Joy (Sharon Mitchell in her debut) is a high school girl on summer break who is saving herself until she gets married. That is until she is sexually assaulted by a trio of burglars and declares that she wants more. Now Joy goes out at night trolling New York City for men. It’s up to Lt. Handcock (Jake Teague) to crack the case before all the women in the city begin raping men.
Joy (1977) is a dark comedy that isn’t afraid of being politically incorrect or controversial. The notion that a rape would give a woman sexual agency wouldn’t really fly today. But in 1977 it was a means of lampooning women’s liberation. Director Joel Bender (directing under the alias Harley Mansfield) envisions men as willing victims of their female attackers operating under the assumption that to straight men all sex is good sex. The satirical tone of Joy deflects issues of consent opting instead to assume that being male equals consent.
However, despite the campy tone and whimsical nature of Joy the film does hold up to a more nuanced reading. Joy can be seen as a film about female sexual awakening. Once Joy realizes that she likes sex (though that moment remains problematic) she begins to see the potential for sex everywhere she looks. The fanciful tone of the film could suggest a degree of subjectivity as if the film existed within Joy’s fantasies that include non-consensual sex with men.
Regardless of how one reads Joy there is no getting around the problematic rape scene that kicks off the film. Although it’s played for irony and dark humor Joy’s rape by three men remains a sobering scene that thwarts the camp that is to come. Joy is unlikely to undergo a critical reassessment within the pantheon of the golden age of porn, but it does remain a unique little curio.
