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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDaniel Tosh (Tosh 2.0) is a disgusting POS.
No, rape "jokes" are never funny. I'm glad I don't watch his show; now I never will. And Gilbert Gottfreid misses the point: It is not enough for women to ignore such jokes; in this "rape" society, we must speak out as loudly as we can in protest.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/16/opinion/burton-bruns-tosh/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
hedgehog
(36,286 posts)Last edited Mon Jul 16, 2012, 04:01 PM - Edit history (1)
I'm looking for jokes about gassing Jews and gypsies, dragging blacks behind trucks and crucifying gays on fences!
This is the most terrible post I've ever put up, but it fits the topic! Thanks, Brigid, for bringing this up so I could raise my voice!
On edit - to get the proper feeling about what Tosh did, imagine him telling the joke about dragging blacks behind tucks to a bar full of drunken white guys and one black kid bussing the tables - it wasn't that he told a rape joke, it was that he threatened a woman with gang rape on the spot. I can't imagine how she got all the way to her car in one piece.
ieoeja
(9,748 posts)It was his own fault though. If he hadn't been drinking on duty he probably wouldn't have fallen out of the guard tower.
See? It *is* possible for a Holocaust joke to be funny. Admittedly, that is the only such joke I have ever read.
Nostradammit
(2,921 posts)A HERETIC I AM
(24,380 posts)demwing
(16,916 posts)tblue37
(65,502 posts)hanging on the wall over my desk. It makes me laugh every time I see it, and I like to laugh.
Dawson Leery
(19,348 posts)nykym
(3,063 posts)Tosh v.ZERO as in his mental capacity.
randome
(34,845 posts)Rape IS funny -when you do a skit like Wanda Sykes did, which was shown on the Melissa Harris-Perry Show on Sunday.
What Tosh did, however, was insulting and stupid. My daughters like him but they are deeply disappointed with what he said. And his lame Tweet apology made things even worse.
He needs to make a more public apology AND find another line of work. He's been where he is for far too long and he's starting to believe he's invincible.
FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)Q. Was it OK for Sandra to joke a woman would be raped by her big black "brothers" if she went to New York?
Rape is soul murder.
arely staircase
(12,482 posts)Comedians run into that shit all the time.
Like rape. They'll say, "you can't joke about rape. Rape's not funny."
I say, "fuck you, I think it's hilarious. How do you like that?"
I can prove to you that rape is funny. Picture Porky Pig raping Elmer Fudd.
See, hey why do you think they call him "Porky," eh? I know what you're going to say.
"Elmer was asking for it. Elmer was coming on to Porky.
Porky couldn't help himself, he got a hard- on, he got horney, he lost control, he went out of his mind."
A lot of men talk like that. A lot of men think that way. They think it's the woman's fault.
They like to blame the rape on the woman. Say, "she had it coming, she was wearing a short skirt."
These guys think women ought to go to prison for being cock teasers. Don't seem fair to me.
Don't seem right, but you can joke about it. I believe you can joke about anything.
the other one
(1,499 posts)The thickness of your skin is your own business, but drawing attention to the issue only helps their career.
Brigid
(17,621 posts)Rape "jokes" are not merely crude and unfunny; they are downright threatening, and women need to protest loudly.
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)if it didn't first require ignoring thousands of hours of material from various comedians making the same basic joke but about men.
Leno joked once in his monologues about prison rape (don't drop the soap) and . . . nothing.
At least be honest in your outrage: Rape "jokes" are not merely crude and unfunny; they are downright threatening . . . when done to women. When done to men it is perfectly acceptable. Hilarious even.
/along these lines you might see Ray of Everyone loves Raymond getting slapped around by his wife. You won't see it in reverse. Domestic abuse is not funny . . . when done to women.
Brigid
(17,621 posts)There's nothing dishonest about my outrage.
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)There are no petitions to get such comedians off the air. There are not dozens of threads about how horrific those jokes are.
You may very well be consistent in this. However the vast majority are not. A national outcry doesn't come from one person. It's a mass movement.
And right now that mass is being perfectly clear: we value female victims higher than male victims (if they even count as victims at all).
I would consider that worse. On the one hand you have one woman who felt offended. On the other hand you have an entire half the population that has just been subtly told that it doesn't matter.
CBGLuthier
(12,723 posts)If we don't have enough outrage about everything then we can have no outrage about anything??!?
Bullshit. I can not imagine any kind of joke about women getting raped to be funny. I don't find prison rape jokes funny but they are not exactly in the same league and to claim so is utter and complete bullshit.
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)I can not imagine any kind of joke about women getting raped to be funny.
The fact that you feel the need to mention a gender (women getting raped isn't funny, men . . .meh) kinda proves my point.
Otherwise you would have simply said: I can not imagine any kind of joke about rape to be funny.
Ian David
(69,059 posts)Sarah Silverman demonstrates how to make a rape joke
One of my favorite things about a lot of the feminist response to Daniel Toshs rape joke is the way its taken a nuanced approach to the issue instead of repeating the tired soundbite that no rape jokes are funny. As Maya said in the Weekly Feminist Reader: If theres one thing the Daniel Tosh episode has taught us, I hope it is that rape jokes can be funny. Its not that the topic is off limits for comedy, its just that jokes that target victims and perpetuate rape culture make you a lazy asshole. Humor is ideally suited to target our absurd culture around rape, though.
Sarah Silverman demonstrates that perfectly in this excerpt from her stand up show, which oddly enough was recorded on the same evening Tosh made his rape [s]joke[/s] threat:
(Transcript after the jump.)
