Rolling 'this is sexist' thread

Also, while it's conceivable, I suppose, that there could be a rape joke that doesn't actually express hostility toward women, most rape jokes seem to do so in practice. It's sort of like how if a comedian makes a joke about black people that portrays them as hateful and subhuman, the defense that it's "just a joke" doesn't really pass muster, because the "joke" expresses a real, hostile feeling about black people.

Like some jokes, in spite of being jokes, sort of require the audience to agree on a certain pretext in order to see the "humor," e.g. that black people are an unwelcome presence, or that women deserve punishment (if not literal rape) for behaving in a way that seems above their station in life.

louis and carlin have pulled it off but yeah, it's not like a red badge of courage or something. and the comedy central kids being discussed here don't manage to pull this shit off with any panache period

I don't think there's an across-the-board rule re: rape as subject matter. as Oscar Wilde might say, there are good/funny/well-constructed jokes about rape and there are bad/unfunny/poorly-constructed jokes about rape and that is all. Jokes where an innocent victim is the punchline are, generally speaking, not funny, and I think West is OTM about how they function in relation to the larger culture.

I think a good rule of thumb for "funny" rape jokes might be to ask yourself "Am I Louis C.K.?"

If the answer is no, better not to attempt.

louis has done rape jokes as bad as anyone else

fair enough -- I haven't even heard them, was just assuming they would be better

and god nothing in the world is more deserving of eye-rolls than boys club comedians talking about the "purity" of comedy and shit, barf barf barf

the only good rape joke(s) I can recall are Rodney Dangerfield's and the Kids in the Hall's "Hitler Boinks a Donkey" (the latter not really relevant perhaps)

The purity of some of the biggest losers on earth expressing their anger at women in front of an audience

ugh at the screencaptured comments
ugh at humanity
ugh

i thought that lindy west's previous piece on this stuff was v. well put together plus extremely funny: http://jezebel.com/5925186/how-to-make-a-rape-joke

it also articulates where she's coming from better than the later piece, which is not on what she said/thinks about these sorts of jokes so much as the horrifying response she's gotten for saying/thinking such stuff. (which response, in turn, would be justified by those making it as 'jokes, bro'.)

I was just going to post this similar piece. Like K@73 H@rd1ng says, I think it's not that all jokes involving rape are verboten, it's that you should consider who is the butt of the joke.

I especially like this

10. Dane Cook, you guys. Dane Motherfucking Cook can construct a funny rape joke. This means no one else, anywhere, ever, has an excuse to screw this up.

I don't believe there is any connection between UK newspapers publishing anti-Semitic cartoons and its occurrence in the population.

Which newspaper was this?

wow, fuck daniel tosh

in fact

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xp the Sunday Times. Start here and read down.

But it's OK because it has no effect on the culture.

That's the right wing Rupert Murdoch owned press for you

/I don't believe there is any connection between UK newspapers publishing anti-Semitic cartoons and its occurrence in the population./

Which newspaper was this?

Steve bell had one this year iirc?

To call Steve Bell evil implies a clarity of purpose I do not want to attribute to anyone involved.

This story has me absolutely livid with rage. It's everything wrong with Texas, gun culture, misogyny, the dangers of sex work and a dozen other things all in one handy package.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Jury-acquits-escort-shooter-4581027.php

What the fuck?! That's astonishing.

wtf

ugh, that story makes me feel physically sick.

one hundred and fifty dollars is justification for taking her LIFE?

get the fuck outta here

even if it's a million dollars, what. the. fuck. money is an abstraction, it's not real the way human lives are real. obviously the jury didn't give a shit about this poor woman because she was a prostitute. fuck america.

There must be scope for appeal, surely? I can't imagine there is any other country in the world with a legal code where you could walk away from doing that.

http://completeoutrageredux.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/bugs.gif

Do Texas next, Bugs!

that still won't help the people who are forced to live there.

I read about this this morning and I remain perplexed that the jury would accept that he was recovering his 'property' when his misunderstanding about the escort's services would nonetheless have been illegal.

I would love to see the transcript of this trial. Was it ever addressed that this murdering fuck, if he was genuinely trying to buy sex, was engaged in a crime? And that killing someone during the commission of a crime (or causing injuries to which they later succumb) is in fact a felony?

xp

i assume we are going to hear more about this case. no way this doesn't become a national story.

my wife was telling me about this! wtf bexar county sheeeeeit

Someone on jez pointed out that this woman was in fact killed for NOT providing sex for money. So basically for acting according to law.

I have a vague impression that escort services are allowed to exist because they ostensibly only provide social company. I'm pretty sure everyone knows that's not all they offer, but she was within the bounds of her job description in that case.

May as well put this here (being asked to cover up isn't sexist, but the content is re sexism)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22875243

http://www.thedailybeast.com/witw/cheats/2013/06/18/vice-offends-with-suicide-fashion-spread.html
http://jezebel.com/vice-published-a-fashion-spread-of-female-writer-suicid-513888861

what the fuuuuuuck

I don't mean to be the dude who always asks "why do people read Vice" but...

Be that dude.

If only they'd balanced it up with a "male writer about to drink himself to death" fashion spread.

i keep thinking vice is 'better' now with mcinnes gone but then

they do run stuff that's worth reading amid the hipster degeneracy. not that i have an example in mind.

otoh witness the phenomenon of vice pulling the feature and then tina brown and jezebel running all the pictures that needed to be pulled

Did the Jezebel article come before or after the feature was pulled?

that was actually more nauseating than I thought it would be

DJP i dunno but it looks like before

I mean jfc one of them has blood running into the sink from the woman's wrist, those are fucking upsetting. I feel like you would have to be a sociopath to think that was a good idea.

they should've included some male suicides: HST, Hemingway, DFW, Kosinski

It seems to me that there is a certain level of "damned if you do, damned if you don't" to complaining about these things, where if you don't propagate the offensive material, the context of your complaint isn't as strong and, if the offending material is removed, people coming to it later won't know exactly what it is you are objecting to. However, if you do propagate the offensive material, you are opening yourself up to "who's the REAL racist/sexist?" dismissals as well as potentially traumatizing people who would have avoided the original posting regardless.

DFW (someone whose memory is still fresh in many people's minds) would have really thrown into sharp relief what a shockingly horrible idea it was