Rape jokes, not made of comedy gold. The San Diego Reader – attempting, rather ineptly, to channel The Onion – recently ran a bit of “almost factual news” about the recent Slutwalks. The title: “Slut Walk Devolves into Rape Run.”
Here’s the lede (as they say in the biz):
It was supposed to be a triumph for women eager to reclaim their sexuality from the threat of sexual violence. But sadly, Slut Walk San Diego went horribly awry as some 50 men, many of whom claimed to be unable to control their animal urges when presented with such a plenitude of hot female flesh, plunged into the crowd of over 2000 sluts in a quest for sexual gratification, consensual or otherwise. Dozens of arrests have been made, and police say it may be weeks before all the snatched panties have been returned to their rightful owners.
See, it’s funny because they were being raped!
Amazingly, the one comment that this lovely article managed to inspire was even less hilarious than the article itself. According to someone calling himself a86d:
Its bs like this that is further going drive culture to FURTHER feminize men and go back to that process of thinking that a man needs to be controlled because hes just a beast. BS we’re not animals, We’ve evolved and people need consequences….in this case …. BURN em. The Dilbert comic writer seems to think that all men need to be castrated because we can’t control our urges, because society forces us men to be a round peg in a square hole…..if you want to live a certain life style….you can find it. Own up, be mature, respectful and if you cross the line EXPECT TO BURN!
I’m not quite sure if all that BURNing is supposed to be directed at rapists or sluts. I’m guessing the latter, but in either case I don’t think I’ll be inviting a86d to my next barbecue.
Some people really object to jokes about rape.
Jokes about rape, especially prison rape (which I always call bullshit on, by the by) are still made all the time. People don’t like it, they write about not liking it, they ask for boycotts of the offending shows/movies. The jokes are still made. And criticisms of the jokes are still given. And some how the world keeps turning.
What’s the problem?
Okay, well what is an example of a joke with the underlying premise being “rape is the worst thing”? The South Park Indiana Jones episode?
So, in this thead we have one troll who is a rape apologist, and one troll who is a rape joke apologist.
I think we’ve got all the bases covered.*
*Sports metaphor
Rape jokes are very, very old and used to be quite common place and feminism has nothing to do with it. The first time I was told a rape joke was when I was 13 years old by the grandmother of my best friend. At the time she was in her 70s.
The grandmother, I mean, not my best friend. That would’ve been weird.
And the joke was on South Park, which is an incredibly popular show, that continues to air.
Once again, what’s your problem?
MRAL – I think “The Aristocrats” is a good example of a joke where the point is “this is a horrible thing–ridiculously horrible” when it includes rape. The humor comes from the thought that the described “family act” is horrifying, not from the thought that anyone had it coming to them.
Mr. Al: You’re right about comedians using whatever upsets people. I’ll give you that.
You’re not right about this: “I mean, who’s really offended by gay jokes these days? No one.”
Lots of people, as it turns out. When the jokes are offensive.
Johnny: Gracias! I just put up new curtains!
On a somewhat unrelated note, I want Bee in *my* bonnet!
Also, what Holly said. (I should just get cards that say that or something. Holly is always a font of articulateness and wisdom.)
No! My Bee! My Bee! Find your own Bee! Mine!
Also, the basenjis like her.
Here’s an actual Onion article that uses the “rape is the worst thing” premise for comedy:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/candidate-turns-to-focus-group-for-position-on-rap,3384/
I’m having a hard time phrasing this in a way that doesn’t sound completely awkward, so let me see if I can make some sense out of what I’m trying to say…
My impression is that the joke is about the people who claim that men cannot control themselves. I didn’t see it so much as a rape joke as a joke about the prevailing attitudes REGARDING rape.
Does that make sense?
can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky like shooting stars
@MRAL People who are most vocal about rape jokes have usually been raped themselves or have had a friend or family member raped. It’s not because they want to stifle anything that might cause anyone to question the Matriarchy, it’s because they find such jokes triggering.
Oh man, here’s an almost TOO on-the-nose Onion feature on rape (video):
http://www.onionsportsnetwork.com/video/college-basketball-star-heroically-overcomes-tragi,19097/
“College Basketball Star Heroically Overcomes Tragic Rape He Committed.”
Rape jokes are like gay jokes.
If you tell a joke that has a gay person in it, whatever. Could be completely neutral, could be risque or poking gentle fun of a stereotype from within the gay community. But if you tell a joke where the punchline is basically “OMG that guy is GAY! HAHAHAHAHA!” or “Gross, gay men have BUTTSEX YUCK” – you have not only offended people, you have failed to be funny. Because gayness isn’t, perse, funny.
I can’t think of any examples offhand, but I can see how there could be jokes that have rape in them but not rape as a punchline, and that, like Holly said, would be in poor taste but not really offensive. When the punchline is “And the slut totally got raped and deserved it!”, you are not only being really, really offensive, you’re contributing to rape culture.
(It’s not a perfect analogy because gayness is morally neutral and in a just society would not be in the slightest controversial, while rape is and will always be morally wrong, but you get my point.)
Also we are too animals. Human animals.
What else would we be, plants?
OK, this’ll be my last post on this thread, because you people are either willfully ignorant or so fully indoctrinanted as to be beyond repair.
If a group purposely scheduled an Oktoberfest party in the same area as an AA meeting and taunted all those recovering alchys with beer and many of them started drinking again, who would you blame?
If a group purposely scheduled a Coke party in the same area as recovering coke addicts taunting them with coke and many of them started snorting coke again, who would you blame?
Now anyone here who doesn’t blame the people who purposely scheduled the parties, who wanted to, in both cases re-addict the addicts, is certifiably insane.
So in the case of this article, we have a group who maliciously, with full intent decided to taunt the addicts, (people with a mental problem) with the source of their problem.
So now, feminists have used people with an actual problem to prove men are bad and women are victims. That is the goal. So tell me, who is more sic, the people with the actual disease/addiction, or the feminists who taunt the diseased/addicted?
This is why I like the rule, “Do not make a joke about [insert group of people here] unless you actually belong to that group.”
Though most of the jokes I know are dead baby jokes. Or about vampires.
…I think NWO genuinely missed the memo on this being satire.
Also, although I have nothing but sympathy for sex addicts, if someone is diagnosed as a rape addict I’m thinking that’s what we have involuntary psychiatric commitment for.
I don’t understand why you people find NWOslave so entertaining. I literally never read his posts because they’re boring walls of text filled with the same rambling over and over.
In the beginning he was funny because he was so wrong. In the last couple threads we’ve discussed moderating him, ignoring him, or banning him. So far I think it’s just the first one.
Odd NWOaf because the NRA did something almost exactly like that after the Columbine massacre.
They had a conference scheduled and then Columbine happened where 15 students and a teacher were shot. They refused to listen to pleas for the conference to be moved. Would have changed anything? Probably not (remember Virginia Tech?) But it would have been respectful of the victims of the mass shooting.
People criticized the NRA for doing this but they did it anyway so I guess you really need to stop telling us men are unable to control themselves when a pretty girl walks by you misandrist.
It’s his uncontrollable stream of Freudian slips that’s funny,
But, Johnny, can’t we share Bee? I am sure there is plenty of her to go around!
Mr. Al, what on earth does this mean: “can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky like shooting stars”?
And… I am guessing that Slavie will be back. Eventually.
Here’s a tip, little Slavie, raping someone is nothing like snorting coke.