Letters to the Editor
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I refer you...
...to the eminent Mr. Carlin, who had this to say about rape jokes:
You tell me rape isn't funny? I say, "Fuck you! I think it's hilarious!"
Don't believe me? Imagine Porky Pig raping Elmer Fudd.
I rest my case.
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Ape-ray = ot-nay unny-fay
I must have missed this entire "controversy." Some college-age kids made a sketch? And it was in offensive taste? And furthermore, lame-brained? Stop the presses! (Or -- stop whatever you stop in the world of internet publishing. The servers or something.)
The worst thing about this whole controversy is whatever attention it gives to these would-be comics. Thousands of Los Angeles and New York comedians try, every day, to get that kind of publicity. They slave away at The Groundlings, or at Magnet, or the Upright Citizens Brigade, or in university student unions, or coffehouse open-mic nights, or at Pauly Shore's mom's club, or wherever comedians work it for laffs.
The majority of them studiously avoid rape. And what do they get for it? NOTHING!
Then some idiot like Sarah Silverman comes along and says, "I was raped by a doctor. As a Jewish girl, it was bittersweet for me." Or whatever she said. Silverman combines a rape joke and a self-deprecating Jew joke, and what happens? They give the little shit her own show. Where is the comedy justice?
So if a woman jokes about rape, it might be funny. If a man jokes about rape, 99% of the time it's not funny. Why? Because of the creeping suspicion that he isn't completely joking -- that something about the subject interests him the wrong way.
The exception to the rule is that a male comedian can joke about the rape of men. Rape of women is off-limits, but how many hundreds of comedians have joked about prison rape? "Don't drop the soap in the shower!," yuk yuk. Man-rape is acceptable, one assumes, because people figure prisoners are guilty and deserve it, or men have a better chance to fight back. In truth, the prevalence of rape in prison is a horrible thing, and many prison rapes are violent gang rapes. But hey, the audiences don't know that! So bring on the laffs!
The only reason George Carlin's Elmer Fudd/Porky Pig rape joke is funny is because of how completely abstracted it is from such realities. The stupid voices those characters make would be given a sick twist if allow yourself to imagine the scenario. There's an element of relief to being able to laugh at rape in that context -- it's like Carlin gives you a brief, narrow reprieve from the tension of the subject. It's the same reason why audiences are silent during the "Deliverance" rape scene but jokingly quote it afterward.
To any many who thinks jokes about rape are acceptable, just imagine how you'd feel if a group of women comedians performed a sketch about castrating some guy. (And if you think that would be funny, I challenge you to sit through the film "Hard Candy.")
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Trivializing Rape
The obvious target of ridicule were not the rapists, but the rape victim (The POV of was from the Green Team; we were supposed to laugh at their antics). Rape (which includes pedophilia, since child rape is rape) was grossly trivialized and, thus, indirectly justified as "no big deal." This is on par with nooses being used as "pranks." However, although lynching is in the past, rape is all too common today. Rape--a goddamn weapon of war--a brutal crime that is universally committed by males targeting women and girls (9/10 rape victims are female) and will remain so since we live in a culture that legitimizes the message, "Rape is trivial."
I have no doubt many people find rape jokes hilarious. That's not in dispute. The real question is why they do. Why they find the systematic targeting of women and girls, on the basis of gender, for sadistic physical, psychological, and sexual torture so damn entertaining. Especially amongst readers who (rightly) condemn the torturing of suspected terrorists.
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Rape is not generic violence
That should be stressed: universally, rape is gender-based and, thus, misogynistic violence. Equating murder jokes with rape jokes is dishonest, at best. Hence, my previous noose-as-prank comparison (Yes, non-blacks were also murdered by lynching, but it was overwhelmingly a racist weapon).
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@Allie
Good analysis. I didn't see it at first, but I think you're right.
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Didnt we cover this last week?
ANYTHING can be funny. Funny is subjective. Anyone claiming that something is universally unfunny is dangerously overstepping the boundaries of their own presumed self-importance.
An example of the subjectivity of 'funny' would be that the rapist may be laughing during a rape, the victim hardly ever does.
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Sure, A Rape Joke Can Be Funny
But it'll take more talented writers than these three hacks to do it.
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Rape is NEVER funny...
...unless it happens to a man.
Hasn't anyone learned anything from feminism?
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Not funny
I agree with Xrandadu Hutman. This stupid piece of work gets attention and that is a real shame.
I haven't heard any "rape humor" involving females being the victims and I suppose that makes me half lucky. Men getting raped or the threat of men getting rape is somehow acceptable humor and is pretty common. I don't get it. A man getting raped by gorilla or bear is also a standard gag.
If the culture accepts male rape as funny and just don't be surprised if some people take it the wrong way. As a culture there is a price to be paid for trivializing the abuse of other human beings regardless of gender or status. It makes it acceptable and that is not acceptable.
There are certain things that should not be comedy material because they are hurtful to others or degrading to people in general.
Do we really want rape to be viewed as entertainment or funny in any way whatsoever?
I don't.
Do you want the population to be conditioned and programmed through association of rape and abuse with humor, excitement, thrills and satisfaction with the same techniques that Madison Avenue sells beer, soap, politicians and cars? It is behavior modification and social engineering under the cover of social darwinism and a free market. To what purpose? The worse people feel about themselves and the worse people treat each other the more they will have to rely on buying things to compensate. Buy more! It will make you feel better, safer and more secure.