Comments on: The Onion’s Best and Worst Rape Jokes

By: Robin

Robin — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:06:23 +0000

I think the Israeli one is making fun of how events and atrocities within such conflicts as the Israel/Palestine situation are only reported on in terms of how they will affect popular opinion about the conflict. Barely any attention is given to the horror of the acts in and of themselves. Like, “Suicide Bombing Postpones Peace Talks”, or somesuch. Yes, there’s a mild bar mitzvah joke thrown in, and a bit about Israeli aggression, but I think media jadedness is squarely in the cross hairs of this satire.

By: Vagabond Saint

Vagabond Saint — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 02:29:45 +0000

I agree with Anna. . .the joke there is really about the lax punishment the rapist received. I’m not sure about the cheering though; maybe it was all they could think of to do? I dunno; they’re fictional characters.

By: The Onion’s Best and Worst Rape Jokes – The Sexist – Washington City Paper (Washington City Paper) — Fresh Web News

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:17:08 +0000

[...] more: The Onion’s Best and Worst Rape Jokes – The Sexist – Washington City Paper (Washington… Share and [...]

By: Sexist Comments of the Week: Rape Joke Edition - The Sexist - Washington City Paper

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:46:44 +0000

[...] news humorist is good for getting to the bottom of this whole “rape joke” thing. In The Onion’s Best and Worst Rape Jokes, I argued that the difference between funny-rape-joke and not-funny-rape-joke often comes down to [...]

By: Davey

Davey — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 15:17:30 +0000

On a pure humor level, there’s a significant drop-off from Onion print stories to their forays into video news. With the former, you can just skim the headline (which is 90% of the humor right there), but in the latter, the joke just goes on and on, with actors of variable quality. The Harry Potter story suffers not because the Scholastic publicist is creepy, but because he’s creepy and mugging and not a recognizable caricature of any publicist, just a grinning pedophile.

I also think the “Candidate Turns to Focus Group for Position on Rape” isn’t funny because it’s a dull cliche about spineless politicians. If you’re going to tread on a subject as inflammatory as rape, you shouldn’t use it for something that could come out of the Joke-a-matic 3000.

By: Can A Rape Joke Be Funny (Redux)? [Gallows Humor] by Funny Celebrity . info

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:16:30 +0000

[...] Sexist’s Amanda Hess is almost as obsessed with rape joke humor as we are, so she’s compiled a strong list of The Onion’s hits and misses in the rape joke genre. [Washington City [...]

By: dh

dh — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:29:19 +0000

On the murder/rape story, I think the joke is the fact that neighbors always say that they didn’t think the suspect was capable of a violent act. “He seemed so quiet & nice” is a common refrain such stories.

By: Kati

Kati — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:01:01 +0000

I side with Anna as well. I read it as being a small dig at the constant pep of cheerleaders but being more about how athletics simply look over poor behaviours simply because someone is a part of the team. Everything is swept under the rug and teammates and cheerleaders alike are expected to put on their game faces for appearance’s sake.

By: Anna

Anna — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:28:53 +0000

I appreciate your analysis on this, and I thought it was extremely well-done; however, I have a slightly different opinion on the last one.

I don’t think it’s a cheerleader joke with rape thrown in. I think the last sentence about the football-playing rapist is what cinches the actual point: even when we as a society can provide support to rape victims instead of shame, the fact remains that punishments for rapists, especially young or first-time offenders, tend to be extremely lax. It plays into the idea that “boys will be boys,” especially athletically gifted young men who are seen as competitive “alpha males” with a bright future. It is often seen as a one-off mistake that someone so charming and popular would commit rape, but a less well-liked young man would receive a much harsher penalty for the same crime; the same goes for a less wholesome woman, who might receive a less enthusiastic outpouring of sympathy. Sorry this is kind of long-winded, but I just wanted to share my opinion.

By: Amanda Hess

Amanda Hess — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:18:53 +0000

W Allison, You got me! The Onion is way better at this rape joke shit than I gave them credit for. I’ve corrected the post with your input.

By: W Allison

W Allison — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:27:09 +0000

Actually, that Harry Potter joke is really old, came out way before the whole “dumbledore is gay” thing, right before the last book came out … I think it’s more a joke about how the whole time before the last books, Scholastic was teasing like all these terrible things were going to happen — death, ruin etc

By: Amanda Hess

Amanda Hess — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:23:52 +0000

Holy shit, Alan, that’s one for the ages!

By: Alan

Alan — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:51:09 +0000

Amanda, you completely forgot about “US Troops Pull Out of Viatnamese Peasant Girl.” It’s in Our Dumb Century.

By: Gender Studies Major

Gender Studies Major — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:00:24 +0000

Hey, let’s be clear… The first comment on the Moshe Katsav story is designed to mock Israel’s unjustified war on Lebanon in 2006. So it’s mocking Israeli aggression. It’s not a Jewish joke.