rape jokes

Why I Stopped Laughing at Rape Jokes

Eli Heina, , , , 9 Comments

Content notice for sexual assault in the section called “Life Lessons” and ableism in the section called “Losing the Lulz”

I revisited a part of my past of which I am anything but proud in order to shed some light on why some people might laugh at rape jokes. What got me to stop finding downward-punching rape jokes funny was a process rather than any sort of a-ha! moment of sudden enlightenment. The process involved reading a lot, living a bit more, reconsidering my love of the Darwin Awards, and de-centering male desire in terms of my understanding of my self-worth. Continue reading “Why I Stopped Laughing at Rape Jokes” →

Why I Stopped Laughing at Rape Jokes
{advertisement}

Why I Used to Laugh at Rape Jokes

Eli Heina, , 9 Comments

A version of this originally appeared as a comment on a Facebook post by Miri. Content warning for what it says on the tin.

Someone on Tumblr made a great point about this: I’m tired of trying to explain why rape jokes* aren’t funny. Why don’t you explain to me why they are?

* By which I don’t mean “jokes that reference rape in some way”; I mean “jokes in which the rape victim is the one being laughed at”

I can still remember the first time I heard a rape joke told aloud. It was when I was first getting to know a classmate of mine. At one point, he decided to ask me what the difference between sex and rape was. The answering punchline was “patience.” I not only laughed heartily, I made a show of how funny I found it.

I once was a loud-and-proud supporter of rape jokes because I was fresh out of fundamentalism, enjoyed “fail”-type humor, wanted men to approve of me, and despised attractive women. Continue reading “Why I Used to Laugh at Rape Jokes” →

Why I Used to Laugh at Rape Jokes