But he wasn't... he asked "What should we talk/joke about?"
Someone said "Rape".
The woman in question screamed "No! Rape is painful!"
THEN Tosh said "Sounds like she's been raped by 5 guys" or whatever he said.
No, again - that's the club owner's account. The club owner said that before he was heckled, Tosh asked "what should we joke about?" and someone else mentioned rape. Contrarily, Tosh's tweet says that before he was heckled, he was "making a point" (i.e. a joke) about it being okay to joke about awful things like rape.
__________________ "...Dakota will grow up to be very scary... but in a HOT and desireable kind of way." - 3Ring Binder
No, again - that's the club owner's account. The club owner said that before he was heckled, Tosh asked "what should we joke about?" and someone else mentioned rape. Contrarily, Tosh's tweet says that before he was heckled, he was "making a point" (i.e. a joke) about it being okay to joke about awful things like rape.
I don't care about details at this point (mainly because of the amount of rum I've had.)
To me, it sounds like it wasn't as pointedly harmful as the woman made out... Tosh could've been nicer, but then... who goes to see Tosh and expects him to be nice??
He's popular for throw up, hits to groins and homo-erotic tomfoolery...
This feels kind of like porn. I can't define it, but I know it when I see it.
I think the author got it right. There are times when jokes about rape are funny, usually because they take a slash at the rapist. But the majority of them aren't. There are several reasons.
Firstly, we live in a society where every woman and girl must be educated that it's not safe to walk alone; it's not safe to be alone in an isolated place with a strange man; it's not safe to have one drink too many at a party, etc. They're told this for two valid reasons: rape is a daily occurance and if raped, they are very likely to be blamed for the rape. That's not funny.
Off the top of my head, I recall the number of women who've been raped or experienced an attempted rape is ... 1 in 5? And that doesn't count their families or friends. That's a high percentage of your potential audience who won't find it funny either, but rather painful and/or humiliating.
Also there is the out-group factor. People who share an awful experience use humor to defuse pain and that works because all members have been there - at risk or at harm. All women are affected by rape, even if they've never been raped themselves. All women have to spend part of their attention constantly monitoring their environment for safety. Guys who joke about rape are very much like the white dude joking about racism - not funny.
[Disclaimer: yes, guys get raped. Let's skip the usual derail that occurs at this point and acknowledge that it's not with anything like the same frequency; and, that guys don't have to live in constant fear of rape; and, that prison rape is a separate topic.]
Lastly because one of the shared experiences most women have is being told "you don't have a sense of humor" when some guy does something scary, creepy and boundary violating. That goes along with "it was just a joke."
P.S. As a non-veteran, I would have to have big brass balls and the IQ of a gnat to make painful, humiliating, war jokes to a bunch of war vets. They might laugh if I had the genius of a few comedians (like the Richard Pryor bit referred to earlier), but I'd be risking getting the crap knocked out of me in an alley.
It does matter what he specifically said. In the author of the original tweet's words:
Quote:
After I called out to him, Tosh paused for a moment. Then, he says, 'Wouldn’t it be funny if that girl got raped by like, 5 guys right now? Like right now? What if a bunch of guys just raped her…'
Comedian Wanda Sykes' comedy routine where from 0:00 - 2:00 rape is a theme in the routine.
This is the sort of "rape" comedy I had in mind when I wrote my posts.
5 users laughed. The question is: Are they laughing with you, or at you?:
Offended hasn't got anything to do with it, moron.
People have wounds, and those wounds are painful. That doesn't have shit to do with the weak concept of "taking offense." If someone talks about Texas being a shitty state, I might "take offense" at that. Fine, whatever. All of us who like comedy are generally in agreement with the idea that "taking offense" is lame, and a comedian should be willing to "offend" whenever he or she wants to.
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.
__________________
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gabe Lippmann
Slightly off topic....do we think people should get prior approval for this sort of comment theft?
I don't read Jezebel but I like this Lindy West chica very much. Funny, smart and pretty much summed it up.
Also, I don't know this guy. Last "new" comic I saw was CK Lewis when he was still new. Part of it is I don't watch tv and I sure don't go to comedy clubs anymore.
I depend on people like YOU to amuse me. Or I amuse myself.
You know what this Tosh fellow did with his rape joke? He made me discover Lindy West who really is fucking funny, right now. And that isn't a bad thing, is it? Even Lindy doesn't think he is that bad and I now trust her judgement in all things.
Bang Rumpus!
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