If you have the PRIVILEGE to view rape as such an abstract concept that it could be funny to you, then good for fucking you. Not all of us are so lucky, and we’re sure as hell not laughing.
— Ally nailed it (via quelalexandradit)
(Source: nonnonmodernist)
For A is For founder and actress Martha Plimpton, the shock of the rhetoric surrounding the Rush Limbaugh/Sandra Fluke controversy, as well as the success of the ensuing advertiser boycott, inspired her to gather a group of friends to brainstorm a strategy more formal than clicking “like” on Facebook. The group was united in their outrage and their growing awareness that the status of women’s rights was by no means a done deal. In fact, things that we had all taken for granted, like, um, access to birth control pills, were very much at risk of being gone in our own lifetimes. Our own children, planned or unplanned, may not have the same choices we had when wanting to start, or wait to start, their own families. What could be done to have a real impact?
Plimpton promptly founded A is For, an organization that unifies the diverse voices and issues in the new women’s movement under the reclaimed symbol of the red letter A —that instantly recognizable symbol of excoriation and shame that heroine Hester Prynne was forced to wear in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic novel The Scarlet Letter. Used by Prynne’s Puritan Boston community to brand and shun both her and the baby girl she had out of wedlock, the A stood for Adultery — and the double standard to which women were held. The group A is For takes back the A by re-appropriating its meaning to one of dignity, defiance, and autonomy, and encourages others to reclaim the A to define what it means to them. A is For Awareness, A is For Affordable Health Care. A is For Ass-kicking. You get the idea.
Immediately, Plimpton proposed starting an “A” ribbon campaign in direct response to the shaming of Sandra Fluke in the attempts to silence her. The group agreed that the new movement needed an ongoing unifying symbol, the red letter A, to serve as a bold historical reminder that women will not be shamed into silence. One major goal would be to distribute the A to every person and organization fighting for women’s human rights in this country and around the world to wear proudly in solidarity. As for immediate change on the ground, within a month of starting the organization, A is For partnered with The Center for Reproductive Rights to be their direct action partner. Money raised via donations for the ribbons would go to CRR to fulfill their mission of “advancing reproductive freedom as a fundamental human right that all governments are legally obligated to protect, respect, and fulfill.” Now A is For had found a way to have a real impact (besides the Facebook “like” button). CRR is currently winning one major battle in their fight at the front lines to keep the one abortion clinic left in the state of Mississippi open.
By now, everyone has heard the “War on Women” stories: Susan G. Komen vs. Planned Parenthood; Rush Limbaugh vs. Sandra Fluke; state-sanctioned rape in Texas with mandatory and medically unnecessary transvaginal ultrasounds; a Walgreens pharmacist in Albuquerque refusing to fill a woman’s birth control Rx due to his “religious beliefs”; comedian Tosh.0 proposing that a female audience member offended by his rape jokes be gang-raped by male audience members. The list —unfortunately — goes on and on.
What gets lost in the relentless headlines are the personal experiences that inform the passion behind these issues. Personal stories unify and connect women in a way that those without the experiences or the same body parts may never truly understand until they’re awakened by directly hearing them. These experiences are the bond that constitutes the mighty heft of the social media muscle behind the new women’s movement, which I watched executed with glee during the Komen flap, and with pride during the Limbaugh boycott.
—
-Maureen Herman
If your solution to rape jokes and rape culture is to tell sexual assault victims to just stop being part of society and just stop hearing rape jokes, you are part of the problem.
Sexual assault is already a topic that is rarely spoken about and when it IS spoken about it’s…
Someone close to me overheard a rape joke being made about her at VidCon, and it left her feeling unsettled for a long time. Regardless of whether or not you’re kidding or exaggerating or somehow just really bad at using words, it’s NOT OKAY.
When I hear a rape joke, what I hear is, “I don’t care about women.” I hear, “I want to laugh at women’s concerns, and I want you to laugh with me.” Rape jokes reinforce the idea that male identity is neutral and normal, and female identity is marginal and laughable. Terrorizing and marginalizing women is hilarious, and you just can’t take a joke.
—
NY Mag Vulture on Daniel Tosh by Margaret Lyons
(via cwnerd12)
YES. Except that rape can also be a men’s issue. The rest, however, is flawless.
(via thatchick-raye)
^^ Yes, rape jokes do not only trivialize rape for women, but also trivializes rape for men as well.
(Source: jetgirl78)
Yes, jokes about rape can be funny. Daniel Tosh’s wasn’t. My latest on rape, humor & subversion at The Nation.
Note: Please read the post, not just the description. I draw a firm line between subversive jokes about rape and “jokes” about raping. Thanks. Excerpt below…
But here’s the thing: threatening women with rape, making light of rape, and suggesting that women who speak up be raped is not edgy or controversial. It’s the norm. This is what women deal with every day. Maintaining the status quo around violence against women isn’t exactly revolutionary.
Sykes’s and Carlin’s jokes presented in the article subvert rape culture, not rape itself, which is a notable difference that should be pointed out. Joking about rape is entirely different than joking about rape culture. Jokes about rape are still not funny.
