"Rape jokes are no laughing matter"

[MoonWater]

Came across this article and thought I'd bring it here for discussion.

Rape "Jokes" Are No Laughing Matter | Care2 Causes

Here is why I refuse to take rape jokes sitting down…
Because 6% of college-aged men, slightly over 1 in 20, will admit to raping someone in anonymous surveys, as long as the word “rape” isn’t used in the description of the act—and that’s the conservative estimate. Other sources double that number (pdf).
A lot of people accuse feminists of thinking that all men are rapists. That’s not true. But do you know who think all men are rapists?
Rapists do.
They really do. In psychological study, the profiling, the studies, it comes out again and again.
Virtually all rapists genuinely believe that all men rape, and other men just keep it hushed up better. And more, these people who really are rapists are constantly reaffirmed in their belief about the rest of mankind being rapists like them by things like rape jokes, that dismiss and normalize the idea of rape.

do you think this guy has a point?

 

[Trey of Diamonds]

do you think this guy has a point?

Sure. But I think he's using the "Rape Joke" issue as a something to back up his theory when it is a weak argument. In my opinion it doesn't help his cause, he would have been better leaving that part out or finding a different anecdote to illustrate his point.

 

[Shuddhasattva]

Mixed feelings. I like rape jokes. I've laughed at them. I've made them. No regrets, and I really hate the idea of regretting laughter.

I find this suspect:

"And more, these people who really are rapists are constantly reaffirmed in their belief about the rest of mankind being rapists like them by things like rape jokes, that dismiss and normalize the idea of rape."

I smell a non-sequitur there. I'm not completely opposed to the idea that there's some truth in it, but that hardly seems reasonable to me.

A. I'm not particularly concerned, in general, about victims being offended by rape jokes. Why?

1. I believe a major reason for laughter is catharsis and making light of otherwise tragic situations. Humor is healing.
2. I think those who would 'take it wrong' would also be those lease likely to be take refuge in more apparently words; in other words, they selectively allow negative words to influence them, dwelling in victim mentalities that are, ultimately, uninfluenced by my few words. Phrased otherwise; if words won't help, why let words harm?
3. I guess I'm just an unapologetic sort in general. But 1 is pretty important to me.

B. I'm much more concerned by the idea that actual rapists might feel, somehow, justified or normalized 'by things like rape jokes.' Do rape jokes actually do that? And equally important, are jokes actually a factor in making someone decide that rape is 'okay'?

That would make me feel like my ways might be in error; are perpetrators actually deriving some sense of justification from jokes which, to them, normalize rape?

 

[Me Myself]

Nah, it is completely ridiculous.

Comedy is based on tragedy. Almost anything if not everything you find funny is so because someone is being "dumb" or is getting "hurt" .

Try counting the amount of awful things people laugh about here:

[youtube]dcELyKkOAak[/youtube]
The Three Stooges pull a tooth out - YouTube

[youtube]WM5Gwzk3Vfc[/youtube]
Bugs Bunny - YouTube

(the last one even includes some sexual assault )

 

[InChrist]

Humor is good and it is good to laugh, but I think joking about behavior which is abusive toward another person, such as rape, only serves to desensitize people toward such cruel and sinful behavior.

 

[Me Myself]

Humor is good and it is good to laugh, but I think joking about behavior which is abusive toward another person, such as rape, only serves to desensitize people toward such cruel and sinful behavior.

so you are against almost all comedy? like comedy that desensitize against: physical pain, humiliation, emotional pain, people with retardation, etc?

Cause you are leaving almost nothing to laugh about.

 

[9Westy9]

If she's trying to persuade me that laughing at rape jokes is "wrong" then she's not doing a good job.

 

[freethinker44]

Seriously? Someone hears a rape joke and thinks it's OK to rape people? I'm not buying it. People always try to figure out why someone did something horrible. Maybe there isn't a reason, maybe someone did something horrible because he/she was just a horrible person. It wasn't a joke's fault, it wasn't a video game's fault, it wasn't a song or music video's, it wasn't society's fault. It's their fault. They did it, and they did it all alone.

To speculate why people blame everything but the person who actually did the deed; I think people need to blame something else because blaming a person is too personal. It implies that the potential to do despicable things is within everyone. It isn't brought out by anything external, it is simply a lack of personal control, or desire for personal control, that separates normal decency from savage brutality. No matter how strong the urge to do something or lack of willpower is, we always, ALWAYS, have the intellectual capacity to choose not to do it.

Humans are not bound by nature, we simply choose to follow it's course.

 

[MysticSang'ha]

Awesome. I think I'll start telling castration jokes in front of any man who disagrees with me.

I know how to use a knife too. Really well.

 

[Me Myself]

Awesome. I think I'll start telling castration jokes in front of any man who disagrees with me.

