Women's media center: men think rape is funny because it never happens to men

JockeVXO · 2012-07-16T18:15:03+00:00

I think murder jokes can be funny. Murder happens predominantly to men.

Lecks · 2012-07-16T18:26:14+00:00

Some people are incapable of finding catharsis through humor about a horrible subject. Some of us defuse tension and fear of a subject by ridiculing it and taming it (much like Dave Chapelle often did with racism). Everyone has the right to be offended. They do not have the right to silence others.

JockeVXO · 2012-07-16T19:39:03+00:00

[permanently deleted]

hardwarequestions · 2012-07-16T18:06:25+00:00

so we're still talking about an unconfirmed incident huh?

vegibowl · 2012-07-16T19:46:00+00:00

Oh, for fuck's sake. I'm getting so tired of hearing about this in the media (directed at CNN, not OP). I'm starting to feel like 95% of women don't have a sense of humor. Have you ever watched female stand-up (besides Ellen)? Awful.

Tosh and all those with the privilege to hold a microphone have a responsibility to shine a light on the reality behind the abstraction.

^{^} This is why women are shitty at comedy! No, nobody has that responsibility. Tosh has a responsibility to get paid at the end of the day by making people laugh. If you don't think he's funny then don't watch his show.

Women are supposed to understand that these boundaries are policed by rapists. We cross the line at our own risk. And if we are caught, the brutal punishment is one we have earned.

AARGH! I'm just getting too annoyed right now to be clever.

PS - I'm a woman.

EternalArchon · 2012-07-16T20:38:03+00:00

if you don't want to be offended, don't go to a fucking comedy club. And if you are offended, don't interrupt the comedian, who's performance you paid for. Just leave.

bigtims · 2012-07-16T23:13:38+00:00

More men are raped in the US every year than women. These rapes go unreported. They occur in jails.
check your facts

DanglyAnteater · 2012-07-16T21:10:58+00:00

when media coverage of rape so often focuses on what a victim should have done differently to try harder not to get raped.

I have never ONCE seen a reputable media outlet suggest a women should have done something different in order to not get rape. Unless this author is getting her news from 4chan, that is not how rape victims are portrayed in the media.

Jacksambuck · 2012-07-16T19:40:21+00:00

Rape empathy gender gap ?

More like humor, open-mindedness, don't-tread-on-my-freedom-for-the-sake-of-your-comfort gender gap.

2012-07-16T23:38:33+00:00

Oh you mean, except for prison rape. Because people never, ever make tons of jokes about that in every medium available.

2012-07-16T23:55:32+00:00

There's no such thing as an inappropriate joke. That's why it's a joke.

janethefish · 2012-07-17T20:26:09+00:00

Funniest part of the whole article

Many men wanted to explain free speech or heckling etiquette. Many women (and virtually all feminists) said these topics were distractions, at best, from the sheer offensiveness of Tosh's attack.

As we at the Women's Media Center watched hundreds of users comment on our Facebook post about the incident, we saw the same disconnect.

So I actually bothered to count up how many women defended Tosh, and how many men did. 9 men, 8 women. And of course, numerous men attacked Tosh, as did numerous women. They didn't see any disconnect between the genders.

Other flaws include

And it's not that no man knows with terrible certainty what it's like to be a rape victim -- one in five females and one in 71 males in the United States are the victims of rape,

Not knowing how to read a study before they cite it.

Nonetheless, the significant overlap between the gender divide and the rape-joke empathy gap is real

I assume they have actual stats backing this up, and they aren't just basing it off stereotypes. Because making sweeping judgements about the genders without backing in fact is what good people call sexism.

Patrick5555 · 2012-07-16T22:06:16+00:00

You need two people to write an article, and its still shitty!

Gingor · 2012-07-16T23:15:21+00:00

A comedian who shoots down an audience member who objects to his rape jokes by joking about her being gang-raped on the spot isn't being funny.

Translation: A comedian who shoots down an audience member that disturbs his act by directing a joke at said audience member is in the wrong.

Instead he should probably have given her the microphone so she is able to tell the room how men just should stop raping all the time.

He's using rape to shut up a woman who crossed a boundary by speaking out of turn. That is unacceptable.

Yeah, some bitch disturbing your act is totally acceptable in comparison. Hint: You dont have to be there. Dont like it? Go out, thats your right as an audience member. You dont have the right to disturb the act.

What do you do when a corporation produces something you dont like? Not buy it? Or do you run to the factory and set it on fire?

