On Tosh-gate

[TW/Content note: Rape culture]

"[The fierce debate that erupted online and in the press over Tosh’s rape joke and incitement of rape against a female audience member is really just] a fight between comedians and feminists, which are natural enemies. Because stereotypically speaking, feminists can’t take a joke." -Louis CK, "comedian"

Let me fix that for him:

The fierce debate that erupted online and in the press over Tosh's rape joke and incitement of rape against a female audience member is really just a fight between those who have the privilege of not having to think about rape from the perspective of victims and/or are too lazy and entitled to do so, and those who actually think about rape and rape culture from the perspective of victims or who have actually been raped.

I'm really just too disgusted by these entitled men, Louis CK and Daniel Tosh, to write anything more about them. These types always imagine themselves to be the Big Objective Deciders of what is and isn't truly funny in the world, and rather than sincerely thinking about how their words impact other people, they intellectually regress into toddler-hood and turn criticism into a referendum on whether or not feminists and women can ever just get a sense of humor, be funny, or take a joke. As though the problem is, primarily, not their words and choices, but PC Gone Too Far and women's/feminists' hypersensitivity.

Why Louis CK, a man who just started thinking about rape culture like 5 minutes ago, has been given a platform on Jon Stewart's show to opine upon the situation in front of a national audience and women, especially, those who write about, talk, and think about rape culture every single day from non-perpetrators' perspectives have not, is, in itself, evidence that mainstream narratives continue to marginalize the voices and perspectives of those who think about rape culture from the perspective of victims and privilege the voices of those who engage in silencing "feminists ain't funny har har har" narratives.

It is, in short, a perpetuation of rape culture.

I highly recommend Liss at Shakesville's writing on the situation.