, or any other forum for public opinion one can think of. They are misguided, however: Dapper Laughs is simply a manifestation of a wider illness in our culture, and it is this illness which will need to be addressed if any meaningful progress is to be made.

Consider for a moment that Dapper Laughs’ particular brand of juvenile sexual spivery and vulgar attitudes towards rape (“If you whip your dick out and she starts crying, she’s just playing hard to get”) can be viewed a commodity, subject to the same laws of supply and demand as wheat, gold, or timber. If the demand exists, then someone sooner or later will supply. If there is no demand, then there is no incentive to supply. That this article is even being written is an indication that Dapper Laughs was able to fill a niche that is very much in demand. The pertinent question would therefore be: why does this demand exist in the first place?

There is a far deeper issue here than just Dapper Laughs. That he exists at all is the result of a pervading climate of indifference regarding rape and violence towards women. It is the same attitude that allowed the footballer and convicted rapist, Ched Evans, to resume training with his old club, Sheffield United, after serving only half of a five year sentence. That Evans was tried, and found guilty – beyond all reasonable doubt – of forcing himself upon a nineteen year old girl is seemingly immaterial in the eyes of the club; he resumed training as straightforwardly as if he had just recovered from an injury. What we are fundamentally saying when we allow these things to happen is that it’s okay for our celebrities and our sportsmen – our role models – to perpetrate violence towards women because they will release clemency from society in return.

Ultimately, it is good and right to go after Dapper Laughs and Ched Evans; they are both deserving of criticism. However, they will be replaced by others in the not too distant future if the underlying issues in our society are not addressed. After all, as any doctor would advise: don’t treat the symptoms, treat the disease.