Edinburgh Festival Rape Apologists

[shrodingerscat]

AIBU to ask anyone attending the festival not to put money in the pockets of these sick fucks:

Rape Jokes at Edinburgh Festival

Eurgh, that makes my skin crawl. Especially the "comedian" who threatened the female comedian. :(

And I didn't know that about Russell Brand calling the police as a joke. What a twat.

Well they're going to go far in their careers then if they are so untalented, and ignorant they have to look for "material" in this sick way.

I hope people either don't go or if they do give them a really hard time & walk out & take others with them.

If this was "jokes" about a minority race or religion the place would be shut down & the "comedians" arrested.Quite rightly But no it's "only" about women so yet again it's deemed acceptable and I bet any protests will be met with eye rolling and "jeez get a SOH"

I despair sometimes I really do.

Surely this can be classes as inciting violence?

Funnily enough was just reading the same article!

No, YANBU. I find it profoundly depressing to see Rape culture becoming part of mainstream humour in this way. Anything that normalises rape in a way that makes it seem less shocking, less horrifying, and presents it as something that's 'a bit of a laugh', as a rape victim, makes me feel ill actually.

As the article says, there is a difference between sharp edge comedy that reveals and disarms the horror of a situation, and cheap laughs that demean the horrific experiences of millions of women and men.

And nice story about Russell Brand and the make up girl...good to see that behind all his peace and love, he manages to find time to engage in acts of abusive, sexist power play. Git.

Sorry shrodinger YASOOOOOOONBU

Damn there was a blog about this kind of thing by a comic which was really good and I can't remember what the link was. You'd have thought he would have learned about what happens when you do things like this after the whole Daniel Tosh thing!

DamnAndBlastTiggaxx

Did anyone see the comment below the article comparing rape jokes to racist jokes, but then saying some racist jokes were funny! What is wrong with people??

"This giggling over sexual assault leaks all over Brand; a few weeks ago, he held up shooting on a film set for two hours until the wardrobe girl showed him her breasts, and he should have been fired. Unfortunately, the only disciplinary action was from his co-star Billy Connolly."

Is that true? How could he get away with that?

Empusa, have read through as much of the comments to that article as I can stomach, half of those are worse than the so-called "jokes". I am sitting here shaking in horror. I used to go to comedy clubs all the time, never saw anything like this. What the hell has happened to make this stuff acceptable?

I've read enough reports to believe the Russell Brand story is true.

It's a disgusting power play. He's a powerful 'star" (I use the word very very loosely!), she is a lowly wardrobe girl. Who has the power on the film set?

Yes, she could have called the police, reported him, had him arrested. So could every other person on that film set who was aware of what he was doing. Actually, Billy Connolly could've called the police. Every single person on that film set who watched/heard and said nothing are as culpable as he is, in my opinion.

But they didn't, because Russell Brand=Talent=Money. And that has far more currency in the film industry than common decency or pesky annoyances like the Law.

If he had been arrested, she would never have worked in the film industry again. It makes me very very sad that this is so. This isn't the world that I want for my daughter and son

Shrodinger I agree that's what worries me-the normalising of this sort of behaviour and attitude which perpetuates misogyny and sends such an appalling message to young men in particular & everyone in general.

As for Brand- Katie Perry is well rid of him ,being a womaniser is bad enough always been known as a bad boy, but that is abusive & I bet Billy Connolly was disgusted at his unprofessionalism and his appalling behaviour.

I agree with cloudbase

Jokes on sensitive subjects have to be very, very funny and very, very clever and thought provoking to be acceptable. These aren't, and have the unwelcome side effects listed above.

I cannot think of a single rape I've heard "joke" that would meet such criteria, and, though I do not rule out the possibility that one could never exist, do not consider this (and several other subjects) should be attempted.

i really don t think comedy should be censored by anything other than whether its funny or not. 2 of the jokes in the article made me smile,but its not the violence thats funny its the play on words .and i speak as a victim oe rape

YANBU.
If rape was taken seriously as a crime and had a decent conviction/report rate, and men who did it were properly punished, maybe these jokes would be less hideous. As it is, I think that making jokes in a public place making light of rape could set back even further the chance that rape won't be excused or tolerated in the future. These men are silly, pathetic look-at-me-arent-I-outrageous twats and I pity anyone who pays to see them.

Jokes on sensitive subjects have to be very, very funny and very, very clever and thought provoking to be acceptable

I agree wholeheartedly with this, Edith. The Sarah Silverman joke quoted at the end of the article would fit the criteria, I think.

Postolympic I don't agree with censorship, either. But I think a good way of making these tossers change their material is to call them on it. Vote with your feet and your money. Which of the jokes made you smile, by the way?

That Russell Brand story is fucking sick, it really is. I hate that it's being treated as a bit of a joke and it makes me feel sad that the woman ended up doing what he asked.

Post, yes, in a culture where we are all afforded equal respect and there are no glaring power imbalances, I'd agree. But sadly we don't.

Our culture is still so inherently misogynistic (and disgustingly ill at ease around other areas such as disability and mental health just to name two) that instead of jokes about these issues being empowering, or enlightening, or increasing understanding, they are used as weapons, to take cheap shots and ensure that we continue to be relegated to the status of 'other'.

Bear in mind these jokes are being told in the context of a society where it is considered acceptable to pillory and witch hunt a rape victim for 'ruining' the career of a premiership footballer (Ched Evans).

When you know that the world has such people in it, I don't think it's okay to give them further fuel and validation.

This has really annoyed me. The others are fair enough, although Daniel tosh isn't even at the fringe!
But Chris Turner's routine is not in the least but misogynistic. It is simply a play on words. The joke works by saying Coming round has 2 meanings. There is no victim to the joke, it is not nasty or mocking. He is a very talented comedian and this article is very unfair.
There are some fucking awful, sexist comics out there, they should actually go and see more shows and talk about comics who actually cause harm.
Or even better go and see some awesome feminist comedians and promote them!

Oh and the comedian Sarah Bennetto talks about is called Michael Kossew. Avoid at all costs. He is a nasty, hate filled piece of work who should not be given stage time.

Denise34 What does "looking to be offended" mean? I have really never understood this concept. Could you explain?

Jokes aren't really as simple as "it's either funny or it's not". There are reasons why we find things funny. There is a psychology behind it. Obviously you don't have to be interested in that, but some people are. Some people are interested in the reasons for rape jokes becoming popular in the last 10 or 15 years. When I was growing up in the 90s, they weren't popular at all. Why are they now?

I don't think anyone is asking for censorship. In fact, several people on this thread have directly said they don't want censorship.

Being sick of political correctness is a weird concept for me. If you want to watch some comedy and discover why it might be a good thing that it's no longer OK to be politcally uncorrect, why not ? Even if you are a heinous racist, you might find it funny.

I have a challenge for you. Go on youtube, and find me 5 rape jokes from the 90s. There's a lot of comedy from the 90s there, so if it was normal to make rape jokes then it shouldn't be hard for you.

I havent got time to go wading through youtube to find rape jokes.

I find Stewart Lee utterly tedious, the worst kind of smug "right-on" comedian.

I also found a couple of the jokes funny. I can also see why they'd be offensive to some. Which is why i believe that if you think you'll find it offensive dont go to/read about these shows.

a good way of making these tossers change their material but why should they? You don't like what they are saying so you'll do you best to make sure they change it. Why cant you just not like it and not participate without taking away this form of humour from other people.

Let's face it the law and the government don't take rape or domestic violence even remotely seriously, we have polititions coming out with lines like 'proper rape' how on earth are comedians who are often the lowest of the low going to?

It's extremely depressing.