Controversial anti-rape campaign

[Lozzer]

I've been waiting a long time for this issue to be addressed, frankly. It's a difficult matter to raise awareness of, because it's treated with sneers and jibes in our society. Male-rape traumatises men beyond physical and emotional violation, because we marginalise them in the process. You only need to turn on a sitcom in the evening to hear the words 'don't drop the soap!'. How can you joke about that? would the same jest be made about women getting raped?

I know 5 people personally who have been raped. It occurred to most of them when they were just 13 years old, or so. A mate of mine was regularly raped and molested from the age of nine to fourteen by a trusted 'family friend'. He is the only one that ever pursued it through court, though no conviction was made. The rest have suppressed the memory of it, and tried to get on with their lives. The trauma is still there. This is why it fucking pisses me off that it's no discussed with the same seriousness demanded by female rape.

[Audley Strange]

Interesting topic Loz.

Frankly I applaud such messages, but I'm not sure that people do not take the subject seriously. Certainly the Male Prison Rape trope has a comedy edge to it, but then in many ways that's what guys do, go into any Golf Club bar or pub or toilets and you'll find totally straight men having a laugh about shagging each other, comedy poofery is part and parcel of our behaviours.

Perhaps that is indeed the rudiment of the problem. That we treat it so lightly, as so unimaginable that the reaction is to laugh it off rather than accept the reality of it. That would certainly make it much more difficult to discuss.

Still I'm uncertain that the crime itself is one treated with less concern, generally, by the public at large.

[tattuchu]

Anti-rape campaign? FUCK THAT!

[Coito ergo sum]

Is a rape joke every funny? http://jezebel.com/5094798/is-a-rape-joke-ever-funny

[Coito ergo sum]

if you had to pinpoint one joke as a breakthrough for this new generation of female comedians, it might be this one: “I was raped by a doctor, which is so bittersweet for a Jewish girl.”

When I saw Sarah Silverman deliver that signature one-liner in a downtown theater almost a decade ago, the audience exploded with laughter followed by groans. Then came the anxious chuckles whose subtext seemed to be: I can’t believe I laughed at that joke.

For a certain strain of stand-up, dating to Lenny Bruce, it’s essential to talk about what’s taboo. George Carlin famously argued that rape jokes could be funny. “Picture Porky Pig raping Elmer Fudd,” he offered as evidence. Ms. Silverman belongs to this tradition, under the guise of a shallow bigot. What she proved is that there are areas of aggressive, shocking comedy where women could go further than men. To put it another way, her humor would make Johnny Carson uncomfortable.

It’s no accident that her best-known jokes are about rape. Our culture sends mixed signals about this least funny of subjects. Facebook took down a page dedicated to ugly rape jokes last week after months of pressure, yet every night tourists guffaw at a repeated joke about raping babies as a cure for AIDS in “The Book of Mormon.” It’s startlingly rare to watch an evening of stand-up in New York without any mention of rape.

Whereas male comedians generally tread more gently, particularly if the victim is a woman (prison jokes are a whole other matter), Ms. Silverman barges forward. Now 40, Ms. Silverman, still lanky and loose-limbed, hasn’t mellowed much. At her show at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Saturday, she glared at the audience, charging past the microphone stand to mock someone for checking a cellphone. She told a bland story about starring in a TV show, but her material sharpens when returning to her deadpan awfulness.

“I need more rape jokes,” she shouted nasally before letting her fans in on what she called a comedy secret, that such jokes are actually not so “edgy” after all. “Who’s going to complain about rape jokes? Rape victims?” she asked. “They barely even report rape.” There were no groans this time.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/arts/ ... wanted=all

[Tyrannical]

South African anti-rape campaigns are funnier.

[Svartalf]

Is a rape joke every funny? http://jezebel.com/5094798/is-a-rape-joke-ever-funny

There's that quote from a skit by the late and mourned Coluche

"It wasn't a rape : rape, it's when you don't wanna, and I did want to do it."

[Animavore]

Interesting topic Loz.

Frankly I applaud such messages, but I'm not sure that people do not take the subject seriously. Certainly the Male Prison Rape trope has a comedy edge to it, but then in many ways that's what guys do, go into any Golf Club bar or pub or toilets and you'll find totally straight men having a laugh about shagging each other, comedy poofery is part and parcel of our behaviours.

Bit of advice - do not do that in Ireland.