Kirkman1987 wrote:
You guys talk about knowing your audience, but in many cases artists like Tosh are being torn apart by media/advocacy groups and individuals who never even heard of the guy before this. People who clearly are not his audience.
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In the 21st century, pretty much everyone is potentially the audience for something said in a public performance.
I agree with those who say that every subject, including rape, can be funny. But the important word there is
can. Most rape jokes -- or dead baby jokes, or suicide jokes, or whatever -- aren't.
And the context is all-important, including who is telling the joke. For example, a rape joke or anecdote may be hilarious when told by one woman who's been raped to another [edited to clarify that I mean another who seems to have a sense of humor about the topic], or to a supportive friend. That does
not mean that the same thing would be funny when told by a male comedian on stage.
Some of you know that I was raped a couple years ago. A couple things that the assailant said and did
were funny, not while they were happening, but in retrospect. The detective, the prosecuting attorney and I laughed together about them. (They'd both figured out very quickly that I use humor as a coping mechanism.) And I've joked about them with a couple close, supportive friends. But that's it.
I wouldn't dream of telling those stories at a party, or here, or to anyone I didn't know very well. There are several reasons, but the one that's most relevant to this thread is that I wouldn't want to risk re-traumatizing someone who, unbeknownst to me, might also have been raped. And, for some people, it
is a matter of re-traumatizing, not just offending, them.
BTW, the article
TSQ keeps referring to is excellent.