Also check out this video that contrasts uncreative jokes that just regurgitate our cultural messages around rape with smart humor thats actually aimed at rape culture. The video is a collaboration between The Womens Media Center, Pop Culture Pirate, Fem 2.0, and Women In Media & News.
More:
http://feministing.com/2012/07/16/sarah-silverman-demonstrates-how-to-make-a-rape-joke/
Brigid
(17,621 posts)We are too easily offended, we are told. We are the ones who are told we don't matter.
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)with the demonstrable outrage that *only* follows jokes about women being raped but *never* follows jokes about men being raped?
Seems the consensus is: men, if you don't like jokes about you getting raped . . . well tough.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)however. The penis must have sprouted overnight. Bizarre but not unprecedented.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/arts/television/female-comedians-are-confidently-breaking-taste-taboos.html?pagewanted=all
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)on du when there is a prison rape joke it is almost always made by a man. and it is almost always immediately addressed by a number of women. i think that was clear with what i posted. why wont you address what is actually said? because still it does not look good for your cause? because it is not what you want to hear?
silverman tells jokes about women being raped. dont like the woman. dont watch her.
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)Irony . . . too . . . . strong . . . must fight it!
43. it is mostly men that tell the prison rape jokes. and it is mostly women that call them out. nt
What part of that contains a reference to only this site? Feel free to post it in quotes.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)since i am not seeing jokes about male prison rape, but on du.... that is where i draw my knowledge. and i REPEAT..... the men make the jokes, the women call it out.
why dont you actually address what i post? because you are really not concerned, you just want to dismiss womens concern with rape?
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)on du when there is a prison rape joke it is almost always made by a man. and it is almost always immediately addressed by a number of women. i think that was clear with what i posted.
What part of your previous statement made that clear?
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)you should not watch them?
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)so yes, i do both. i wont shut up or i am part of the problem.
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)so for Ms. Silverman your only response was "don't watch her if you don't like her"
On Tosh it's "don't watch *AND* speak out against it".
Do you realize your double standard?
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)this thread is about tosh.
you are about derailing the argument.
i am consistent. you are not.
i called out silverman in the silverman thread.
i called out tosh in the tosh thread.
i call out prison rape jokes.
i vote to hide the prison rape jokes on du.
i am consistent.
you are about derailing an argument.
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)sure.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)tblue37
(65,502 posts)When seabeyond says, "don't like the woman don't watch her," I believe she means that SHE doesn't like her or watch her.
Seabeyond tends to leave out caps, omit a lot of punctuation, and even drop some words (like the subjects of the clauses) in her sentences. It's just her posting style. You have to sort of get used to her style to understand her. When I first read her posts on DU I couldn't figure them out. Now I usually have no trouble with them because I am used to them.
Of course, I could just be misreading that post--if I am, seabeyond, say so, please.
But I do believe that she is saying that she doesn't like or watch Silverman, not that her advice to anyone offended by Silverman's rape humor should just not watch her.
randome
(34,845 posts)An audience member walked out and then Tosh said something about how she should be gang raped. That's where things went awry.
thucythucy
(8,104 posts)to get such comedians off the air" for telling jokes about raping men.
So why don't you start one?
I'm serious. I used to volunteer at a rape crisis center, and people would ask the women there to do something about male rape. Which they did: offered counseling, started a support group, trained men to do peer counseling, etc. But it always struck me how somehow women--who have done like 99% of the hard, grueling work over the last 50 years trying to confront rape as an issue -- and generally as volunteers -- are always held responsible for doing this part of the work as well.
If male rape is an important issue to you -- and looking at all your posts on the topic, on this thread and others, it obviously is -- surely there's something you can do besides posting remarks on DU. (And maybe you do already, in which case let us know so maybe we can help--but I haven't seen it). Join a male anti-rape group. Organize a community forum. Start a petition, like others on DU do from time to time. Get training to counsel male survivors. Check with local prison activists to see what's happening there. The work is vital, hardly anyone is doing it -- so here is a chance for you to make a REAL difference.
But don't just come on line and criticize what other activists are doing or not doing. Do something yourself.
I'm being totally serious here.
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)I'm interested in the double standard. Jokes are often offensive (people make jokes about the holocaust, slavery, and the like)
So I won't start a petition to end male-rape jokes just as I won't start a petition to end women-rape jokes.
But those who will only become active for one and ignore the other ought to be aware of their sexism. Don't you think?
Consider a slightly different scenario. Let's say some people felt the need to push for a ban on black people wearing their pants below their ankles. If I pointed out that this ban is discriminatory because it only focuses on blacks but not everyone else so that kinda shows a racist mindset would that mean that I am actively supporting a ban on sagging pants for white kids too? Or that I am trying to point out to them their double standard?
Response to 4th law of robotics (Reply #110)
thucythucy This message was self-deleted by its author.
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)I point out a general trend and the responder then makes it entirely personal.
Me: society thinks male-rape jokes are funny.
Response: No *I* don't.
Me: society has a major double standard here.
Response: well excuse me if the rape I witnessed . . .
thucythucy
(8,104 posts)active in the anti-rape movement: "But those who will only become active for one and ignore the other ought to be aware of their sexism. Don't you think?" I guess I lost the thread.
So now I'm definitely confused.
You aren't offended by male rape jokes, but you're offended by people who also aren't offended by them? But who are offended by rape jokes about women? By which you aren't offended either?
But you are offended by people who are offended by one enough to actually do something about it, even though you have no idea why some individual might do the one but not the other?
