Review: Penn & Teller's Bullshit

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With particular attention to sex and sexuality.
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al_Ussa
al_Ussa
273 Followers

Have you ever watched those TV documentaries where they debunk conspiracy theories or paranormal phenomena? Yeah, well Penn & Teller's Bullshit isn't like that. Instead, the comedy duo offer their own unique take on the genre, shamelessly lampooning everything from Creationism to alternative medicine to self-proclaimed psychics like John Edwards. In particular, they show great zeal at debunking scams that are designed to separate the gullible from their money, avoiding lawsuits by calling these "bullshit" (hence the title).

Now, Penn & Teller are unashamedly biased on some issues, particularly organized religion. They are vocal atheists, and make no real effort to hide this fact from their audience. And while it is good to see that they admit their bias, it does sometimes make them seem a little overly enthusiastic on their attacks on religion. For instance, one episode finds Penn and Teller mercilessly attacking Roman Catholicism. Unfortunately, it's nothing exactly 'new' or 'groundbreaking,' and comes across rather poorly.

On the other hand, Penn and Teller are more than willing to admit that sometimes there IS something to the topic. An example of this can be found in the recent episode about UFO hunters, in which they concede that while there probably aren't any UFOs or alien visitors, the UFO hunter community provides a form of social bonding for its members. If only they would show a little more tolerance for equally unprovable religious beliefs, which can provide benefits for their adherents as well.

Throughout the eight seasons the show has run so far, the general set-up for the show has been pretty much the same. Penn and Teller present a fairly broad but speculative topic such as "Environmentalism," "Conspiracy Theories" or "Astrology," and then proceed to put it under the microscope. Often, the topics have been of a political or social nature, and the show has managed to remain fairly current. Go back and watch some of the early episodes on DVD and you'll see what I mean.

Debunking of the phenomena is something of a sticky subject, as Penn and Teller admitted in the opening season. The groups and individuals parodied on their show have often resorted to legal means to bully and intimidate would-be debunkers, and even though Penn and Teller's team has interviewed prominent con artists proponents of alternative theories, they are careful to label them as "BULLSHIT". Mostly because they can't get sued for doing so.

As might be expected, the two magicians and comedians are quite flippant about their mockery of these targets. They add their own color commentary to the interviews, provide a forum for their own experts, and of course, use magic tricks and illusions to illustrate the absurdity of these claims. These comedy routines really help to make Penn & Teller's Bullshit stand out from other, similar shows.

Penn and Teller themselves have usually taken a Libertarian stance on issues, though their rather vehement atheist leanings show through from time to time. Because they are just as willing to take on the so-called "Right" as the "Left," this show should be of particular interest to readers of this site. Topics such as sexuality, freedom of speech and individual liberties have been a central theme for the show almost since the beginning.

Several episodes have attacked particular ideas or tactics used by the ideological Right to suppress sexuality. Perhaps the highlight of these was in season three, when the duo took on the notion of "Family Values," which was coined by the Religious Right only in recent decades. As they point out, the idea of the nuclear family is both recent and uncommon; in fact, throughout history polygamy with extended families was much more common! Of course, the fact that the "traditional family" types tended to be sexist morons only helped proved their point. One even viewed women as little more than raw materials for breeding.

As mentioned, Penn and Teller themselves tend to take a rather dim view of religion, and their criticisms of the Catholic Church show this. In the aforementioned episode, they point out that the Pope claims a right to tell people how to live, despise being celibate and never having raised a family himself! This hypocrisy extends well beyond teachings on the family, to include the usage of prophylactics (an issue which has contributed to the spread of STDs and unwanted pregnancies, especially in Third World countries), and of course the controversial issue of homosexuality.

Which, of course, brings us to the next topic...

This same episode, which is a practical gold mine for Literotica readers, also covered gay marriage and attempts at "turning gays straight." Some readers might be a little baffled by this, but it's true, there is a religious movement that believes gay people can be "rehabilitated" and "turned straight." They even have their own little re-education camps that people can sign up for and everything. Penn and Teller rip into these ridiculous institutions without mercy, pointing out that homosexuality is not a choice, and that the very idea of "turning gays straight" is pretty reprehensible.

Season four found them discussing the issue of homosexuality again, this time in the context of the Boy Scouts not allowing gay members, which they label as a form of legal, government-approved discrimination. Two other episodes from the fourth season are also worth watching. The first discusses the issue of prostitution, with them coming out in favor of legalizing the practice because it allows for screening and regulation, providing greater protection for both prostitutes and their clients. The other one discusses abstinence-only education, showing the great lengths the Religious Right has gone to keep kids ignorant on sexuality, and how it has created more problems.

