The drop of the comedy bar
STORY / 14.08.24 / 9 min read
by Michele Battistioli
Don’t drop the soap.
Most people will know immediately what these words mean, and what they imply.
Prison bars, communal showers, a bar of soap slipping from an unfortunate hand, threatening inmates staring, while their faces crack open in a grin.
It is not necessary to explain what happens next, the picture that is presented in our minds is already clear. Or is it?
Comedy on sexual assault has been present in mainstream media for an exceptionally long time as part of the genre called “offensive comedy”, and they arguably have been one of its most controversial ones.
When it comes to this kind of humor and its validity or acceptability as a form of comedy, there are usually two sides: one that protests against it, due to the tragic connotations of the topic and the apparent lack of empathy towards the victims of similar crimes, and the other that instead attributes the topic to free speech and the ability of comedy to push boundaries.
This conflict comes down to what we define as offensive comedy, and how far jokes can go.
1. What is defined as offensive comedy and what are the consequences – the Matt Rife case.
Offensive comedy usually revolves around edges and boundaries, whether they are within the political, historical or social context.
Famous comedians like Dave Chapelle, Louis CK and Ricky Gervais are some of the most prominent representatives of this kind of humor, and they received plenty of criticism and backlash for it.
One of the most recent cases had an emerging (and subsequently potentially canceled) comedian at its center: Matt Rife.
On his Netflix special he joked about a hostess who had a black eye, and mentioned that “If she could cook, she wouldn’t have that black eye.”
Considering that the audience who made Rife famous was predominantly composed of women, it is no surprise that the comedian received criticism, in particular by Tarang Chawla, who is an advocate against domestic violence.
An interesting aspect of the incident is that the focal point of the backlash was not so much the topic as the lack of context, understanding and empathy towards the victims, as well as putting them on the receiving end of the punchline, the so-called “butt of the joke”.
2. The real context of sexual assault jokes
As mentioned earlier, offensive adult humor often revolves around topics at the edge of what is considered socially acceptable.
The “normalization” of rape as a crime, which the vast majority of victims of are women, already started at the end of the 1970s, determined by its increasing usage in media within the context of a pre-existing “rape culture”, meaning that there are practices in place that help the continuation of sexual misconduct, in particular assault.
A hint in this sense might come from the fact that, in some situations, even just mentioning rape or alluding at a sexual violence situation might generate a laughter response from an audience, possibly due to the usage of a word that it’s generally considered taboo or because of the distance from those who laugh to that kind of violence and the apparent minimal chance of that happening to them.
It is always easier to laugh about issues or situations that are far away from us, knowing that we are relatively distant or protected against this type of event.
Adding these elements to the general trivialization of rape as a society, especially in the pre-#MeToo moment era, contributes to the misconception and misrepresentation of abuse and sexual assault, to the point where it might be even considered wanted or desired by the victims, therefore not a real crime or threat to the individual.
Furthermore, the surprisingly extensive list of contexts in which sexual assault jokes are used, ranging from media to offices and possibly households, is an indicator of how widely accepted and normalized this kind of humor is, making utterly difficult to expose the real situation behind the comedic structure and allowing to public to see the true suffering, ridicule and skepticism that the victims face after the abusive event.
3. The public acceptance of SA jokes on men
Although the “classic” targets of sexual abuse jokes were mostly women, there is a relevant amount of similar comedy that moves the punchline to men, in what perhaps can be considered a not remarkably successful attempt to being progressive.
The most surprising aspect of this category of humor is its wide acceptance in the eye of the public, finding examples in popular movies, series and even cartoons for children.
Commonly, the premise of the joke starts with a threat, which can be verbal or directly physical, and potentially followed by an indirect hint that the abuse is happening or happened. Other times the assault happens directly without premise, in case someone might criticize the lack of variety in SA humor.
What most people could miss, however, is that jokes on assault and abuse can also include a “masterful” concoction of other prime elements, like queerphobia and racism, with a touch of ridicule regarding insecurities and femininity.
Usually, the target of the joke is a straight white man, and specifically his masculinity is at risk of being taken away or even “contaminated” by the abusive act.
The characteristics that are traditionally attributed to “men” involve strength, confidence, capability to defend themselves, ability to deal with and perhaps control the environment around them. If a man becomes a victim of assault or rape, along with the physical and psychological violation comes the social one, when all the aforementioned “qualities” are stripped away, since “a real man” would have been able to prevent this from happening.