And you yourself won't take the time to get involved in any way in an issue about which you spend all day on line posting? About which you're not really interested at all? Except, you've just posted on the issue like a gazillion times?
Oy, now I really have a headache.
And I'm sorry if I take all this rape stuff personally. It's just kinda personal when it happens to you.
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)I'm not sure why you're intentionally muddying it and pretending not to understand.
Tosh makes a rape joke against a woman. This leads to a national outcry and petitions to remove him from the air.
Comedians make rape jokes against men. . . those same people do nothing (go start your own petition!)
Hell "comedians" on The Talk joked about man having his penis cut off after his wife drugged him for the horrific crime of wanting a divorce. Nothing happened to them. There was no outcry.
I support the right of comedians to make horrific jokes. But I do wish people would be honest and acknowledge their double standard: that when they are outraged on one but not the other that means they believe male rape victims are somehow less victimized than female rape victims.
This double standard is more harmful to society and more worthy of attention than the possibility of future comedians making off color remarks. The ingrained notion that men are disposable is quite concerning to those of us born with the "wrong" genitals.
Is that clear to you now?
thucythucy
(8,104 posts)there's something you can do about it. Actually, there's lots you can do about it. That is, if you genuinely feel viscerally threatened by "the ingrained notion that men are disposable." If that really is a concern to you, go out and do something, for god's sake.
The reason there is an outcry about rape jokes about women is because individual women over the past five decades or so have taken it upon themselves actually to do something about rape. They've worked the issue. There isn't some magical force whereby a rape joke by a clueless comedian just sort of randomly "leads to national outrage." People get pissed off, they take action. Remember, "don't mourn, organize?"
Whereas, with what seems to me to be a hefty dose of male entitlement, you want someone ELSE to deal with 'the ingrained notion that men are disposable." Like, women maybe, should do this work for you? The same women who are already doing far more than you to deal with rape in the popular culture? Could it be that if individual men such as yourself actually did something about male rape, that just maybe something might get done?
But I do understand, really I do. You dislike the fact that people are getting on Tosh's case, and not on anyone else's. That women are taking Tosh to task (hey, I like alliteration) but not saying, "Well, if I do this amount of work to protest Tosh on behalf of women, I have to do the exact same amount of work on behalf of men, otherwise it's sexism." Like, "if I do anti-poverty work in an African American neighborhood, it's incumbant upon me to take the bus at the end of the day to the other side of town to do exactly the same amount of anti-poverty work among poor whites. Otherwise, people who don't do anti-poverty work at all will go on line and call me a hypocrite."
So okay, you're bothered by other people's hypocisy about issues you care nothing about and about which you're willing to do nothing. Except engage in endless on-line back and forth.
Seems like a waste of energy to me, but whatever.
Stay safe.
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)very frustrating.
How is it possible after all this that you still think my argument is that male-rape jokes ought to be banned too?
I mean I've clearly stated my stance now . . how many times?
Getting people to acknowledge the double standard (still no takers) is the first step towards addressing it.
Surely you must understand that a problem no one sees cannot be addressed right?
And so far you and others have proven that this is problem many people refuse to see.
Anyway I'm done with this. I've tried to get people to see this and they have refused. Some even claimed that male rape doesn't exist. So . . . not much point to continuing. Those who were willing to understand would have done so by now. Those that are left are less interested in doing so.
Response to 4th law of robotics (Reply #131)
thucythucy This message was self-deleted by its author.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)your post is so strong. thank you for taking the time to post your experience and all you have done.
what is really sad, is this is not about those human beings that hurt. that need te compassion and love and strength of others to make it thru the day.
the purpose of the poster was to merely dismiss them. as people. in pain.
i appreciate you posting this as hard as it is to read.
thucythucy
(8,104 posts)We keep bumping into each other here.
It's this Tosh shit. Really, I should know enough just to avoid it all.
Best wishes.
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)I'm agreeing with you that rape "jokes" aren't funny, no matter the target.
But there is a matter of degree. Alluding to the incidence of prison rape is pretty vile. Outright saying it'd be HILARIOUS if a member of your audience was gang-raped is on a whole 'nother scale.
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)because in this case it's a woman that's being offended.
Joking about a man being gangraped in prison (quite likely actually) or having his genitals mutilated: hilarious.
Hinting at the same thing for a single woman who is at no risk of actually being raped: too far!
OneTenthofOnePercent
(6,268 posts)Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)Oh, how I loathe men. I can't whip it out to take a piss without feeling the crushing weight of shame! Boo hoo! Boo hoo hoo! Oh, how I long to be like you, a rebel against the oppressive gynocracy!
It's on another scale because one is a tasteless and unfunny joke thrown out about someone who's not going to hear it. The other is a spiteful and vindictive wish directly made against a member of the audience. It's the difference between Dave Chappelle making racial jokes, and Michael Richards screaming "Niggers!" at his audience.
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)it's entirely different.
Men never get raped.
Or if they do it's not that bad. Really they don't mind it at all.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)addressing this.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1240115754
i am not seeing you either in the thread denouncing prison rape humor nor recommending. maybe you just do not pay attention to ALL the times people are calling it out. maybe you are wrong. maybe it is your way of dismissing what this comedian did. a strawman argument.
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)...Oh wait, no you didn't. In fact you're doing this thing, where you put words in my mouth, which are directly contradictory to what I'm saying in my posts. Maybe this works in debates with slow people, but... Uh, it's not so effective in a text-based environment where anyone can scroll up and see exactly what was said.