I know how to use a knife too. Really well.

Have fun?

 

[MysticSang'ha]

Have fun?

I will.

You should too when I tell them.

 

[Badran]

I think a distinction needs to be made. Rape jokes in themselves, or the fact that they're said and laughed about by some in general, and normalization or general acceptance of such jokes.

Perhaps normalization of rape jokes is what would be a problem to one extent or the other. I and my friends joke about such things all the time. Nothing get's 'confused' and none of us forgets or misunderstands exactly what are our stances on the matter. Which is due to the fact that we joke like that about everything.

However, i won't crack a rape joke or something of the like with someone i just met, or someone i don't know that well.

If within a society, rape jokes are considered so normal that you can crack one with a stranger or someone you just met, then i can see some possible merit in complaining about such behavior or discouraging it, for more than one reason.

After reading the article i'm not 100% positive whether the author is talking about rape jokes in general, or their normalization, but i'm leaning towards thinking that he/she's addressing the latter because of some of the examples mentioned.

All that said, i think it's worth mentioning that i think the author's over simplifying the matter, and is coming off too self-righteously.

 

[Shuddhasattva]

Awesome. I think I'll start telling castration jokes in front of any man who disagrees with me.

I know how to use a knife too. Really well.

A good start.

 

[MysticSang'ha]

a good start.

lol

 

[Freedomelf]

so you are against almost all comedy? like comedy that desensitize against: physical pain, humiliation, emotional pain, people with retardation, etc?

Cause you are leaving almost nothing to laugh about.

Some people are so violently attuned that they are desensitized to real humor. Try watching the Andy Griffith Show, Gomer Pyle, All in the Family, The Dick Van Dyke show, and perhaps you will discover that there is a whole lot to laugh about in life that doesn't involve destroying someone else's life.

I remember a guy who used to throw frogs into pots of boiling water and laugh as they tried desperately to jump out. He'd watch it just like a movie, cause he thought it was hilarious. Needless to say, he's now been divorced five times. I'm just glad I never married him.

 

[MysticSang'ha]

Some people are so violently attuned that they are desensitized to real humor. Try watching the Andy Griffith Show, Gomer Pyle, All in the Family, The Dick Van Dyke show, and perhaps you will discover that there is a whole lot to laugh about in life that doesn't involve destroying someone else's life.

I remember a guy who used to throw frogs into pots of boiling water and laugh as they tried desperately to jump out. He'd watch it just like a movie, cause he thought it was hilarious. Needless to say, he's now been divorced five times. I'm just glad I never married him.

I can laugh at simpler comedy as well as the physical comedy that Dick Van Dyke gave us. All in the Family was rather edgy for its time, however. Archie Bunker was a real *** who didn't shy from his misogynistic and racist points of view.

 

[Trey of Diamonds]

Awesome. I think I'll start telling castration jokes in front of any man who disagrees with me.

I know how to use a knife too. Really well.

Ah, but can you tell castration jokes while doing this?

[youtube]K3y5GSznNfI[/youtube]
Bishops Knife Trick - Directors Cut - YouTube

 

[MysticSang'ha]

Ah, but can you tell castration jokes while doing this?

[youtube]K3y5GSznNfI[/youtube]
Bishops Knife Trick - Directors Cut - YouTube

I love that movie.

And how funny it would be having a man's genitals on the table instead of Bishop's hand.

 

[Me Myself]

I will.

You should too when I tell them.

Only if you make them so that I find them funny

I´ve laughed at rape jokes (and I mean both male on male rape and male on female). I wouldn´t find any of those situations funny on real life, but when it´s a joke, it´s a joke.

Just like I laugh at the three stooges when the hit each other with hammers or "cut" themselves with saws.

Of course this doesn´t mean that every joke is funny (to me), but just because I don´t find it funny doesn´t mean it is wrong.

If you make a cutting balls joke and I don´t find it funny I won´t oppose it, but don´t expect me to laugh either

If you have fun telling the joke though, and better yet if others also have fun with it, then by all means enjoy it fully

 

[Me Myself]

Some people are so violently attuned that they are desensitized to real humor. Try watching the Andy Griffith Show, Gomer Pyle, All in the Family, The Dick Van Dyke show, and perhaps you will discover that there is a whole lot to laugh about in life that doesn't involve destroying someone else's life.

I remember a guy who used to throw frogs into pots of boiling water and laugh as they tried desperately to jump out. He'd watch it just like a movie, cause he thought it was hilarious. Needless to say, he's now been divorced five times. I'm just glad I never married him.

by all means show me video examples. I am sure I wil find "unfunny" things in most if they had happened to you, or that it is hurtful in some way.

Comedy is based in tragedy.

And again I ask: you find buggs bunny and the tree stooges to be immoral comedy?