OMG! Shocking cartoon in today's Metro - serial rapists are fanicable apparantly

[Katiekitty]

Oh my god, I am unable to make any sense of this - in today's Metro, page 31, the This Life cartoon shows this:

Two women in a bar, one drinking wine, one says to the other: "I met him on the internet - he's not interested in football, games consoles, old cars or the history channel - who cares if he's a serial rapist?'

This is absolutely disgusting! Or am I missing the point here or something? It's on a page with horoscopes, puzzles and sudoku - a bit of lighthearted stuff, then a joke about serial rapists. Not funny. Or AIBU?

I've logged a complaint with the newspaper editor, I wonder if they'll have the gumption to explain how this slipped through and got into the newspaper?

Please feel free to tell me I'm experiencing a sense of humour bypass and showing unreasonableness, but I think I'm right here...

Can anyone explain why this is OK but the jew/nazi "joke" wouldn't be? Assuming you agree that it wouldn't?
I suppose because that is having a dig at jews but this is having a dig at women in general.

blimey. i'd say that. i wouldn't mean it literally, but i'd say it in an attempt to highlight how utterly boring i find football fans or especially games console owners.
i'm more likely to say i'd rather pull my tonsils out through my ears than date x, but 'satirically' i'd say a lot of deeply dark and utterly unpleasant things.

dittany. TBH, have no concept of how to explain. Except possibly to compare it to the way medics start to find cancer hilarious sometimes. It doesn't mean it is actually funny in any way at all, it just means people make jokes as a coping mechanism. It also doesn't make those medics bad medics or bad people or any less good at sensitively handling the topic with people effected.

SPB - I'm not sure the comparison works, because I'm not sure that the joke plays on the storeotype of 'women' in general, but more a specific type of woman/attitude.

Well - it's actually a quip I can imagine myself making. I'm not single and don't internet date, but if I did I can imagine a friend saying something like "be careful - he might be a serial rapist" and I might say "oh but he loves the foo fighters and works for oxfam, so who cares?" The subtext of which is "ha ha, I'm desperate for a man, don't put me off my stride! I can ignore a few peccadilloes when we have so much in common!" I would be making a joke at my own expense, laughing about how keen I was on a man without knowing much about him. And that joke would only work as funny, because we would both know that never in a million years would I tolerate a rapist.

It is, as others have said, a dark sense of humour - some people don't share it, and I do respect that. But I can't accept that this cartoon is so simplistic as to be telling you to just believe what the women in it says.

Yes - I'm focusing on the use of the term 'serial rapist' because it's quite specific. Not just a rapist but a serial one.

I think the cartoonist could have worked a little harder to be more satirical.

Hedge - so the cartoon woman is looking to tick all the boxes? I'm glad she can overlook a repeatedly violent offender then. Glad you can 'lol' about it. At least the cartoon has made some people laugh.

*affected sorry.

Oh katie but that's exactly the point of the joke. She's ticked off her boxes - she can ignore some massive, hideous skeleton in the cupboard, so long as she's not single. The reason it's sunny - and dark - is that some women do do this, and the joke is pointing out how ridiculous and wrong that is.

Well what a lovely example of the censor mindset Katiekitty demonstrates - 'It's alright for middle class people to make jokes even though we have no sense of humour, but we have to protect the plebs from their own stupidity, because We Know Best'.
If you read right through your copy of Metro, you could probably find at least half a dozen far more misogynistic and stupid and probably toxic sentences or assumptions to complain about, but that might involve exercising a bit of brain power - and besides, it's always far easier to rev up officious little twats with time on their hands over a joke than over the reporting of a news story.

Hedge: You say: Kitty.. there are plenty of women out there willingly in relationships with serial rapists and murderers that are quite happy to do just that.

If you dont realise that then maybe you need to stop making complaints about cartoon strips and go persuade those women of their own stupidity.

Well - they certainly don't need cartoons like this reinforcing their negative domestic circumstances do they? And violent offenders don't need encouragement from a cartoon that their behaviour will be overlooked by a woman desperate for a date.

"sunny" - sorry I meant funny

I dont think it was a joke at all. Its making a "point" which historically is what cartoons did....go back and look at cartoons from the 2nd world war.

Its saying he may not like "football, games consoles, old cars or the history channel" but he may be a rapist/wife beater/fraudster.

Its a cautionary note that by meeting men via agency/online you know nothing about their history....yes he may cry at soppy films but that doesnt mean he is your knight in shining armour.

Solidgoldbrass says: 'Well what a lovely example of the censor mindset Katiekitty demonstrates - 'It's alright for middle class people to make jokes even though we have no sense of humour, but we have to protect the plebs from their own stupidity, because We Know Best'.

OMG! Who made you judge and jury? You don't know my class status! Where did I use the term 'plebs'?

I didn't get a laugh from the cartoons page in the Metro but you;'ve given me the best laugh of the morning so far! For this I thank you

Having seen it now, I do like the expression on the other woman's face - it is a bit "wtf?" as law imagined, also a bit "yes dear, whatever, jeez when can I stop smiling politely at this daffy cow and go home"

No. I wasn't, but my friends were. Sorry, my nickname seems to mislead people unintentionally on that front.

I don't think we're getting away, and I can see I've upset you which was not my intention. I just wanted to explain why the joke that is not about rape really (IMO anyway) might have used rape with more carelessness than they should have. Because if you're not directly affected it is easy to forget, and even if you are it is easy to have black comic reactions as a coping mechanism and forget that other people don't.