2008… comedians freely engage in non-PC banter about a pregnant trans man

[CorruptedCauldron]

A clip has surfaced on social media of The Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2008. Some big-name TV stars, including Dara O Briain, can be seen having a giggle about the notion of a man giving birth. They’d never get away with this kind of comedy banter now, and Dara has repeatedly ignored Graham Linehan’s calls to speak up about gender ideology. I found it interesting to see that even the most fervent BeKinders of 2023 have a few very un-PC skeletons in their closet.

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-endless-hypocrisy-of-the-comedy-class/

DO YOU REMEMBER CHALK HEARTS MELTIN ON A PLAYGROUND WALL

There are also kilts for women - they tend to be longer than the ones worn by men. The Ministry of Tartan have brought out a suffragette tartan skirt which I really want but really can't justify the cost to myself!

theministryoftartan.co.uk/product/suffragette-tartan-ladies-kilt/

AYE WOMEN HAVE CLITS

There's a bit in the Sharron Davies book about women's volleyball, and the governing body's hideous insistence on women wearing skimpy bikini bottoms. But when a transwoman wanted to join a women's team, of course special exemption was applied and that individual could wear more practical shorts. Because nobody wants to see a cock and balls popping out, what with it then being so much harder to pretend that person is a woman. It is the job of comedians to point and laugh at such blatant absurdity and hypocrisy.

At least Michael McIntyre doesn't pretend to be anything other than an amiable bloke chuckling about everyday life to make my mum laugh. It's the allegedly bold and edgy ones that turn out to be craven.

I still can't believe that the Norwegian Handball Team was fined for wearing shorts despite officials being unable to give a reason to why they should have to wear bikini bottoms -

www.nytimes.com/2021/07/20/sports/norway-beach-handball-team.html

That just immediately sprang to my mind RealFeminist - thanks for making me guffaw out loud 😂

We could find many such examples of this unfettered humour I’m sure. It was allowed back then. Just like Damian Barr made that joke about the 6ft person and the balcony - awfully sick jokes that we now know better not to laugh at. Allegedly.

I just listened on Radio 4 to John Cleese being interviewed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and he made a very good point on context. The way we laugh at things when we really shouldn’t and find things funny in certain company but know it’s not appropriate in other circumstances. And how Jesus is too perfect to be funny but certain behaviours in those that follow him are game for being laughed at. Interesting.

I usually found 8 out of 10 cats funny but sometimes a comedian would say stuff I found offensive - I’m thinking of Phil Jupitus going on about ‘gunts’ once with Marcus Brigstock(?) I think - hugely misogynistic. It revealed something about them that made me think less of them. The Clip I just watched just showed me that people could see the absurdity of the situation. And comedy thrives on absurdity doesn’t it?

@Beowulfa it’s “interesting” that TW want in on women’s cycling, weightlifting, rugby and such - sports in which brute strength and body size are an advantage- but not so much women’s gymnastics, synchronised swimming etc, which use the strengths of female bodies and in which body-revealing outfits are worn.

If a typical TW turned up on a televised event clumping around in a skimpy high cut leotard, all the viewers who are blissfully unaware of what’s going on (including all the people who believe TW have had surgery and hormones and are essentially physically women) will see what we’re talking about.

That would never do, would it? 😶

KIDS THESE DAYS THINK THEYVE GOT IT HARD BUT THEYVE NO IDEA THE STRUGGLES OF FISH JUGGLING A MULLET WI MALE PATTERN BALDNESS

I thought that was Jimmy Carr.

@TheFirstStraw yes you are correct about Jimmy Carr he did indeed make a very offensive joke about DS, but the one I was thinking of was Frankie Boyle who also told a disgusting joke about it.
Apologies to Dara Obriern (although I still think he's a twat)

Oh yeah, Frankie Boyle's a horrible man, and the misognyn absolutely oozes out of him. "But it's just comedy." Funny how male women are off limits for comedy, but Boyle gets to joke about raping and punching the female women, isn't it? And gets to rip their appearances to shreds. Fucking disgusting man.

They're the Karens who hang out in Belsize park, for whom it's too late to say they're sorry 🎶

2008, Coronation Street, the comedic and strong northern character of Blanche, Deidre's mother:

Blanche (to Roy): he looks like he should be crayoning summit. (And to Hayley): I don't care what you call yerself, I've never trusted a man who wears women's underwear.

Absolutely unthinkable now that such lines would be included. (And there were a lot more.)

Ah, you see, I never understood you had to go.

The time is getting closer and closer Arabella. It will happen, it is just a matter of when. The grotesque parodies, their slurs, their denigration and the complete dehumanisation that leads a male to simulate miscarriages or abortions on stage and throw the 'fetus' into the audience without push back from anyone of the genre's supporters can never be viewed as 'harmless fun from male people who absolutely 'love' women!'.

It is remarkable to see it supported as a genre after that.

We all need a tribe. Dara had his when he slayed homeopaths and other such magical thinking, going so far as to donate proceeds from a UK tour to help fund Simon Singh's libel appeal against the British Chiropractic Association.

The likes of him, Ben Goldacre etc, always stood to be counted against sacred cows.

Looks like a big portion of the New Atheists are as prone to magical thinking as those they criticised mercilessly.

Looks like a big portion of the New Atheists are as prone to magical thinking as those they criticised mercilessly.

Nah, they're just afraid to say anything.

So it’s fine to mock a trans man for confirming their sex by performing the defining role of the female, but appalling, discriminatory and cruel to notice that some trans women may not be totally convincing.

No surprise there, then .

What the fuck did Kayley ever do that deserved someone to point out how they were a grotesque parody of something? Or are they a new generation of Karen that you have created here today?

Either way.... way to go being a male supporting a group who use terms such as 'fish' and take on dehumanising names. Or maybe you don't think that simulating abortions on stage is dehumanising or grotesque parodies? I have seen two such acts now appear reported over the internet, there may well be more.

So, you do you DadJoke, meanwhile, I am quite comfortable calling out a genre of performance that is misogynistic. Those reading along can only assume that Drag has your full support from your comment.

Has anyone else got the Marillion song "Kayleigh" in their head now?

Yes love it

@DialSquare yup!

Oh, and there's a drag and Fish connection!

And the Blanche era was a hugely comedic one and there were loads of gay male writers on Corrie then and a huge gay fan base. It seems that humour is now only allowed to be targeted against women - often by drag queens. We’re fair game because everyone else is deemed too ‘vulnerable’.

Your post reminded me of this https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4731421-finlands-first-transgender-national-skater I was surprised to see it was only from January this year. A lot has changed since then.