I believe I did say that rape jokes are not funny, regardless of who they are directed at. I've gone round and round with people here on DU explaining that prison rape is nothing to laugh at or wish on another person. Under no circumstances do I find rape of men any more acceptable than rape of women.
But of course, you can't afford to pay attention to that. You have to defend Tosh's statement - Wouldnt it be funny if that girl got raped by, like, five guys right now? Like right now? And somewhere in your head, you realize that this is actually indefensible, so you try to accuse others of sexism against men for decrying Tosh for it.
Fucking say what?
Well, here you are. Your argument boils down to Tosh's statement is okay, because Jay Leno made a prison rape joke. In other words, because two wrongs make a right. You have me and several other posters here telling you, no, that's not the case at all, that "rape jokes" are never acceptable.
Again, you can't afford to pay attention to that either, since you're not here to decry rape jokes, or even rape itself, you're here to defend Wouldnt it be funny if that girl got raped by, like, five guys right now? Like right now? In so doing, you're trying desperately to change the subject, to make yourself - by virtue of having a penis - into a sort of victim, that we are all cruel and bigoted for not patting you on your head and giving Daniel Tosh a free pass.
Why do you need to defend Wouldnt it be funny if that girl got raped by, like, five guys right now? Like right now? My guess is because like Tosh, you do think it'd be funny if she got raped by, like, five guys right then.
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)I never said this is ok because blah blah.
I said the major double standard here is more of a concern than Tosh's joke.
He offended one woman. The outrage here matched with silence on male rape jokes makes it clear to all men that their sexual abuse doesn't really matter.
Do you agree that this massive double standard is a bad thing?
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)and continue to ignore. why do you not address the male gender that think male prison rape is wrong, and thank the majority of women that are appalled enough by rape that it doesnt matter who the fuck is being raped, it is not funny.
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)you made a vague statement as to your opinion then backpedaled later.
I posted an example of 6 women and a female audience laughing about a man being mutilated (having his genitals removed and thrown down a disposal).
Something that actually happened.
And there was no backlash.
Yes or no?
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)and again. you do not address what i put in front of your face, a place here on du where it clearly shows the majority of prison rape is made by MEN and it is WOMEN that call out the "joke" and yet, you seem to suggest women condone male rape.
and you continue to hold your position.
strawman argument to dismiss rape......
you refuse to acknowledge it is a problem within your gender and that it is the opposite gender that calls it out. why?
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)you continually try to swing this around to a discussion about DU as if this website represented all of humanity.
I have repeatedly pointed out that I am not talking about this website, but society in general (you agree right that DU is not the whole of society? That people exist outside of this website?).
At this point I think it is clear you are being disingenuous rather than simply confused.
you refuse to acknowledge it is a problem within your gender and that it is the opposite gender that calls it out. why?
Oh because that isn't true. That's why. I tend not to acknowledge obvious falsehoods.
6 men on a cable network show joking about a woman having her genitals mutilated (as in a real case that they were making fun of). How well do you think that would go over?
And yes, I'm talking about in general, not just on DU. In case you were still intentionally unclear on that.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)I've noticed this a lot about you: when others provide sources you provide your personal feelings on a subject and pretend those are facts.
You *feel* that only men joke about rape. You *feel* that all women call them out on it.
Your feelings are your own and you're welcome to them. But try not to confuse them with reality.
And could you reply to my hypothetical? How do you *feel* that scenario would play out?
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)i did not say ONLY. but you put that in the post as something i said. CLEARLY i never stated only. what does that say about you?
i know the many times prison rape jokes have been made on du, and i know the people that made them, and the people that called it out. YOU, have not even participated, recognized or seen it as an issue, totally obtuse to the whole issue. YOU are now outraged about it when it was never even on your radar.
what does that say about you.
i wont reply again.....
done.
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)just asking you an honest question and hoping for an answer.
Perhaps stick to the HoF group where dissent is not tolerated and you won't be subjected to the horrors of different opinions.
ismnotwasm
(42,022 posts)I don't see a double standard. Male rape jokes--especially prison rape jokes aren't funny either.
I should say *I* don't find them funny. That being said, There are ways to tackle nearly any topic in a way that brings a sense of the ironic, and corresponding laughter.
To use rape as a topic is one thing, quite possible to make it funny. To use a rape victim as a joke, not so much.
To put it in perspective, There would be very more consensus and less argument here if Tosh had made a joke about raping an infant,(baby rape jokes do exist) when someone had a babe in arms, (far fetched at a comedy club, I know)and when the indignant mother or father 'heckled' Tosh saying 'that's not funny' and his response said 'wouldn't it be funny if four or five guys raped that baby' despite the fact there's a bit of word play there. There still would be the defenders, of course.
A comic can say whatever they want. The people who have listened to that comic are entitled to their opinion as well.
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)I continually point out that I am talking about society in general and use examples to back that claim.
People "refute" it by saying that they personally don't feel this way therefore it isn't true.
/and in your scenario he'd be going after a third party, not the person who heckled him.
ismnotwasm
(42,022 posts)I suppose, but I don't see it matters much as babies can't heckle. I thought I was agreeing with you that male rape isn't funny either.
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)You've been doing nothing BUT putting words into people's mouths, so don't fucking whine when the tables are turned on you. Your entire premise here is that we all think rape jokes directed at men are acceptable and hilarious. Well... We don't. Your argument, already weak to begin with, has no legs to stand on.
What are you hoping for here? People to tug their forelocks to you and concede that Leno telling a prison rape joke makes Tosh's own venture into the field acceptable? Even after you're being told that no, Leno (or Roseanne, or whoever else is delivering it) isn't any more acceptable?
