Rape joke gone too far?

[ljen]

Comedian Bill Maher is no stranger to controversy and offensive jokes, but when he flung a cruel rape joke at the expense of "The View's" Elisabeth Hasselbeck, she wasn't going to take it lightly.

The two sparr and throw insults back and forth to each other, as Elisabeth is noticeably (and rightly) agitated.

Click to view

Do you think that rape jokes are every

Comments

[brittdreams]

Rape jokes are never appropriate. Never.

[totheseaside]

I'll put it this way... I was raped when I was 14 and someone I care about very much was subjected to multiple rapes and extremely horrible violent and sick sexual acts throughout childhood. I will never find rape jokes funny or appropriate in any context. If someone wants to claim they're funny, perhaps they should imagine that a family member, friend, or child is a rape victim, then maybe they might understand why they're not funny.

Bill Maher is ignorant about the consequences of his mouth. If he wants to say that because those in the media deserve to have rape jokes made about them, then this makes him an incredible fool to go on a show with a woman who has no qualms about telling him off for it. I can't imagine how he honestly thought she wouldn't say anything. Elisabeth Hasselbeck knew she would face opposition from the people she works with as a result of her confrontation and she still stood up for herself, women, and sexually assaulted people worldwide. Good for her.

[kimberlyl1992]

It's troubling that there are things out there that even have to strike up a question like this. Rape is a serious offense. It's something that's hard to get over for many women, AND MEN, so how someone could be so numb enough to make a joke about it is beyond sad and disturbing. I question the mind of this man. SIDE NOTE: I'm not a fan of either party featured in this video. =P

[captainporridge]

I think rape jokes are perfectly acceptable (even if not always appropriate - but there's a time and place for all jokes). You know the saying, "if you can't laugh about it then you're not over it". Considering the problem there is about how people can't even admit to being raped without other people not believing them (especially if a man does it) or even teasing them or blaming them, it's kinda good if it gets talked about even if it's in a joke.

Also I really hate this idea of having certain subjects that you can't talk about or that you can only talk about seriously/jokingly. I think that's just trying to hide what really goes on in the world, or something, you know? And not everyone has the same principles - at least one person in each generation of my family gets/dies from cancer, but I still make cancer jokes. I'm an immigrant with bad language skills and I still make "stupid immigrant" jokes and blame them for related things. Someone else in the same situation would get really offended if someone did that to them.

[captainporridge]

I meant "especially if a man is the rapee and tries to admit it", not "especially if a man was the rapist"