Short OP (versus the long one I just deleted): a great many people think that being raped is the very worst thing that can happen to somebody. I disagree. Anonymous poll to follow because I’m curious.
Rape is not the very worst thing that can happen to someone.
However, I fail to see how this poll indicates that. Mostly, the OP seems to seek opinions about rape jokes.
I have no problem with jokes about rape, babies, race or sexuality. They’re just jokes and people need to calm down. Also, rape’s pretty bad so I went with the checkbox for rape/yesonjokes.
Dammit, I hit the wrong button. I don’t think that rape is the worst thing that can happen. I mean, you come out the other end still alive and (in most cases) without any long lasting physical damage. I think I’d rather be raped then, say, pushed out of a third story window and have to spend 5 years in physical therapy learning how to walk again.
Not really, Cats. I’d like to know, of the people who respond to this poll, what percentage thinks that rape is the worst thing that can happen to somebody and the results will tell me that (total rape results (regardless of the joke aspect) vs. total “something else” results) so I’m not sure how the poll doesn’t indicate that. The joke thing came about from a pit thread I read earlier and I figured, since I’m here anyway and I also wonder about that, I might throw that in, too.
OK, now I am confused.
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Joking about rape is the worst thing ever.
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Being raped is the worst thing ever.
These things are not the same.
Being raped is not the worst thing that could happen to me, IMHO. I can think of lots of worse things, most of them involving horrible things happening to my kids.
That said, jokes can be about anything and still be funny, but you have to choose your audience wisely.
This poll is worse than rape jokes.
Fear Itself: the question is what do you think is the worst thing ever, being raped or “something else” (which is left undefined because there are a million things that people might consider worse). Everything on the other side of the ; is asking whether you think jokes about the Worst Thing Ever, whether that be rape or “something else”, are okay or not.
My poll options were more wordy until I found out there are character limits for poll options…
Dave: Thank you so much for participating.
In that case, I think there are many things worse than being raped.
If my daughter were raped, yes, that would be worse than being raped myself. I would gladly take the hit for her.
I don’t usually make rape jokes but if someone did and it was funny, I’d probably laugh. Speaking as a man and as someone who has not ever been raped, I don’t think I’d feel it was my place to decide whether such jokes are offensive or not. Much like a dirty joke is appropriate in the living room during a football game and not at the water cooler at work, context is key for rape jokes as well. And if someone told me that they had been sexually abused and that a wisecrack I had made about the topic wasn’t funny, I would not assume they have no sense of humor but rather that they simply feel differently about it. It’s not like there’s an objective scale here.
Then let me explain further. There are many things that are worse than rape of anyone, at any age.
Ok, still yes. Plenty of worse things.
Come on. You know that was funny.
One of my favorite performers, John Prine, does a song called The Accident (Things Could Be Worse) with a joke about rape in it:
I don’t think that is terribly offensive.
You can hear it in context here.
There are worse things that can happen to a person than being raped, although I think rape may be the worst thing that happens to a significant portion of the population. Humor-wise, I don’t think anything is off limits. I have made a couple jokes myself about rape, although for months after someone tried to rape me, I was very sensitive about overuse of the word “rape” and certainly wouldn’t have appreciated jokes about it at that point.
There are levels to everything. Rape is NEVER a good, or a “meh” experience, I’m sure. And I hope none of you ever get the experience.
But I think of bad things on levels. Being raped would be beyond awful. Being raped on a daily basis in your prison cell while serving time for a crime you didn’t even commit, much much worse.
As others have pointed out, you’re still alive after the terrible ordeal. That’s about the only plus I think.
I think rape, especially violent rape, is a horrifying thing. I think statutory rape is almost never a horrible thing, and just a stupid law that gets in the way too often.
I think jokes about rape are not very funny and I’d rather not hear them, but they are not inherently a bad thing.
I think murdering the young, and torturing anybody or anything, are in the running for the worst thing ever.
What, then, do you all think of the “humerous” song in **The Fantasticks **dealing with different types of rape?