As might be expected, Penn and Teller have often spoken up in defense of those who are unduly oppressed. They came out in favor of gay marriage and allowing homosexuals the same rights and protections guaranteed other citizens. One timely episode featured a segment on teen bullying and how the Religious Right has sought to suppress gay high school students from expressing themselves. They took a similar stance in favor of feminism (REAL feminism) in the Cheerleader episode, pointing out that girls have the right to express themselves however they want, and that the so-called Liberal feminists have sought to cut off funding because they view it as sexist.

The duo has not shied away from discussing sexuality in the least throughout the run of the series. In fact, quite the opposite, they seem to revel in it. Quite often the skits have involved naked or scantily-clad women frolicking about, and Penn has jokingly admitted that they enjoy using the show to this end. As a heterosexual male viewer, I can appreciate this a great deal. The early episode "Sex, Sex, Sex" was particularly gratuitous with regards to female nudity, though the Cheerleader and Breast episodes were also good examples of this.

But by far, the best episode (which I STRONGLY recommend that all Literotica readers view for themselves) was one entitled "The War on Porn," in which they take on the Religious Right point blank. After confronting the "three stooges," who warn about the "dangers" of pornography and how it "leads to rape," Penn and Teller proceed to interview a loving and happy couple who make porn movies in their spare time, and a Church for porn stars. They show that a happy, fulfilled sex life is a good thing, and that it can actually provide stability to people's relationships.

Naturally, they also manage to through in a decent amount of naked and scantily clad women.

A close runner up came in this season, when Penn and Teller turned their sights to teen sex. Before you say anything, no, they were talking about teenagers having normal, healthy sex lives (with each other; get your mind out of the gutter!). This was the same episode in which they bravely stood up for gay high school students, but they also explored the ideas of sex ed classes, sexting, and ages of consent.

All humor aside, I actually found this episode to be very eye-opening, and would suggest that any concerned parent actually watch this episode. Penn and Teller explained how arbitrary ages of consent really are, varying from State to State, and moreover, in some cases the law has declared differences between heterosexual and homosexual ages of consent! This strikes me as a blatant example of discrimination, and a potential problem, but it gets worse.

Penn and Teller discuss the issues surrounding "sexting," in which high school students send sexually explicit messages and pictures to each other. Stupid, yes, but I'm sure we all went through that phase at some point in our life. The problem arises in that the law is prosecuting these stupid teenagers as if they were adult sex offenders, essentially black-balling them for the rest of their life! They even interviewed one victim of this, pointing out that there are numerous others facing the same threat.

Of course, Penn and Teller do not focus solely on sex and sexuality. Their show has rallied against numerous other political and social issues. Just this past season they examined such diverse topics as fast food (discussing the link between fast food and obesity, as well as government taxes on junk food), criminal justice (which showed problems with the legal system, including prosecutors being pressed to convict innocent victims to make a name for themselves and lack of hard science in forensic investigation), and old age (partially covering the question of euthanasia).

Throughout the show's run, the hosts have continuously stuck by their principles, standing up for individual rights and liberties. While the topics related to sexuality will be of particular interest to the readers of this site, and in fact I've taken the liberty of preparing a short list of recommended episodes, anyone who is interested in personal freedoms should be watching this show. Hopefully, it will be returning for a Ninth Season this year, but if not, you can always catch the re-runs on Showtime, or even better yet, buy the boxed sets on DVD!

Recommended Viewing

Culled from all eight seasons (so far) of Penn & Teller's Bullshit, these ten episodes of the series should be essential viewing for all regular Literotica readers. They are some of the better episodes, covering the full spectrum of sex and sexuality, including legalization of prostitution, feminism, gay rights, sex education, and our society's fascination with the female breast. If you haven't seen the show yet, these episodes stand out, while if you have, they still provide fascinating discourse on the subject.

* Sex, Sex, Sex! (Season One, Episode Six)

* The Business of Love (Season Two, Episode Three)

* Family Values (Season Three, Episode Two)

* Prostitute (Season Four, Episode Two)

* Abstinence (Season Four, Episode Ten)

* Breast Hysteria (Season Five, Episode Three)

* War on Porn (Season Six, Episode One)

* Orgasms (Season Seven Episode One)

* Cheerleaders (Season Eight, Episode One)

* Teen Sex (Season Eight, Episode Four)

al_Ussa
al_Ussa
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AnonymousAnonymousover 13 years ago
Bullshit... it's the real deal...

The series from Penn & Teller is right on track. I also think that most of their episodes are spot on. There are only one or two that I think they could have made a better point on the other side of the argument they were presenting. I hope they go on for many more seasons.

AnonymousAnonymousover 13 years ago
Yes..

I couldn't agree with you more.

1sickbastard1sickbastardover 13 years ago
I love "Bullshit"

Of course, being a libertarian I tend to agree with pretty much everthing they've presented which scares me some.

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