What's up with the sly little gay jokes? Hmm? As I read the comments in discussions on DKos, there are times when I almost have to check and see if I accidentally stumbled into a Wingnut blog. Were it not for the telltale Orange, there are enough cringe-worthy gay jokes mixed in with the bleeding heart liberalism to give me whiplash looking up at the url.
Take prison rape, for instance: Do men make prison rape jokes because they're so uncomfortable -- or terrified -- by the idea of being raped themselves (that is, violated, penetrated, made female by virtue of sexual role) that making jokes (and really BAD ones, at that) is their only conceivable defense mechanism?
I won't say I've never heard a woman make a prison rape joke, but I can't recall it. I know I've never made a prison rape joke. Because, when all is said and done, prison rape is rape, and even more the horrifying because the victim is incarcerated with the perpetrator, subject to being violated repeatedly, with little to no recourse.
In what universe is that funny? Did anyone LAUGH when Zed was raping Marsellus Wallace? I mean, really -- did ANYONE find that funny? I didn't laugh when the tables had turned and Wallace told Zed,
"I'm gonna get medieval on your ass." Because I was so horrified by what had happened to Wallace, because I felt his agony and his humiliation, I found his statement about retribution deadly serious and awful -- but funny? Um, no.
A few days ago I stepped, briefly, into a kerfuffle in a discussion about the most recent Hypocrisy Jamboree. The case of the latest member of the christofascist neocon zombie brigade to have outed himself as at least a part-time homosexual brought out, as is now customary in these instances, a number of sniggering gay jokes masquerading as having good clean fun with a hypocrite brought low.
Shortly after the Gannon/Guckert brouhaha reached maximum density, I penned a DKos diary titled, This Is Giving Me the Creeps, in response to the baffling and now altogether too predictable phenomenon of so-called liberals leaping with glee on such a ripe opportunity to make gay double entendres, slobbering prison rape references and just plain Stupid Dick Jokes. under cover of "mocking hypocrisy." Oh, irony, why do you tempt us so?
I am loath to repeat myself here, but this appears to be one of those recurring, regrettable situations that requires a trenchant, dare I say fearless advocate for Doing the Right Thing. And heck, who am I to pass up such an opportunity?
First, let me make a pre-emptive strike on the most obvious and cripplingly cliché parry: This may or may not qualify as a Plea for Political Correctness, but emanating as it does from the keyboard of a woman who was once universally reviled for making an AIDS joke out of George W. Bush, who has posted obscenity-laden paeans to, well, obscenity, who refuses to use euphemisms like "N-word" or "C-word" when the words in question are "nigger" and "cunt" - well, let me just make a wager that you'll not get far in MY reality-based community with that jab.
But while we're ON the subject of Political Correctness, let me just ask: are the people who turned "Politically Correct" into a mocking epithet, perchance, the same ratfuckers who turned "Liberal" into an insult? Just asking.
So, what is this, anyway, you might wonder. Am I decreeing that no one should make "cocksucker" jokes? That you're a big fat motherfucking homophobe if you can't resist making a "don't drop the soap" aside, or giggle to yourself and everyone around you at the image of someone being made someone else's "bitch?" Perish the thought. I never advocate censorship (not even self-censorship) based on politics, social issues, political rectitude or propriety. I do, however, claim the right to call you out for making really tacky, stupid, cliché and - worst sin of all - UNFUNNY JOKES.
And, lest you think me woefully lacking in the sense of humour Department, I should add that a well-timed and well-phrased joke about ANYTHING is welcome in my presence. A GOOD gay joke? Bring it on. Hell, you bring the wit and I'll bring the skewer. We can have ourselves a... gay old time.
Which brings me back to my original query: what's so goddamned funny about gay sex, be it the forced variety or consensual? Of course, this must elicit the traditional cries of, "They're not jokes about GAYS! They're jokes about the HYPOCRISY!"
Oh, spare me. They are pitiful, puerile and putrescent, these lurid, sperm-drenched, eyebrow-wiggling, pre-adolescent yuckfests. They are forged WHOLLY in the shame-based fires of homophobia and hatred. So whatever the fuck you THOUGHT you were saying with your little "cum" joke, let me disabuse you of your misapprehension: when making a "cum" joke with regard to a situation involving homosexuality, do enjoy yourself and your awesome sense of humour. Don't let me or anyone else stop you.
But don't expect me to remain silent about MY opinion of it, and especially, don't indulge yourself in the delusion that anyone whose intellect surpasses that of a plastic houseplant finds you funny.