BM19 said:
I think that the problem is that most rape jokes are just poorly written and/or executed.
I don't think there's particularly much of an audience for even a well-timed rape joke, however.
I agree with the basic premise that anything can be a joke, and potentially even a funny one. The thing is, even most other touchy subjects have some distance. There are good jokes about the holocaust, some even by Jewish people who lost loved ones in Germany, but it's distanced by time. If the holocaust was going on today, we wouldn't be making those jokes. Well, some would, and then they would complain everyone was being "PC" for not lollllling along, but you take my point. There are people massacred every day and we tend to avoid joking about it.
And that's the crux. In a society where rape is still so prevalent, where the news about a rape conviction can be met with the public lamenting the boy's "bright future" and not the death of the girl who killed herself after the rape and subsequent bullying, it's hard to establish a market for this sort of thing. And honestly, this especially applies if you're a woman and you're looking down the barrel of that gun. The one where if you are raped, and it is statistically fairly likely, you will be ridiculed or downplayed or ignored and people will ask you to think of the poor little rapist.
I make controversial jokes all the time. I also use language I probably shouldn't. I also know my audience. I also wrestle bears. But enough about me, back to the topic at hand: bear wrestling. Wait, no, I did that wrong.
Another example: Louis CK (one of the best comedians alive) did a rape joke where he mentioned that rape is a terrible thing and should never be done. He then added, "unless you want to have sex with them and they won't let you."
The words endorsed the act, but his tone clearly conveyed "this is funny because it's terrible and only terrible people would actually think this way".No victim is mentioned, he's setting himself up as "the attacker" and then striking himself down. No one is hurt, the act is given appropriate weight, everyone moves along. No controversy.
Louis CK, of course, is an often shocking comedian whose audience expects it, however. There's less controversy because he's not in the middle of a trade show making that joke, for example. I mean, honestly he does delve into the tasteless quite often. Lucky Louie was actually sort of tainted by his attempts to be shocking for the sake of being shocking.
On the other hand, yes. He's done rape and racism jokes with little to no backlash.