You seem dead-set on ignoring that part, where you're being told that rape jokes just aren't acceptable, no matter from what quarters they come, or who they're directed at. Put plainly, you're refusing knowledge that would tip over that cart you're pushing. You know, the one where you're being oppressed by the terrible gynocracy.
The major concern I have here is that you're trying to justify Wouldnt it be funny if that girl got raped by, like, five guys right now? Like right now? by saying "but rape jokes about men are acceptable!" - in other words that two wrongs make a right. In fact you seem to be the one with a double standard; Tosh's "joke" is okay and permissible, but we all need to fall to our knees and wail about the Boondocks episode, "A Date With the Health Inspector"
There isn't so much a double standard as... just a standard. I'm sure you've heard the term "rape culture," and I'm just as sure you've always rolled your eyes at it and paid no mind. However... it covers the same ground you're talking about, 4th law; after all, rape is rape.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)This is like the tenth person who has used this tactic.
I state something about the general, you make it specific in the response.
So like saying: society cares too much when white women disappear compared to black women. And you respond with: ***I*** don't feel that way so you're lying!
What are you hoping for here? People to tug their forelocks to you and concede that Leno telling a prison rape joke makes Tosh's own venture into the field acceptable? Even after you're being told that no, Leno (or Roseanne, or whoever else is delivering it) isn't any more acceptable?
It would be nice if even one person acknowledged the double standard. So far everyone on this thread has flat out rejected that there is any double standard in this area.
Can you have the intellectual honesty to admit that yes in fact we as society do consider jokes about male rape to be less severe than the exact same jokes about women?
Also do you feel your argument is strong enough that you can stop intentionally misinterpreting what I write in order to respond or do you consider it so flimsy that you must fall back on such tactics? If you respond again as if I were talking about you personally and not the general view then I guess that will suffice as an answer.
ismnotwasm
(42,022 posts)Many People evidently think rape jokes about women are hilarious, even sophisticated. How is that less severe than drop the soap prison jokes, which are considered simplistic? I would put the case forward that the reason male rape jokes are considered funny at all because it places the male in a traditional female role-emasculating the male, making him take on a lesser, 'female' role. Looked at it that way, there are no male rape jokes.
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)Impressive justification there.
Not only is there not a double standard but in fact it is impossible to joke about men getting raped because only women get raped. It is a female problem exclusively.
Well I guess that explains the intentional blind-spit many people have on this.
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)It's that much of the "humor" behind jokes about men being raped is the emasculation aspect of it; that by being raped, they are "no longer men" and are thus valid targets for derision. As if they were women.
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)that he/she made. Not a fact.
that by being raped, they are "no longer men" and are thus valid targets for derision.
You should work in a rape crises center.
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)Again, I refer to the Boondocks episode, "Date with the Health Inspector." it makes extensive use of prison rape as a vehicle for humor, and it all centers around Tom DuBois being de-masculinized; he's portrayed as a skinny "sissy" being "owned" by a dude who makes a clydesdale horse feel insecure.
Where do you imagine hte term "prison bitch" comes from, if not the implied emasculation of a man being raped?
ismnotwasm
(42,022 posts)So, you don't think that male rape jokes have an emasculanating component? It's just between men? Male rape is also about dominance and control and the vast majority of rapists are male, true.
Do you also make the argument that male rape victims feel more shame than females? Why would that be if males didn't feel emasculated? I'm asking, not saying you feel that way.
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)You're trying to make this a man vs. woman "thing," and it's really not. Straight up, it's a rape "thing."
I mean, here we are, in a thread where Daniel Tosh cracks it out with Wouldnt it be funny if that girl got raped by, like, five guys right now? Like right now? and it's like you can't even perceive it. Instead you seem to be waving it off and going off with "but what about the men?!"
Our culture believes rape is okay. The only form of rape that our society has a problem with, is the mythical "stranger in the bushes attacking young innocent white girl" scenario. Outside of that single scenario, rape is one or more of the following; funny, justified, or "not really rape." I suppose there's a very slight double standard, in that there is no correlating myth of a young innocent white boy getting ambushed from the bushes, but it's a rather small point to make, in the overarching problem that our society is perfectly willing to give all rape a pass.
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)The ultimate response whenever a mens issue is brought up.
And then you wonder why so few do.
Our culture believes rape is okay.
Clearly. This is why there has been absolutely no popular backlash against Tosh for joking about it.
None.
Nada.
In fact we aren't even discussing it right now because it's so ok.
The only form of rape that our society has a problem with, is the mythical "stranger in the bushes attacking young innocent white girl"
So you are capable of perceiving a racial bias but scoff at the notion that there is a gender bias. Interesting.
I suppose there's a very slight double standard, in that there is no correlating myth of a young innocent white boy getting ambushed from the bushes, but it's a rather small point to make, in the overarching problem that our society is perfectly willing to give all rape a pass.
So close. You were right on the border of "getting it" then fell back on old mantras.
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)You're taking a thread about an implied threat of rape against a woman, dismissing that entirely, and trying to re-create the thread in the image of you railing against "Everyone Loves Raymond" it paints the picture that you don't give a shit about hte Tosh situation, specifically because his target was a woman. if that's not your intent, then please forgive me, but that's what it's looking like.
And no, there really ISN'T a popular backlash against the dude. He still has his job, he's still got plenty of fans, even here in this very thread, people are riding to his defense. If there were really this pernicious double standard, that wouldn't be the case.
