# Domestic violence is both funny and sexy !! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 15, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestic-violence-is-both-funny-and-sexy/481464 "2009-01-15T18:16:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Joe\_Meager](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bb73d2/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Joe\_Meager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Joe_Meager)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestic-violence-is-both-funny-and-sexy/481464/1 "2009-01-15T18:16:40Z")
Recently there was an incident of domestic violence in which one partner set the other’s hair on fire. The burn-ee went to the hospital. (cite: check Google News, “Casey Johnson”) \*\*THIS IS FUNNY !!! \*\* Actually, **storyteller0910** finds “humor” in it, **Omniscient** finds it “sexy”, **Marley23** merely wishes it had happened “during the (football) season”. Seriously. Check out this thread in The Game Room: “J-E-T-S! Flaming! Lesbian! Catfight!” [J-E-T-S! Flaming! Lesbian! Catfight! - The Game Room - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=501906) But here are some highlights: > [@J-E-T-S! Flaming! Lesbian! Catfight!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-e-t-s-flaming-lesbian-catfight/481421/1): > > It’s a shame this couldn’t have happened before a Jets-Pats game just to see what the Pat’s fans could come up with for signs. … Good times. Somebody beats up their girlfriend, sets her hair on fire(!), and it’s a “shame” because it didn’t happen before a particular sports event? Funny signs and “Good times”? How so? > [@J-E-T-S! Flaming! Lesbian! Catfight!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-e-t-s-flaming-lesbian-catfight/481421/8): > > The humor in this situation comes at least 50% from the fact that it happened to the daughter of the _Jets_ owner, specifically. OK, I’ll bite. Where’s the other 50% come from? > [@J-E-T-S! Flaming! Lesbian! Catfight!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-e-t-s-flaming-lesbian-catfight/481421/9): > > However 100% of the sexiness comes from the lesbian catfight. Seriously? This was domestic violence, one sending the other to the hospital. That’s sexy? Do you have an intimate partner? Any of your family or friends have intimate partners? If two of them, or you and yours, got in a fight, requiring hospitalization, would that be sexy? Please… do explain how. > [@J-E-T-S! Flaming! Lesbian! Catfight!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-e-t-s-flaming-lesbian-catfight/481421/3): > > I wish this had happened during the season … listening to the TV analysts try and discuss this … would have been high comedy. Really? “High comedy”? > [@J-E-T-S! Flaming! Lesbian! Catfight!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-e-t-s-flaming-lesbian-catfight/481421/4): > > How can you take a story like this seriously enough to try to make a political point about it? Wow. I can’t even come up with a scathing enough reply for that. I’ll just let you speak for yourself… > [@J-E-T-S! Flaming! Lesbian! Catfight!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-e-t-s-flaming-lesbian-catfight/481421/4): > > **How can you take a story like this seriously…** ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestic-violence-is-both-funny-and-sexy/481464/2 "2009-01-15T18:18:38Z")
Yes, we laugh at pretty much everything. 90% of humor is laughing at the suffering of others. Have you not realized this yet? ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestic-violence-is-both-funny-and-sexy/481464/3 "2009-01-15T18:21:35Z")
Well…:rolleyes: We’ve come a long way from the 1930s, '40s and '50s, when _all_ domestic violence could be portrayed as sexy-funny. ([example](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2310/2536026401_9284deb9d4.jpg)…[another](http://pzrservices.typepad.com/advertisingisgoodforyou/images/coffee_2_1.jpg)…[and another](http://woollymom.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/retro-mom-kill-wife-over-postage-1953.jpg)) Now at least it has to be between members of an out-group. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestic-violence-is-both-funny-and-sexy/481464/4 "2009-01-15T18:22:33Z")
One time my high school biology teacher set his mustache on fire while toasting his English muffin on the bunsen-burner. That was hilarious. [sub]Why the hell does a biology teacher have a bunsen-burner anyway?[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![storyteller0910](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@storyteller0910](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/storyteller0910)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestic-violence-is-both-funny-and-sexy/481464/5 "2009-01-15T18:22:51Z")
I’m so glad you did this, you silly oversensitive doofus. Once again, the humor in this situation comes from the combination of a highly unusual incident with a football franchise that has been star-crossed. That you read some sort of misogyny into the fact that people laugh when something embarassing happens, _again_, to the pitiful Jets, says way more about you than about those who laugh. I’d tell you to go fuck yourself, but I’m afraid there’d then be a lecture on how tragic it would be if someone in my family accidentally got injured fucking themselves, so let’s just go with: I am so glad I’m not you. ---
