This whole Todd Akin "legitimate rape" thing got us thinking about the recent controversy over comedian Daniel Tosh's rape joke, which then got us thinking about something Jeff Ross once told us about how comedians are perceived:
"...sometimes they ... treat us like we're role models or politicians. We can't be held to that standard. If Tracy Morgan flubs it's a lot different than if a politician flubs. Tracy's not running for office..."
It's a fair point, though we can't deny that some other strong points were made about rape culture in the wake of Tosh's joke making headlines. As Lindy West put it on Jezebel:
According to the CDC, one in four female college students report that they've been sexually assaulted (and when you consider how many rapes go unreported, because of the way we shame victims and trivialize rape, the actual number is almost certainly much higher). That means that if you're a comic performing to a reasonably full room, there's a pretty good chance that at least one person in the audience has been sexually assaulted.... So when you make a joke in that room that trivializes rape or mocks rape victims, you are deliberately ... harming those people. On purpose. Not because you're a rapist—you're probably not—but because you're selfish and amateurish and lazy and scared.
All that taken into consideration, we wanted to put the question to you: which is worse, Daniel Tosh making a joke about rape, or an elected politician saying that there is such a thing as "legitimate rape" and using that weak logic -- and bad science -- as rationale for public policy decisions?
Take our poll and then join the conversation in the comments.
Related
Before You Go
