"Rape jokes are sometimes funny"

[AnnieLobeseder]

Apparently some comedian has made a rape joke which has upset people. And HuffPost article is discussing it. Now, while I understand a lot of what she's saying, I'm not sure I can agree that rape jokes are sometimes funny. Even the examples she gives of 'okay' rape jokes don't sit right with me.

Any thoughts?

[WhereMyMilk]

No, not funny at all.

Saw Jimmy Carr, constantly going on about a "struggle cuddle". Twat.

[MangoHedgehog]

comedy is all about context. anything can be funny, potentially. the jimmy carr rape jokes weren't though because he is a twat

[ecclesvet]

Comedians can and will joke about any topic, and should be allowed to do it.

Doesn't mean that they will all be able to make good material out of any topic, or should do it.

[Hullygully]

no, not funny, not even sarah silverman.

she could have phrased it differently and it might have been funny.

[peoplesrepublicofmeow]

www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/fourthought

this is really worth listening to on this subject, scroll down to kate, about 3/4 of the way down.

[stephanieeff]

Humour is subjective, so I don't think the question is "are rape jokes funny" because if you asked me, I'd say Fuck No. But if you asked someone less aware of the misogynist society we live in they'd probably say yes.

It's the question of whether its acceptable. No. Its not acceptable, but some people will still find it funny. Racist jokes aren't acceptable, but some people find them funny. The only difference is in the media sexism is acceptable and often encouraged.

[VegansTasteBetter]

Sgm, assuming you are a family guy fan what's your opinion on the rape jokes on the program? I do like the show but have find some of the jokes go way too far.

[AnnieLobeseder]

This is a very powerful response to the joke and I think it explains well why rape jokes are never a good idea.

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

I think the only way they can be 'funny' is if you are someone who has only the vaguest sense of what rape (disclaimer: here, obviously, I mean rape as it is presented in the myths) is.

First you have to understand that women are mostly 'up for it' anyway, and the idea of not wanting sex is a joke. Then you have to assume that rape only happens rarely, to women who really want it anyway, and who by the way are probably poor, silly fools who did something wrong like walking up a dark alley.

Then, like quite a lot of teenage boys, you can find it really funny. That joke about it not being rape if you shout surprise was doing the rounds when we were teenagers. The issue isn't whether or not these people genuinely laugh - they do - it's that in order to laugh, you have to have already accepted a lot of rape myths and myths about women, or you have to have turned off what should be a natural social revulsion.

You watch an audience and some jokes just don't work - people go quiet or boo. IMO that is a good example of when a social revulsion comes in and protects us from trampling all over something serious. I don't like the idea this should be a challenge and I think with rape jokes it has become one, so some comedians have been pushing and pushing to see if they can desensitize people a bit more and make it funny.

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

(Btw, what Tosh said wasn't even vaguely a 'joke', god knows why it's being called that, it would have been an utterly uninspired, pissy, humourless response to being heckled even if the subject in question hadn't been rape. Good comedians deal better than that with heckling.)

[24HourPARDyPerson]

I do think anything can be funny, and there is such a thing as gallows humour.

BUT the context is the audience.

If you are making a joke where we are the butt of the joke, rather than they, that's ok. Humour is a bonding thing, it's often about making and 'us and them'. Bonding as a group against THEM, those hysterical, daft, over-reacting rape victims is hateful, in a way that bonding over a joke as a group of rape survivors isn't. I can imagine a rape joke among survivors, who know each other well, limits boundaries etc could provide a function, in a way that Jimmy Carr's (etc) jokes don't.
(Oops excuse me, those jokes do provide a function, providing an opportunity to exploit others hurt to make money and 'push boundaries' )

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

DH had me watch Jimmy Carr's show the other day and call out whenever someone said something twittishly sexist. Oddly (to me, anyhow), Shaun Locke was the person who was really unpleasant.

[AndiMac]

Jimmy Carr's stand-up show is a lot more sexist than how he appears on TV. Some of the jokes he tells really are below the line.

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

Oh, I can believe that. I didn't mean to suggest he wasn't a misogynist, just that I thought it also extended to others on the show. I think this is an issue that also happened with Mock the Week - if one person is willing to get a reputation for being 'edgy' , other people sort of cluster in their shadow getting away with making off-colour jokes which are so lazy and shite that if you heard them in a different context, would be strikingly un-funny.

[kickassangel]

I'm someone who enjoys gallows humor, and can laugh at some really macabre stuff.

BUT I think that point about how it is being used, e.g. amongst a group of friends to show that you're seeing the stupidity of a situation, rather than at a group of 'other' people to poke fun at them is really important.

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

My understanding of 'gallows humour' is that by definition, it's jokes by the people who're in that situation, not by onlookers. As the bloke in annieL's link says it, too.

So, yes, agreed.

[AnnieLobeseder]

I think the crux of the matter in that discussion I linked to is very true... it's okay to poke fun at someone, to cause some level of offence (if you have the skill to pull it off). But it's never okay to cause someone pain.

[puds11]

Yeah there is already a thread about this guy. He's a wanker clearly.