Rape Joke Club
He joked about it. He actually encouraged others to joke about it. Something that has left me raw and vulnerable for over 30 years is now being joked about within my circle. He thinks it’s something to tell humorous stories about. Yeah, like, Did you hear the one about the girl who got raped? Yeah, she never got over it and triggers to this day decades later….haha, isn’t that funny?
Just how can he even think that joking about something that is so traumatic will make it less traumatic? Here let me beat you over the head…what? That hurt? Ok, let me beat you over the head again and joke about it. There, is that better? Haha.
He wanted to discuss his decision to open a rape joke forum with me. He says his intent was not to hurt, belittle or trigger victims but to “help people get past the morbid reality of something” How odd that he thinks that a nonchalant joke could do that where years and years of therapy has not been able to do that.
That he feels this way belittles my pain. That he wants me to justify my reaction of blocking him and shunning him is absurd. I don’t have to explain to him why his actions repulse me. I don’t have to explain to him how his distasteful activities caused me physical and mental anguish. I don’t want to relive the trauma every time someone cracks a joke.
There are plenty of people in the world. He just isn’t one that I need to associate with any longer. Fortunately, I have found that the majority of my circle of friends has found his actions distasteful as well. Please God, don’t let joking about trauma become the norm.