And yes, I'm quite capable of seeing both racial AND gender biases. Maybe you could pay a little attention when I explain to you that our society's problem with rape isn't some man vs. woman double standard, but just the plain standard that rape is okay;
Men can't be raped (or if they are, it's justified by them being criminal or "weak"
Black women can't be raped, since they're all "open for business." Same for other women of color, only white women aren't neighborhood merry-go-rounds
Women in relationships can't be raped, either - putting out is their "job" after all
Women who were raped weren't really raped; they asked for it / are suffering buyer's remorse / are making it all up
These are our cultural standards for what is and isn't rape. yes, there is a perception that men cannot be victims of it, but to claim that there's a "double standard" is a little ludicrous, and misses the bigger problem, that being our fucking low standards and poor treatment of the nature of rape.
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)Wow.
Just wow.
That is some major projection.
I point out how men are treated on this issue and that's because I don't care enough about women?
I'm not sure what I can do with someone who would make that connection. I can't reason with that. Certainly. I don't see much of a point in continuing since you're going to misrepresent me like this.
Too bad, this could have been an important discussion if people were willing to acknowledge their own personal biases.
These are our cultural standards for what is and isn't rape. yes, there is a perception that men cannot be victims of it, but to claim that there's a "double standard" is a little ludicrous
This is what concerns me the most. You perfectly describe a double standard (women can be victims, men cannot) and then proceed to explain how this is not a double standard.
That's even worse than not seeing it. You realize it's there but justify it.
Well like I said, not much of a point to continuing this.
You can have the last word.
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)The chaste, pure white woman who is ambushed by a total stranger.
This is the only person our society believes can be raped. NO ONE else, man or woman can be a victim of rape by those standards.
it's not an anti-male double standard, 4th law. it's just a shitty standard all-around.
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)Consider this movie: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That%27s_My_Boy_(2012_film)
And from the summary: In 1984, 12-year-old Donny Berger was taken advantage of by his 22-year-old teacher, Mary McGarricle. During a school event, Donny and Mary are discovered having sex and McGarricle is arrested. It soon becomes clear she is pregnant and Donny gains custody of their son, whom he names Han Solo Berger. Donny becomes a celebrity because of what happened, but is forgotten as he becomes an adult and loses contact with his son.
This is a comedy. Movies represent in some ways how we view the world.
Ok. Now imagine a comedy where a 22 year old male teacher impregnates a 12 year old female. And he isn't the villain of the story. That's the set up to the joke.
Go on, imagine Hollywood making light of the statutory rape of a 12 year old girl by a 22 year old man.
Can't do it can you?
But no, there is no gender based double standard in how we view rape.
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)There is a double standard in terms of spousal abuse, and with situations like the one in the movie you bring up.
With regards to rape in general, however, there isn't a double standard - there's just a shit standard.
PavePusher
(15,374 posts)This is life.
No subject is too sacred for comedy. Deal with it.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)need to "deal with it"
he has the right to his offensive joke. and everyone else has the right to call him a piece of shit.
ismnotwasm
(42,022 posts)Logical
(22,457 posts)ismnotwasm
(42,022 posts)Comics have the right to make jokes, the public has a right to object. If you like rape jokes, why laugh away.
malaise
(269,237 posts)We never watch it
Xithras
(16,191 posts)Tosh is a shock-comedian, and regularly pokes a stick at just about everything.
This IS a guy who, just last year, did skits on his show about eating dead babies and the hilarity of miscarriages.
Personally, I find about 80% of his stuff to be hilarious. The other 20% is wince-worthy.
I like his show, although it does frequently cross the line, whatever "the line" is. I'm not easily offended, but his HBO special was truly shocking. He did a bit about screwing Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt's imaginary love child. I couldn't believe the shit he was saying! So why does someone, knowing this is what he does, even go to one of his shows? And then act shocked when he says something offensive?
arely staircase
(12,482 posts)tash.stupid is an idiot and his joke was offensive and unfunny. though i think funny jokes can and have been made about every topic under the sun.
MrScorpio
(73,631 posts)I guess that I'll continue that trend
MrSlayer
(22,143 posts)He isn't funny. Other than that, I don't care. Nothing is off the table in comedy.
progressoid
(50,007 posts)Plus, he's not funny.
If it weren't for teen age boys, his show would have been cancelled a long time ago.
Brigid
(17,621 posts)he would not be allowed to watch Comedy Central at all, except for maybe Jon
Stewart and Stephen Colbert. I think if I had teenagers they would totally hate me.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)tosh and his.... well, it was not a joke, but whatever it was. both teens thought it ugly. both teens get it and the issue that surrounds it. especially my oldest who was the most bothered with it.
and
they do not hate me.
we discuss it all.... i am their number one fan and they appreciate and value all the time spent for them to be aware. not tripping over themselves in the dark like so many today.
your teenager would, love you.
progressoid
(50,007 posts)She watches Stewart and Colbert from time to time. She watched Tosh once and only once. She was not amused.
FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)Lionessa
(3,894 posts)They really had a great comprehensive discussion on the many ways what he said was not comedy.
Edited to add link to her videos. This discussion starts with the third segment and continues into 4 and 5.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46979745/
Whiskeytide
(4,463 posts)Response posted by Austin comedian Curtis Luciani:
Edited to add - it has some language...
http://austin.culturemap.com/newsdetail/07-12-12-14-37-the-best-response-weve-heard-to-daniel-toshs-misquoted-rape-jokes/
Brigid
(17,621 posts)Thanks.
theaocp
(4,247 posts)progressoid
(50,007 posts)still not funny.
