Article: "Why It's OK to Tell Rape Jokes"

[HYHYBT]

Since the topic has come up now and then on Fratching!, (should that be spelled with or without the !, anyway?) this from Roseanne Barr in today's Daily Beast seems appropriate to bring up.

I believe the title is self-explanatory.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/witw/ar...=Cheat%20Sheet

As for me, context is everything.

[Nekojin]

As for me, context is everything.

Yep. No topic should be so taboo that we can't joke about it sometimes, but at the same time, there's this little thing to humor called timing. There are some times when it's just really, really poor taste to bust out a joke, particularly if the joke is at someone else's expense or in low humor to begin with.

[Hyena Dandy]

My problem with rape jokes isn't rape jokes. I've rarely heard rape jokes. I hear a lot of rape PUNCHLINES. Where the whole joke is just "Someone got raped!"

That's what, I think, people complaining about rape jokes are talking about.

There's a difference, you see. Because someone getting raped isn't funny. But rape, like anything, I think, can be part of a good joke. But I can only think of one rape joke I've heard, like, ever. Not even saying "Funny rape joke," just one thing with rape in it that I'd actually classify as a joke, rather than saying "Ha, you got raped." Or "Ha, someone was raped."

[HYHYBT]

...you can't have not intended someone to ask: what is the one joke?

[Gravekeeper]

The problem with "rape jokes" is if someone is inclined to make one, chances are they're already a terrible comedian and its going to be a terrible joke regardless. It goes hand in hand with an offensive, mean spirited type of "humour".

It takes a deft comedic hand and a lack of bitterness to make a good joke out of a controversial subject. But someone with a deft comedic hand is unlikely to go for such low brow topic.

[Skunkle]

I agree, partly: MOST subjects, one should be able to joke about. There are a very, very few which I believe cross lines. I've heard a fair few rape jokes; I have some friend who "collect" awful jokes. I've NEVER heard a funny rape joke. Never. I've never heard a rape joke that wasn't patently offensive.

In the case of these friends, they'll tell me - in private - the newest awful racist, sexist and taboo jokes they've heard, and we'll groan over them. But even a friend of mine who lacks much sense of tact and loves bad jokes (he's not one of the collectors mentioned) wouldn't tell these.

I've not heard any "Ha ha, someone got raped!" comments, or I'd be saying, "Ha ha, someone got punched. You. By me. Just now. Isn't that funny?" I HAVE heard quite a few chuckles about "He's off to prison for (horrible crime), I hope he gets raped!" and I find those patently offensive.

[Hyena Dandy]

The problem with "rape jokes" is if someone is inclined to make one, chances are they're already a terrible comedian and its going to be a terrible joke regardless. It goes hand in hand with an offensive, mean spirited type of "humour".

It takes a deft comedic hand and a lack of bitterness to make a good joke out of a controversial subject. But someone with a deft comedic hand is unlikely to go for such low brow topic.

Part of the problem is how rarely I've heard a rape joke in my life. I've heard a lot of rape punchlines, but that's not actually a joke. That's just a story that includes "Someone got raped in an unusual way."

The closest I could think of was a recent bit SFDebris did, which is at least actually a joke, and does involve rape.

But usually the jokes I hear are"Ha-ha! A rape happened!"

Rape makes really, really bad slapstick for the same reason that murder makes bad slapstick.

[Greenday]

I think I've heard a grand total of one story that implies rape that was funny. Everything else has been God awful and not even remotely funny.

[D_Yeti_Esquire]

I'll link this older article here and I can't remember if this was Lindy West before or after her argument against rape jokes. Either way, it's easier than linking 4 Youtube videos.

How To Make a Rape Joke

If Louis CK can do it, it can most certainly be done. To me, the point of the Barr article is, young comics while they try to figure out their voice try and fail at a lot of things. Segmenting a topic because you find it distasteful removes their ability to fail, retool, and find something that works. Maybe you're a man and you've been affected by rape culture in some way. You try a few things that don't get laughs until you finally find something that does. That's what Barr is protecting.

The point is not "should random frat house dudebro who isn't a comedian be able to do it," the point is "should professional comic Herman McFailsALot be able to do it."

The rape punchline that Tosh got in trouble with is a reflexive response that's very much a symptom of rape culture. But that's not even in the same ballpark as the kind of thought guys like CK and Rock put into a joke. It's also why, come to think of it, a lot of comics truly hate heckling because not everyone is Jimmy Carr that can be deft and witty while navigating everything gracefully. A lot of comics are very much "script based" and if you pull them off script they say stupid things which is why comics rally around the wagons or at least don't join the dog pile of guys like Tosh or Richards and other guys like CK are unapologetically mean to hecklers.

[Eisa]

I don't really agree with Roseanne. I do agree with Lindy more. There's a difference between making a joke that pokes fun at rape culture, etc. and making a joke that's just making fun of victims, or where the punchline is "haha rape." And 99% of rape jokes I've ever heard fall into that last bit.

Granted, I did actually see one rape joke that made me laugh. I can't remember the whole thing about it? But it was a BDSM couple, and someone asked him how that rape of his wife was going. And he said, "Not too good, she keeps saying yes."

But that's one in 25 years so...

[HYHYBT]

That's moderately funny.

[Seshat]

I know one funny rape joke.

One.

And the funny part isn't the rape, the funny part is that it puts the brain in a conflicted state. It starts out sounding like a statistical report on what people enjoy - then shoves the brain into a horror/crime scenario.

I've run it past several other friends who enjoy thinking about things like improving jokes; and we keep trying to find a different crime or horror to put in; but none has quite the same impact in this particular joke. Or none have the same short, easy-to-grasp name in English; and the delay in understanding reduces the impact and thus the conflicted-state.

Even so, I don't use it. If I want humour, I can use less dark topics. I might use it if I'm discussing rape culture and need to either make a joke, or jerk people into thinking. Or I might use it if I somehow go into stand-up comedy and develop a sequence which involves crime and/or horror scenarios.

But in my day to day life, I don't need it.

(Oh, and I won't tell it here unless we make a sub-thread. I can very easily see the thread derailing into an analysis of a single joke, rather than the topic of rape jokes in general.)

[Nemesis44uk]

In the UK, there's a comedian called Frankie Boyle, who tells lots of rape jokes. He is one of the most offensive comedians I know. Nothing is off the table for him. I like edgy jokes, but this is so far beyond the edge, it's crossed into the "vile" territory.

Jimmy Carr is one of the few comics who can pull off those kind of jokes, because his delivery and timing are laser guided in their precision.

[otakuneko]

What, no mention of Porky Pig raping Elmer Fudd yet?

For shame.

[wolfie]

What, no mention of Porky Pig raping Elmer Fudd yet?

Can't access YouTube (old computer on dialup), and don't recall seeing anything that meets the description. Besides, based on my knowledge of the characters, that's more Bugs Bunny's style. Would sort of explain some of what Elmer gets up to - after all, you'd expect that from someone with a wild hare up their ass.