John Dillermand

John Dillermand is a middle-aged man who wears a red-and-white striped bathing costume.[2] He has a penis that can extend to a length of dozens of meters. John uses his prehensile penis (which stretches through his clothes) as a tool, such as to tame lions or to fly about like a helicopter. But it also often acts independently of John, getting him into trouble.[3]

The series is aimed at four- to eight-year-olds and was developed by the Danish public broadcaster DR, in association with the sex education association Sex & Samfund.[4] It premiered on 3 January 2021 on DR's children's channel DR Ramasjang.[3] The first season, consisting of 13 five-minute episodes, was made available on the internet on 2 January 2021.[3]

John Dillermand was popular in Denmark upon release, with 250,000 children viewing the first episode in five days,[5] and went viral.[1] The series has found fans among Danish TV personalities and children;[5] according to a DR executive Children were making snowmen, drawings, dolls and songs about John Dillermand.[5] Catherine Bennett of The Guardian praised the series as something that British leaders could learn from and compared the cartoon's protagonist to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. A gender studies professor of Roskilde University, Christian Groes, criticized the series for "perpetuating the standard idea of a patriarchal society and normalising ‘locker room culture’" which has been used to "excuse a lot of bad behaviour from men."[6][7]

The series' unusual premise was criticized by some viewers as normalizing rape culture,[4] as pandering to pedophiles,[3] or as making light of the #MeToo movement against sexual violence against women.[3] The DR executive said that the series was part of DR's ambition to make "children's content that dares to tackle embarrassing, difficult, quirky and funny topics", that it was about being true to oneself and one's flaws, and that it acknowledged children's curiosity about human bodies.[5] He said that the series was "as desexualized as it can possibly get", and that it was developed together with a child psychologist and other professionals who reviewed the scripts to ensure that children wouldn't misinterpret what they saw.[5]

• John Dillermand episodes on DR