He's using rape to shut up a woman

Oh, also dont fucking make it sound like he ran off-stage and began raping her.

namewastakenlol · 2012-07-16T18:16:24+00:00

The article actually acknowledges that men are raped, and is instead making the claim that rape jokes are part of institutionalized use of rape "threats" to make women act in a certain way, viz., "don't go out at night alone, you will be raped".

Now I leave it to you fine folks to decide if you agree with that or not, but this poster has severely misrepresented the article.

Arxl · 2012-07-17T00:23:22+00:00

I fucking love Daniel Tosh.

SSJAmes · 2012-07-16T22:39:07+00:00

Don't any of you drop the soap now.... before you downvote I was making a point right there, not only is there already a male rape cliche, but we don't become offended because we are making light of a dark situation.

Alanna · 2012-07-16T22:36:26+00:00

http://patrickmelton.tumblr.com/post/27317897906/rape-rape-rape

This is a really good blog on the subject written by a good comedian.

Hank_ScorioGLOBEX · 2012-07-16T22:25:48+00:00

In this issue all of the attention is going towards the propagation of rape culture which is a flimsy theory. I think what everyone should be more concerned about is rape triggers, events or stimuli that bring a victim of rape back to that moment. THIS IS THE SHIT THAT CAN HURT PEOPLE, not a slow build up of the culture surrounding the issue of rape. This is a great article about rape triggers written my a male victim, I though r/mensrights would appreciate it if they haven't seen it already.

EternalArchon · 2012-07-17T00:13:35+00:00

How the fuck does this get written? Its under "opinion." Do the authors submit the article? Are they chosen by someone?
Do they get paid? I also want free money for doing nothing!
Do these people know if they could prove that RAPE is too AWFUL to be FUNNY they would WIN A FUCKING NOBEL PRIZE? That literally goes against two centuries of research on humor

Dolemarq · 2012-07-17T18:56:27+00:00

If this were true, getting hit in the balls would never be funny and yet its a staple of bathroom "Boys" humor.

he_cried_out_WTF · 2012-07-16T20:22:49+00:00

You posted a misleading title, it doesn't state that it "never happens to men" just that it happens much less often to men and that for the majority of men, the threat of rape simply will not become a reality. This isn't a bad thing, it just creates a gross lack of personal connection with the real atrocity of the event and since they don't have the personal experience and many men don't even know another man who has been raped (or who has talked about it) so to them it is a rather abstract thing, they know it happens, they know it's a bad thing, they just don't have any first hand experience with it.

Irrel_M · 2012-07-16T20:35:11+00:00

I needed a reason to stop thinking and that title did the job perfectly. I would hate to be the one trying to make sense of that. Oh, and it's from CNN. Perfect....

loose-dendrite · 2012-07-17T02:31:51+00:00

Do people forget that men rape other men?

Like, a lot?

Dranosh · 2012-07-17T03:47:49+00:00

-_- a comic verbally beat down a heckler from the audience with redirection, nothing to see here folks

CoolLordL21 · 2012-07-17T06:00:28+00:00

Morals of story:

Media believes rape joke accusation by un-named female source (that wasn't even submitted by her herself) over the club owner says "that's not how it happened" and Tosh who says he was mis-quoted.

The disagreement over whether or not rape jokes is appropriate is based primarily on gender.

Girls get raped more than guys, so rape jokes against women aren't ever cool, but rape jokes against guys are still okay--and hillarious.

Trying to help someone (by looking out for their safety) when it comes to rape is never cool because you are being controlling. For everything else it's still okay. In fact, it's appreciated. Oh, by the way, this only applies to women. If you try to help prevent a guy from getting raped you can still be a hero.

If you're a guy and disagree, it's because either sexist or completely clueless. If you're a girl and disagree, that's your call. But know that you are in the vast minority.

2012-07-17T17:59:52+00:00

I don't get how jokes about lying, cheating, stealing, infant homicide, cannibalism, and every other terrible thing are okay but rape jokes cross the line.

2012-07-17T00:42:58+00:00

Rape is hilarious.

Title	Women's media center: men think rape is funny because it never happens to men
Author	AnthonyZarat
Upvotes	80
Comments	103
Date	July 16, 2012 5:48 PM UTC (14 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/wnjnz/womens_media_center_men_think_rape_is_funny/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/womens-media-center-men-think-rape-is-funny.1017817 https://theredarchive.com/post/1017817

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