A HERETIC I AM
(24,380 posts)Carlin says himself early in the clip that it "All depends on how you construct the joke, What the exaggeration is."
I say that in light of the piece linked in post #22 which I completely agree with.
The most pertinent part of that essay is this, in my opinion;
But causing pain is quite a different fucking matter. Your job as a comedian is to take us through pain, transcend pain, transform pain. And if you don't get that, you are a fucking bully, and I've got zero time for bullies.
progressoid
(50,007 posts)I just re-watched it. I don't think George proved his point IMHO. He didn't "take us through pain, transcend pain, transform pain". He could easily have done those same "jokes" without have the horror of rape as the premise.
I wonder how many women in the audience were laughing.
Johonny
(20,927 posts)I get it no alligator jokes
bullwinkle428
(20,631 posts)heckler suggesting they should get gang-raped. He always responded to anyone that yelled out with something extremely clever and witty, but then again, he's not a hack like Tosh is.
snooper2
(30,151 posts)Occulus
(20,599 posts)PLONK...
Brigid
(17,621 posts)I think I know, but I want to hear you say it.
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,224 posts)seabeyond
(110,159 posts)What idiots. They think they can hurt our feelings that easily? Of course rape jokes are funny. Anyone who's spent any time in a comedy club knows that - you tell a joke about rape, then the audience laughs. That's the definition of funny. That's why comedians tell rape jokes. Or why I used to, anyway. I used to have this gag I'd do - I'd bring my pint up on stage with me and then tell the audience that, even though I had a beer in my hand, I wasn't an alcoholic. In fact, I'd brought my beer with me because girls were always trying to spike my drink... so I wouldn't try and rape them later!
I'll give you guys a minute to recover from your fits of laughter. Ready? Great. Now the reason that joke is so hilarious is because I misdirect the audience. First of all they think I'm trying to avoid being raped (a guy getting raped by a woman! we all know it works the other way round!) then switch back the other way (I'm such a big rapist women spike my drink just to escape!). The funniest thing of all? I'm bragging about my kickass super-rapeyness right there on stage! As though it's fine and something I'd never get into trouble for! Which, in the vast majority of cases, I wouldn't!
So, believe me comics, I get how funny rape jokes are. I think I even saw someone laugh at mine once. Then, one day I was talking to my sister and she told me what a fucking shitty person I was being. I was pretty taken aback. She was talking about some weird shit like fostering rape culture and suggesting that somehow my harmless joke (jokes are made out of words which can't hurt people, apart from when they do) was promoting violence against women. So I did what any self-respecting comic who believes in the integrity of his work would do: I ignored her. After all, she isn't a comedian like us. She doesn't get it. She doesn't get that we need to stand up for free speech. We need to push back the boundaries. We need to allow our muses free reign to offend people, like those manatees that write Family Guy. Most of all, we need to show our fellow comics how cool and out there we are, how we're so big and brave we don't care who we offend - we'll even humiliate and shame rape survivors to get a laugh! In the fiercely, pointlessly competitive world of stand up comedy, we need to make jokes about women being brutally violated so that other comics will know that we're hardcore super-clowns who won't take no for an answer! Figuratively, I mean.
*
What made me stop telling rape jokes? I wish it had been what my sister told me, I wish I'd stopped that day instead of spending around a year loftily telling women why words couldn't hurt them, that they should lighten up and that they didn't get it. At first I felt I had to keep telling the jokes - had to! - simply because someone didn't want me to. Otherwise I wasn't being true to my art. It would be self-censorship. Comedians had to be free to say anything. Most importantly, how could I stay friends with the godawful, cowardly dickheads who told these jokes on a nightly basis if I turned around and said I wouldn't? Sooner or later, though, I just couldn't. Perhaps it was the jaw locking, knuckle clenching effect these jokes were having on the friends I brought along to shows. I'd sit next to them in the audience, see their discomfort, their disgust and realise I was doing the exact same thing up there, whether I knew it or not. Perhaps it was realising just how rarely rape is reported, and how making fun of it makes that less likely still. A lot of comedians say you can make a joke out of anything - and I believe that's true. But when you joke about your grandfather's cancer or the riots, it's a public airing of laundry. It brings some collective fear out into the sunlight to be mocked and defanged. Perhaps I stopped because, in all but a few cases, joking about rape doesn't do that. Instead, when we joke about someone else's secret fear, it drives it deeper into the dark cracks of our national consciousness, only to be spoken of in brutal jest. Whatever the reason, I stopped.
http://anarchish.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/dear-comedians-and-people-like-me-who.html
Romulox
(25,960 posts)shout of "rape" after he requested topics for jokes. What followed afterwords was meant to be sarcasm, and the heckler didn't pick up on that.
What followed, however, I will leave to Tosh to defend. Still, the nuance here is MUCH different than one might get at first glance.
Le Taz Hot
(22,271 posts)one time and then just changed the channel. It's Beevis and Buthead shit and I didn't think they were particularly funny either. Shit like this only appeals to Level One "thinkers."
Logical
(22,457 posts)lonestarnot
(77,097 posts)Shrek
(3,986 posts)seabeyond
(110,159 posts)after him like this.
DonCoquixote
(13,616 posts)background: I am a former prison employee that was threatened with gang rape several times, one variant of would involve something sticking me with a a shiv tainted in blood from someone who was known to be HIV positive and Hepatitis C positive. I know prison rape is not a joke.
