"You can't do jokes about black people or Asian people," the Australian comic Jim Jeffries told me last year, "but you can do a rape joke onstage now and there's not a problem." Interviewing several comedians for an article about offensiveness in comedy, I heard the same story time and again. American standup Scott Capurro told me that "talk about raping women [is] like the new black on the comedy circuit". Edinburgh comedy award-winner Brendon Burns talked about comedy's favourite neologism "rapey", meaning sleazy. "Only Britain," said Burns (another Aussie), "could make rape sound twee."
Examples of rape comedy are easy to find. Reginald D Hunter has a routine that begins, "civilisation couldn't have arisen without rape . . ." Jimmy Carr, of course, has several one-liners on the subject ("What do nine out of 10 people enjoy? / Gang rape."). In a characteristic play on his words, Carr has called his current show Rapier Wit.
When the Andrew Sachs controversy was still a twinkle in Jonathan Ross's eye, Russell Brand caused an outcry in Northampton when he prank-called the police live onstage claiming to have spotted a man wanted in the city for serious sex attacks. Even the women are at it: Geordie comic Sarah Millican has a skit about fetishistic rape roleplays with her boyfriend.
Various defences are cited for this new comedic fashion. It is comedy's job, say some, to probe the boundaries of the sayable, and to breach taboos – although some taboos are easier breached than others. It is taken as read, say others, that no harm is meant by these jokes; that they are funny precisely because everyone present – performers and audience – instinctively senses that rape is a shocking thing.
Some comics argue that rape jokes are justified as long as the joke's on them. Jeffries talked to me about his joke "about a girl who won't have sex with me . . . And the punchline is 'so I raped her'. But," he added, "I also have a joke later on about being in the toilet of a gay bar, and the punchline of that joke is 'so he raped me'. I throw it back and forth."
The counter-argument, expressed most forcibly by Jo Brand, is that today's comedians pose as plain-speakers and PC refuseniks in order to smuggle in the kind of misogynist comedy last seen in the 1970s. The likes of Carr, says Brand, "appeal to all the people out there who think, 'Where have all those delicious anti-women jokes gone? We miss them.'" Brand identifies "almost a desperation to make [comedy] more unpalatable than it was before".
But what's striking is how palatable the rape joke in comedy now appears to be. The young sketch troupe Late Night Gimp Fight were entirely unapologetic about their scene at Edinburgh last month, in which Sleeping Beauty wasn't kissed awake by her prince, but raped instead. Jeffries maintains this kind of thing is "not a problem". But, as rape becomes ever more commonplace a subject for comedy, it no longer seems terribly funny either.
Brian Logan
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As far as I can tell, the “joke” is usually that it wasn’t really rape at all, or it wasn’t a “real” rape, or it was a fun rape, or it was a deserved rape. Which, seeing as how rape victims get to hear that shit, completely seriously (and with completely serious consequences) from their rapist, friends, family, and cops, you might see as how it doesn’t come off as a joke so much as it comes off as... same shit, different day.
Let me tell you a thing you might not know: the inability to hear rape “jokes” without flashbacks, Hulk rage, and “air quotes” is one of the enduring parting gifts of a rapist.
Harriet J
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- Street Harassment has nothing to do with sex and everything to do with power. Whether it's "Hey baby girl" or “You’d look good on me,” groping, public masturbation, or worse, these “compliments” aren’t about flirting or about chivalry either.
- If it makes you feel uncomfortable, it's not okay.
- If you feel intimidated, you DON'T need to 'take it as a compliment.'
- Street harassment is a gateway crime that makes other forms of gender-based violence OK.
- Studies conducted show that between 80-90% of women have been harassed in public.
- Street harassment may be the social and cultural norm, but it is far from OK. Street harassment teaches us to be silent, that taking action will only escalate the situation. While this isn’t bad advice, it has led us down a dangerous road. Ultimately, perpetrators realise they won’t be held accountable and continue to harass.
- Hollaback! was designed by a group of young people who were tired of being silenced and sought a simple, non-violent response. What has emerged is a platform where thousands of stories of street harassment have been told.
- We believe that by continuing to tell and map these stories, our voices will chip away at a culture that makes gender-based violence OK. Together we have the power to end street harassment, one Hollaback at a time.
a submission from 'hollaback':
Was on my daily jog at 7.30am. Just to be clear, not that it matters but I was wearing a sports bra, long sleeved top and jogging jacket. I was just coming to my house so stopped running and I saw a car coming out of a garage. The car seemed to stop as it pulled out and the driver, a man in his late 30′s indicated he wanted to say something. I thought he wanted directions so I went over and he said
‘your tits look great jogging up and down the street’ I was shocked and said ‘f**k off’
He laughed at me and said ‘I could watch that all day!’ and he drove off. I was so angry. He seemed so happy with upsetting me. I felt exposed. Why should I be harassed as I am minding my own business jogging before work. I didn’t get his car registration, otherwise I would have reported it to the police. This man was scary and it worried me what he was capable of. However also it was just another example of harassment we experience throughout our lives. This has to stop.
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