On Dickwolves

[morganwolf]

...No, seriously. I'm going to talk seriously about Dickwolves. I feel like maybe I'm a little less of a person for this.

There's been a bit of a to-do lately over a Penny Arcade strip that referenced rape by dickwolf. Apparently there was also a "dickwolves" t-shirt in their store, which has since been taken down. I didn't see it. Full disclosure:

Comments

[morganwolf]

I know, man, you're totally TOO SENSITIVE and you should GET OVER IT. What kind of weirdo doesn't think dead baby jokes are hilarious?

[ddrkaiba]

I'm really glad you wrote about this

[morganwolf]

I believe very strongly in the power of apology, and I'm glad that they made one, although I wish it had come off as more sincere. But at least it was a start. I'm sure not everyone would agree, but I think a grudging apology is better than none at all.

Much of the problem with rape culture is that people aren't aware: they aren't aware rape culture exists, that it's so pervasive, they aren't aware it hurts so many people, they aren't aware it's not all that hard to change. When people become aware, that's when things start changing for the better. If even a few people come away from the whole Penny Arcade thing thinking differently about their own attitudes, progress is being made.

[osaraba]

What you wrote here is so succinct and articulate and relevant, and basically awesome. Because there's so much defensiveness that goes around in reaction to the whole rape culture topic and this is a really really good explanation of why there is an (over)reaction. I myself often alternate between a desire for "safe spaces" and, you know, the freedom to make fun of even sensitive topics.

<3

[morganwolf]

Not that I think there's no place in the world for off-color jokes, but I do think you should at least try to know your audience. I get that this is the way their humor is, but with a readership as wide as Penny Arcade's, it seems a little irresponsible to make rape-centric jokes without at least thinking about who it's going to affect. Or, at least, acknowledging when they are in especially poor taste and that their readers have a valid reason to feel hurt by it. They have their own freaking conventions, so it's not like they're just writing webcomics for themselves and their friends anymore.

[horuschilde]

I'll admit, I rarely, if ever, read Penny Arcade, but I've been noticing a massive shift in geek culture as a whole toward "rape as acceptable joke fodder" for a number of years now. I've lost count of the number of times I've had to verbally smack down kids (when you've got more than 15 years on them, I think it's fair to call them that) who just don't see anything wrong with it. My only evidence is anecdotal, I admit, but the fact that it could be counted upon to come up as a topic every single bloody time I came to game night with the princeton game group, the fact that the convention I worked security for had to set a policy clarifying it as not acceptable for in-game use, these things kind of bother me.

[morganwolf]

It may be that geek culture, in general, has become more mainstream. It's no longer as strange or subversive to identify as a geek, nerd, whatever. So maybe it's that, as more "normal" people get into geek culture, it's no longer so easy for geeks to identify with the outcast, the disenfranchised, the wounded.

Then again, geek culture has historically been pretty male-dominated, so it's interesting that as more women self identify as geeks, the culture is becoming more hostile towards them.

[sacredmother]

The subject of rape and society is far, far beyond the scope of one comment. But I feel the need to make a couple points despite the risk of not explaining myself clearly and thus being misunderstood

[morganwolf]

Overall, I agree with what you've said. While I realize the joke wasn't about rape directly, it utilized rape in its humor, and that's still potentially triggering, even if the joke doesn't rely on rape to make its point.

Your last point, I have to say, amen to that-- it has to be taken seriously because there's still such a tremendous percentage of people who engage in victim blaming and don't accept anything but "forcible" rape as actual rape (go to hell, John Boehner). If someone says, "oh, that toddler, she wouldn't have been molested if she wasn't sauntering around with her ass hanging out of her diaper," it's in bad taste, but we can assume they're not being serious. But there are still courts of law that deem a rape victim must have been inviting forced sex because her jeans were too tight.

[sacredmother]

there's still such a tremendous percentage of people who engage in victim blaming

I think it goes beyond that in that some people don't think you are a victim at all. One guy actually said to me - "If the woman's not a virgin, what's the big deal? It's just sex." @_@ Granted, this was decades ago and awareness has been raised to a certain degree. When I was growing up "Date Rape" was not even in the vocabulary.