All the same, Rape mostly affects WOMEN. Granted, things may change, but rape is not only a means for weak people to get their jollies, but also a means of keeping women under political control, which is why backwards, religious places like Wasilla, Alaska and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia tend to downplay rape. When Tosh spoke to the heckler about rape as if it would be "cool" he was trying to make the woman uncomfortable, to fear him. Add to this that many in power love to downplay rape. if we elect Romney, for example, we will elect a man whose family went to Mexico so they could practice polygamy, which in practice was taking a young girl and making her the sex slave and breeding toy of some sick, rich old bastard. Add to this that many in power still act like they have a god given right to abuse women, we just had a scandal where a French politician thought he could rape any maid he wanted to (Dominique Strauss-Kahn), and even many on the left cheered the creep.
Rape is a crime, but most of it is aimed at Women, and not just as a sex crime, but as a political weapon. Tosh was doing the latter because a heckler dared attack him, as if Comedians have not been dealing with that since the early days.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)call them out. we do not see any rape, as a joke. mostly.
thank you for the whole post of yours. good points.
MrMickeysMom
(20,453 posts)No one watches him after a while, cause it's such a guttural level.... belch
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)Hippo_Tron
(25,453 posts)If you do get some of your audience to laugh, it's because you're invoking a gut reaction something that the audience wasn't expecting to hear. My friend once demonstrated this to me by telling the following joke...
Setup: What did the kid with no arms and legs get for Christmas?
Punchline: Cancer
And I'll admit, I laughed the first time I heard it. But there's no way you could ever make me laugh at that "joke" again, because there's nothing funny about it. It was a gut level reaction to hearing something I wasn't expecting to hear.
Now Mitch Hedberg's routine about pizza franchises accepting any competitors' coupons, I've heard it a thousand times and I can still laugh at it. Because there's actual humor there.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)i listen to him a lot on laugh usa. he was great. so sad he died.
i do think you have that right though. laugh at the unexpected then think, WTF
Taverner
(55,476 posts)He was hilarious - first time I've cried laughing since I was a kid
RIP...Mitch All Together
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)Taverner
(55,476 posts)"An escalator can never break: it can only become stairs. You should never see an Escalator Temporarily Out Of Order sign, just Escalator Temporarily Stairs. Sorry for the convenience."
"A severed foot is the ultimate stocking stuffer."
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)fried bean. refried may be wasting time and fried are just as good.
club sandwich. become a part of the club.
cd in the store, put down. sir you are leaving your cd. no. that is for sale.
he was clever and comedians like these have to actually work to come up with humor, rather than just meanly yell out insults and obscenity and call it comedy.
Taverner
(55,476 posts)seabeyond
(110,159 posts)like his jokes. i would often tell parents just mean. isnt that funny. but i totally forgot about the man, but he was top on my list of entertainers back then i did not like.
Taverner
(55,476 posts)Insult comedy isn't my thing either, but he can be funny sometimes
Now Triumph the Insult Comedy Dog, HE'S funny!
randome
(34,845 posts)Just those 2 always make me laugh. Mitch and Lewis Black are the best!
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)i have learned that there is a lot of comedians that can be the funniest, most clever and dont have to be ugly.
prior didnt do it for me in the 70's. i went to his movie and sat there. he was so popular. i guess this has always been with me.
the oldies that come on my radio mostly get turned down. i dont like most of them, compared to today. but, surprising, newhart gives me a chuckle and i did not even know he was a stand up. very subtly creative.
Gidney N Cloyd
(19,847 posts)He shoots for outrageous and shocking but doesn't care about either how he gets there or what happens when he fails. Bruce, Carlin, Pryor, Hicks, and so forth-- they were artists of comedy and pushed the limits over and over til the moment they died. They learned from what didn't work and did it better the next time. Tosh is like a guy who looks at a Jackson Pollock painting and says "hey, if I just splash paint at a canvas and look sincere while I plodded around the gallery opening, I'd be an artist, too!"
He was bound to do something this dumb because no one told him it wasn't enough to just be outrageous, no one told him there was no core humor to his act, no one told him that posing as a comedian does not make him funny.
bigwillq
(72,790 posts)He's a comedian. Sometimes they offend. You are more then free not to watch.
i think he's hysterical.
Marinedem
(373 posts)Tosh is very well known for this over the top humor. It's damn near impossible to attend a show with him as the act and not expect to be uncomfortable at some point. Why put yourself into that situation if you have thin skin? It's like going to the beach and bitching about how you got sunburn. I once read a little saying somewhere that basically said "announcing that you're offended is like telling the world that you can't control your own emotions and that everyone else should do it for you." Seems to fit rather well right now. I guess what I take issue with is how readily someone can dismiss something and not being "Comedy". I'm still waiting on the approved topics/comedy criteria list.
Nothing is sacred. Sorry.
(No I'm not.)
Brigid
(17,621 posts)Master comic Bill Cosby will help here:
When I was a kid, I used to love his Saturday morning cartoon show "Fat Albert." Decades later, I still vividly remember this little chorus from one episode:
A joke isn't a joke when you hurt someone
A joke isn't a joke if somebody's sorry when you're done
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)randr
(12,418 posts)is perfect commentary on what is wrong with our Nation.
Voyeurism at its worse.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)Ian David
(69,059 posts)CEO, Comedy Central: Take Daniel Tosh off the air
http://www.democraticunderground.com/11397791
Odin2005
(53,521 posts)deaniac21
(6,747 posts)Matariki
(18,775 posts)That point has been argued multiple times here at DU and other places - when supposedly well meaning people give advice to women. It's good to see the extreme problem with that 'advice' put forth so clearly.
thucythucy
(8,104 posts)an awesome paragraph.