Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Rape is Funny

First off I wanted to say just how shocked I was at the turnout for this specific lecture. I had no idea it would generate such interest within our university. The topic of tonight’s discussion was rape and why we as a society portray it in our media as comical. I can safely say that in reality I do not find anything about the actual act of rape to be funny, yet there are certain times when someone for the sake of being ridiculously witty shoots out a comment or something that evokes a reaction from me. This is either one of disgust, admiration, or a laugh. I cannot explain why I find some of these jokes or commentaries to be funny but I simply do. The underlying reasoning of it is typically because I find people worthwhile and enjoyable to converse with if they are in fact quick on the uptake. Tonight’s lecture got me thinking of that; although it focused on pop culture portrayal and movies etc. internally I focused on a different aspect. I wanted to reflect on why I in fact admit to finding some portrayals of rape to be funny. It is actually rather disturbing to be able to say that about myself upon reflection but none the less it is the truth. I know that I’m not alone as I watched countless individuals snicker or grin as our professor made a comment or showed us something on the screen. The question is why do we find this funny? Well I think the reason is because like one of my classmates said we have become desensitized to the thought of rape as an actual real life occurrence that takes place all around us on what is probably a daily basis. On our campus alone there are so many groups and organizations that help fight the realities of this issue and yet we still walk around as if they don’t exist. It’s not as though we read in our universities newspaper that someone was raped the other day, which in my opinion is both good and bad. It is good because it doesn’t raise an unwanted response of panic within the student body and yet it is also bad as well. If we are not told that these things really do happen right under our noses or perhaps right beneath our dormitory floor in the room below how are we not expected to not be desensitized? Our school publishes a safety report annually and I have read it. Unfortunately I cannot even remember if it includes rape incidents or merely robberies etc. it is true that our university is numb to this reality. As a senior I have gone to countless parties where there is so much alcohol involved that it’s no wonder that certain individuals have things happen to them, or do things themselves. I have seen both men and women put themselves in harm’s way because there is an element of fun derived from it. I suppose rape is not only a numbingly real factor in all our lives but we in fact seek the HUMOR in it, the FUN.

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