As for the offender, the choice of character depends on the perceived morality of the victim:
If the survivor is considered “morally good”, or perhaps it is the protagonist the audience is rooting for, then the abuser is considered “evil”, and often portrayed as a sexually ambiguous person and other times as a muscular, menacing black man.
Diversity would be appreciated in similar contexts, however in these cases it is mainly used to portray negative stereotypes that converge into the apparent common cause of emasculating the protagonist of the story and turning him into a sexual plaything for the sake of the punchline.
On the other hand, if the potential victim of assault is perceived as evil or with some kind of ill intents, then the threat probably comes from authorities like law enforcement, wearing the banner of “desperate times call for desperate measures” and using any form of psychological intimidation tactic to supposedly bring justice upon the evildoer.
Allusions to prison violence and rape are made to force the “villain” into telling the truth and potentially avoid incarceration, or they become a form of punishment to make the evildoer suffer and experience the pain they inflicted, in an attempt to justify a sort of “karmic justice”.
In synthesis, on one hand the potential abusers are representative of categories of people that have been historically marginalized, diminished or ridiculed, on the other hand there are forms of public authorities or “heroes” that are not hold accountable for using barbaric methods in order to obtain what they want, possibly forgetting that the need of protection applies to everyone.
These considerations beg the question, what to do with humor that revolves around sexual assault and abuse and is it allowed to make such comedy.
4. So, is it possible to perform jokes about assault?
This question can only be answered by taking into consideration three elements: the context, the wording and the target.
As a performer, a general advice would be to take into consideration the type of location or event you are going to act in, and adjust the content in accordance with the expected kind of audience.
Trigger warnings can also be helpful, so the spectators can understand the topics and how far the comedy will go.
The ability of the comedian to structure and word their routine is the main responsible factor for their acceptance and success, rather than blaming the sensibility of the audience.
The wording also comes into play when establishing what is the target of the joke. One of the things that makes a comedian memorable is the ability to use words to shed light on a certain topic in a new way, showing connections and paradoxes that people might have not seen before.
Using the same old structure and punchlines, directed at people that not only might have experienced abuse themselves, but also have to go through the same old jokes over and over again and endure the additional trauma of unoriginal, repetitive and overall stale comedy.
On the other hand, performing jokes related to sexual abuse and trauma might also help the survivors be seen and taken into consideration, as these are often topics that people are afraid of talking about.
On some occasions, survivors took the situation into their own hands, performing stand-up or shows about their experiences in a comedic way.
For example, Cameron Esposito created the comedy special “Rape Jokes”, where she uses comedy to spread awareness of sexual abuse based on her own experience, in a form of art that involves laughter, understanding and perhaps a hint of therapy for good measure.
Another example comes from the survivor’s duo Dylan Adler and Kelly Bachman, with their hysterical “Rape victims are horny too”.
The histrionic title perfectly sets the tone of the album, which involves humor as well as a witty critique on the “traditional” comedy on sexual assault, with its inconsistencies and general disregard for the actual victims.
But this time, the survivors are taking over, reclaiming their healing journey and turning their trauma into experiences to which people can relate, even if they haven’t been victims themselves, luckily.
Tracks like “Tell me I’m hot (Don’t touch me) and “Raped all over the world” provide a combination of reflections and sharing traumatic experiences through a humorous and somewhat lighter tone than expected.
Therefore, it would seem that it is possible to perform comedy on sexual assault and abuse, with a few things to keep in consideration, in particular the audience and the survivors of similar situations.
Comedy is about innovating and evolving from the past, adapting to new situations and new people, as times are always going forward, one way or another, and especially for comedians it should be important to keep up with the current trends and social views.
Perhaps some comedians have a tough time letting go of a more “reliable” way to get laughs, although it is mainly comfortable and “safe” only for themselves, and with time they will likely become more and more outdated and less relevant.
It seems like the new comedy for and in favor of survivors will get the last laugh.
Sources:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-25/matt-rife-netflix-controversy-domestic-violence/103146892
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/quiet-revolution/201509/sometimes-joke-is-not-just-joke
https://www.salon.com/2021/07/30/michael-che-comedians-rape-jokes/
https://www.elle.com/culture/a20071731/who-gets-to-tell-a-rape-joke/
https://psychcentral.com/lib/humor-as-weapon-shield-and-psychological-salve
https://thecomedybureau.com/dylan-adler-kelly-bachman-rape-victims-are-horny-too/