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...

*getting anywhere, sorry for typos!

Realityismyolnydelusion you say:

'It is taking the piss out of desperate women who ignore the danger signs because her date ticks a few boxes'

Well, I disagree because how many women do you know who want a date would think: 'Ah well, he's a serial rapist' what the hell, I'll give him a go because at least he's not a geek/footy fan.'

It's reinforcing archaic stereotypes that women are asking for it and men can get away with it.

What would you/anyone do if your frined said this to you - I'm sure you wouldn't laugh at their biting satire and incisive commentry on today's dating scene.

Yes it's a cartoon, but being on the jokey-funny page, it doesn't come with much satirical weight. Read the joke about rape then move onto doing your sudoku why not?

Could this been seen in a different way. An ordinary man like a cartoonist thinks, I works hard all week, takes the rubbish out, looks after the children, make dinner and all he wants out of life is to watch football, read classic car magazines and play a game with his mates. THEN he is nagged that he's not passionate and interesting. He might think to himself if I gave up my innocent hobbies and became a serial rapist she would think that was okay. There has been a lot of rugby & football on in the past few weeks.
There is a thought out there that nice men don't get the girls

I think it makes a good point and cannot understand why you would complain

Here's another one by the same cartoonist (I'm starting to like him)

christmas shopping

Now I'm sure he is not saying shooting your colleague is fine either. Do you think people are going to take that message from this cartoon? Or will they see that he is using satire to make a point?

I always wonder whether the people who are always on mumsnet trying to educate us about injustice and rights actually ever do anything constructive with their (rightful) indignation?

It wasnt found funny by a few people, fine thats your perogative but if it makes just one person think twice about the advisability of meeting a man they know nothing about then I guess it will have achieved something wont it?

okay, that one is actually funny muffle.

Starbear - none of that is implied in the cartoon, so no, I don't think that is the case.

Why make the 'bad' man a serial rapist? A criminal of the most repulsive order to most women?

Because he is not a woman!

Hedge - it's two women in a bar, so, um, let's think of the crime most hurtful to them? Um, it's not being hit by a member of the mafia, it's being raped.

You can keep saying otherwise, but I disagree with you. Rape is the punchline here. Why do you think the cartoonist didn't say serial killer or mafia then - genuine question to you.

FGS the cartoon is not about rape it is about the stupidity of internet dating.Perhaps it will make women who do this kind of thing think a bit more carefully what the consequences could be.

Humour in general, including cartoon, strikes me as an incredibly difficult moral area to navigate.

One the extreme you have those people who believe that anything is acceptable provided that it?s funny, on the other you have those you believe that if any element of a joke is offensive then it?s unacceptable. In the middle you have a wide range of views, many of which are coloured by personal views on the subject matter. Personally, if you?re looking at a joke or cartoon I think you need to try and distinguish between (a) what is being made a joke of and (b) what is the tool being used to achieve this ? unfortunately in reality these can be hard to tell apart and may also depend on the person reading/ hearing it?

Dittany raised a good point with her comment about a Jew going to a Nazi bank ? what about if it was a Jew turning up at a Nazi bank with a caption reading something along the lines of ?At least you guys didn?t lose my money!?. Is that a joke about the incompetence of the investment banks using the Jewish/ Nazi relationship as a tool? Or is it mocking the Jew for being avaricious using the current economic crisis as a tool? And what about other factors? Does it matter where the cartoon appears, e.g. Private Eye or The Sun? Does it matter what the original intentions of the cartoonish were if people take it another way? Does it matter if you know the cartoonist is Jewish? So what do you do about the cartoon if you?re the editor ? ban it outright, or let it run even if you think there?s a chance it might offend a small number of people?

Or does it even matter? Should some things never even be included in humour even if they?re being used to make fun of something else, even if the thing that they?re making fun of is the polar opposite of the inappropriate prejudice being used as the tool (e.g. a minority group to satirise racial discrimination) ? that merely including it in a humorous situation actually lessens something which is shocking (e.g. the Holocaust) Or should it just be the case that some things are okay as a tool, but inappropriate for being the object of the joke and if so, how do you decide?

In this case, it seems that the ?serial rapist? concept is being used as a tool to satire the online dating scene and/ or the difficulty of finding a guy generally. From a humour perspective, I?d say that the ?serial rapist? concept is being used as (a) it?s so shocking that it makes stark how bad the online dating scene is (in a way that saying burglar or investment bank doesn?t) and (b) it is very unfortunately contextual. The question I guess is, is whether this concept is acceptable as a tool to satirise something else or not and on that I suspect people will just have different views.

(I?d also add that maybe I?m a bad, bad person but actually there are very few things that I?d find wrong as comedy material ? I?m sure this started as a child with the Space Shuttle, Piper Alpha, Herald of Free Enterprise etc. jokes which did the rounds at school at a very formative age)

Katie, I think the cartoonist made the man a serial rapist because it is such an extreme example - it is the worst thing you can think of in the context of a date, and as such makes the point the most forcefully and shockingly.

I don't think it's acceptable to joke in any way about serial rapists either.

You are spectacularly missing the point thepregnanthedgewitch and typing something four times in caps doesn't make it a valid point.

I agree with the OP.

Reality - yes, but importantly, the Relationships thread is a serious place where people can go for advice and not a laugh. Or for a satirical response.

I can't imagine a MNer asking for advice on the Relationships thread and someone replying, 'Well, so he's a rapist, why not give it a go?'.

Im talking about a cartoon on a funnies/puzzles page.

And rape is pretty much a crime men get away with - a FIVE percent conviction rate is laughable.

Most women I know have been raped. It's very very common.

This is clearly going to go round in circles for days.

If just one women sits on the tube this morning opens the metro and thinks, 'shit, that's a good point. my not-so-DP has got some serious flaws I've been overlooking or actually maybe I should be a bit more careful with my online dating...' then that's a great thing.

Dittany - Fair enough. Knowing these particular friends you really don't need to worry, but me merely saying that is unlikely to convince you.