Content warning: sexual violence
One of the many things I tried during quarantine last year was to enjoy American stand-up comedy. Hoping to familiarize myself with American culture, I watched a few famous stand-up comedians online.
But besides finding most of them pretentious and arrogant, I was also disturbed by their careless attitude when it came to dark humor. Jokes about domestic abuse and sexual violence were extremely common. Just as the comedian made a deeply sexist joke and I held my breath in worry, the audience would explode with laughter, leaving me confused and frustrated.
The biggest reason why I was so shocked to see people laughing at sexist jokes by American comedians was that it was inconsistent with the politically correct behaviors I had experienced in the United States.
Growing up in Turkey, I never saw people police others’ language. It was common to hear many things in casual conversation that would be unacceptable in America. Not paying particular attention to the weight of my words, when I moved to Berkeley for college, I quickly learned that I needed to be more careful with the language I used, and the language I endorsed.
So when I watched a room full of people laugh at sexist jokes in the stand-up comedy acts, I was shocked; when it came to entertainment, everyone was laughing at the jokes they deemed offensive earlier on.
Let’s take American comedian Daniel Tosh, for example. In his 2012 show at a Hollywood comedy club, a woman from the audience called him out for making insensitive rape jokes. His response? “Wouldn’t it be funny if that girl got raped by, like, five guys right now?”
I doubt anyone in the audience would find it funny if this actually happened, but they laughed at this joke anyway; to them, it was “just a joke.”
But this is exactly the problem. Most rape jokes out there target the victims; some, like the one Tosh made, are simply making fun of the idea of rape. This behavior normalizes such a horrific reality and turns it into a distant and trivial problem in people’s minds. It’s impossible to laugh at the idea of rape, and not be desensitized to it. To state the obvious, rape is just not funny. Ask any survivor and they’ll confirm it.
Rape is especially not funny when one in every five women will be raped at some point in their lives, and society’s dismissive attitude toward rape prevents survivors from speaking up, resulting in 63% of sexual assaults not being reported to the police. As long as these painful statistics remain, laughter is political.
The heated debate of whether rape jokes are “just jokes,” is an old one. As a response to the backlash Tosh received, another prominent comedian, Louis C.K., brushed off the issue, stating that “stereotypically speaking, feminists can’t take a joke.” While having made no contributions to the fight for gender equality, C.K. further antagonized women who speak up against sexist humor, saying feminists and comedians are “natural enemies.”
But it’s not simply that feminists have a personal vendetta against comedy; as a feminist, I see it as my responsibility to consider the implications of the jokes I laugh at. I don’t allow myself the privilege of dismissing sexist statements as “just jokes” for my own comfort, in which I am informed and aware enough to realize how damaging they can be.
Reducing such a horrific reality to a joke belittles the experiences of those who have to deal with its aftermath on a daily basis, especially if the joke is made by someone who could not be less concerned with this reality — often a privileged white man who, unlike many women, only thinks about rape when considering how profitable his tasteless rape jokes could be.
Perhaps what’s more terrifying is that some of these men are sexual perpetrators hiding behind their fame and concealing their misogyny as more people dismiss their comments as “just jokes.” Violent crimes against women are made into profit for the same people who are perpetrators of these crimes. The fact that C.K. admitted to the sexual misconduct allegations made by several women — after all his sexist jokes — is proof enough of a serious, real-life effect of belittling rape on a stage, especially when those dictating our society’s humor are perpetrators themselves.
And while the comedy industry is continuously making a profit off an issue that affects women more than men, over 80% of American stand-up comedians are men. In an industry that clearly excludes women, prominent comedians like Daniel Tosh and Louis C.K. capitalize on women’s suffering by making careless jokes about problems their privilege protects them from. They can afford to think of rape only as entertainment for their audience, so they do.
As much as these comedians are flawed, the problem doesn’t end with them. In the comedy industry, laughter determines which issues are considered “funny.” We all have a responsibility to consider the power of our actions, and that includes holding ourselves accountable for what our laughter normalizes, and contributes to. Our laughter has the potential to transform what’s acceptable in comedy, and in turn, what’s taken seriously in our society. The fight for equality and justice should be present in every aspect of our lives, and the crowded rooms of stand-up comedy shows are no exception.
Merve Ozdemir writes the Wednesday column on exploring her cross-cultural identity as a 21st-century feminist.
The Link LonkMarch 11, 2021 at 01:39AM
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