**Author:** ![CaerieD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@CaerieD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaerieD)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestic-violence-is-both-funny-and-sexy/481464/6 "2009-01-15T18:24:50Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Yes, we laugh at pretty much everything. 90% of humor is laughing at the suffering of others. Have you not realized this yet? And the scene covering this insight from _Stranger in a Strange Land_ will forever be burned into my mind. Yeah, there’s some gallows humor that lurks around here. It’d be pretty tiring to get worked up about it all. This is what people do. Welcome to Earth! ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestic-violence-is-both-funny-and-sexy/481464/7 "2009-01-15T18:25:49Z")
> [@CaerieD](#): > > And the scene covering this insight from _Stranger in a Strange Land_ will forever be burned into my mind. Remind me of what that was? I read that book about 9 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestic-violence-is-both-funny-and-sexy/481464/8 "2009-01-15T18:33:07Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Remind me of what that was? I read that book about 9 years ago. Michael not understanding humor until they’re in the monkey house and he sees monkey A steal food from monkey B, so monkey B goes and beats up monkey C. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestic-violence-is-both-funny-and-sexy/481464/9 "2009-01-15T18:36:53Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > One time my high school biology teacher set his mustache on fire while toasting his English muffin on the bunsen-burner. > > That was hilarious. > [sub]Why the hell does a biology teacher have a bunsen-burner anyway?[/sub] To toast his English Muffin, obviously. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestic-violence-is-both-funny-and-sexy/481464/10 "2009-01-15T18:38:45Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > To toast his English Muffin, obviously. While he was eating it? That must have been a man on a very tight schedule. ---
**Author:** ![CaerieD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@CaerieD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaerieD)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestic-violence-is-both-funny-and-sexy/481464/11 "2009-01-15T18:40:24Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Michael not understanding humor until they’re in the monkey house and he sees monkey A steal food from monkey B, so monkey B goes and beats up monkey C. At which point he laughs until tears are streaming down his face. It’s the first time he’s laughed in the book. When he recovers enough to speak, he says something along the lines of, “We laugh because it _hurts_.” ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestic-violence-is-both-funny-and-sexy/481464/12 "2009-01-15T18:50:14Z")
You have to laugh, or you’ll just cry. People who don’t laugh are just wound too tight. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestic-violence-is-both-funny-and-sexy/481464/13 "2009-01-15T18:51:31Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > You have to laugh, or you’ll just cry. People who don’t laugh are just wound too tight. See: OP. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestic-violence-is-both-funny-and-sexy/481464/14 "2009-01-15T18:54:46Z")
I favor Mel Brooks. “Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die.” Edit: But yeah, on a deeper level, the Heinlein quote is even better. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestic-violence-is-both-funny-and-sexy/481464/15 "2009-01-15T18:59:17Z")
Hmm…look up Dizzy Gillespie’s hit from the 50s-60s: _Poor Joe_. All about the violence. And intended to be funny. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Joe\_Meager](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bb73d2/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Joe\_Meager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Joe_Meager)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestic-violence-is-both-funny-and-sexy/481464/16 "2009-01-15T19:08:18Z")
I’m not the only one here with a particular cause celebre, political viewpoint, or “agenda” which we take the opportunity to promote even in threads not dedicated to that particular topic. People frequently interject their particular pet peeve – politics, religion, taxation, whatever – in their posts. My particular pet peeve is the negative portrayal of men in the mass media. Specifically, but not limited to, the portrayal of domestic violence as only being perpetrated by men. Inversely correlated is the downplaying, even making light of, domestic violence perpetrated by women. Recently there’s a thread here about the death penalty in which someone pointed out (paraphrasing here): Saying you are unilaterally \*against \*the death penalth, except in certain really really eggregious cases, means that you really \*aren’t \*against the death penalty. I feel the same way about domestic violence. If you think domestic violence is _bad_, oh… except in really funny cases, then you \*don’t \*really think domestic violence is bad. Google “Hiram Monserrate” and read about how he’s accused of slashing his girlfriend with a broken glass. She went to the hospital, initially indicated she wanted to press charges, but has since changed her tune. Oh yeah, Hiram Monserrate just got seated in the NY State Senate. \*I bet he’s going to slash taxes too!! Hah - hah!! \* Was that funny? ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestic-violence-is-both-funny-and-sexy/481464/17 "2009-01-15T19:11:18Z")
> [@CaerieD](#): > > At which point he laughs until tears are streaming down his face. It’s the first time he’s laughed in the book. When he recovers enough to speak, he says something along the lines of, “We laugh because it _hurts_.” I quote this pretty often: Man is the animal that laughs because it hurts too much to cry. I’m not sure I endorse it though. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestic-violence-is-both-funny-and-sexy/481464/18 "2009-01-15T19:12:22Z")
You can’t take the New York State Legislature as evidence of anything, though. That entire group is fucked up beyond repair. [/end pointless hijack] ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestic-violence-is-both-funny-and-sexy/481464/19 "2009-01-15T19:13:17Z")
We often find humor in the absurd, even in the very tragic. It’s the nature of humor. Obviously, Helen Keller’s predicament was particularly harsh. Dead babies are especially sad. Elephants hiding in refrigerators? It is to weep! ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestic-violence-is-both-funny-and-sexy/481464/20 "2009-01-15T19:17:57Z")
Dead babies are sad. I cry. Dead baby jokes are hilarious sometimes. The outlandishness of some jokes makes them funny - despite the fact that IRL, I would NEVER laugh about a baby dying. Can you see the difference? Or am I pitted too? Poster above me - I thought of dead babies first! I was…ah… distracted, so you beat the clock. I’ll get you next time, and your little dog too! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestic-violence-is-both-funny-and-sexy/481464.md?page=2)