This Past Week in Rape Culture

By: Liberate Zealot
Content Warning: Discussions and descriptions of rape, assault, and rape culture

It's been months since we got a comment on the Daniel Tosh and Rape posts, but this week another one showed up.  Invariably it was filled with rape apologism, and like a lot of the rape apologist comments related to this post, was full of information about how the commenter, or people they knew, were engaging in sexual assault (obviously not calling it such though).  I guess such people didn't like the realization that some feminists on the internet thought they, or their friends, where sexual assaulters.  Though why this commenter felt the need to describe the assault in detail for me I don't know.

Luckily it wasn't triggering, mainly I just despaired for humanity.  And if this hadn't been the 4th instance of rape culture knocking on my door than maybe I'd have deleted the comment and gone on my merry way and  DudeBro could think about the fascist feminists who obvi didn't let his post through because of how spot on it was.   But instead I'll be addressing it, and the other instances of rape culture.  Because this shit needs to be called out, and I'm tired of seeing myself and other anti-rape activists being called overly sensitive when in reality rape culture is all around us and everyone else is just inured from how prevalent it all is.

Action Against Tosh

Here is a list of various actions people can take if they are looking for something to do in light of Daniel Tosh's many incidents of enforcing rape culture. 


There is a change.org petition making the rounds.  It's to the CEO of Comedy Central and asks for them to take Tosh.0 off the air. 


If you're interested in something a little more direct and time intensive (but still not very difficult) you can contact Comedy Central and their parent company Viacom to complain and/or ask them to take Tosh.0 off the air. 
Comedy Central -  
1775 Broadway, 10th Fl.
New York , NY 10019
Phone: (212) 767-8600
Fax: (212) 767-8592
Web: www.comedycentral.comEmail: mail@comedycentral.com
Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/ComedyCentral
Link to their contact page.


Viacom - 
Link to their contact page 


Here's the letter I sent, feel free to use it.

I'm writing in wake of the increasing scandal around Daniel Tosh, Tosh.0 and his use of rape "jokes" and disregard for people's body autonomy and safety. Along with the well publicized incident where Tosh said "Wouldn't it be funny if that girl got raped by like, 5 guys right now? Like right now? What if a bunch of guys just raped her…".  The alternative accounts of that event are little better as they still involve Daniel Tosh using a "rape joke" as a means to silence a woman, other stories have come to light. 

• Daniel Tosh has encouraged his audience to tape themselves sneaking up on women and touching them without their consent.  In this 
segment he makes repeated jokes that are a regular part of rape culture. 

• There is also a story circulating the web that on 6/14/11 Daniel Tosh showed the sexual assault of a teen boy as a Video Breakdown.  Furthermore, during this segment Tosh made many racist jokes and rape jokes.

• Lastly there is also the news that when Daniel Tosh decided to remove the rape jokes from his new animated series the producers and editors were "freaking out, because most of the pilot is about rape."

These incidents, and Daniel Tosh's lackluster apology, are completely unacceptable.  Rape is a serious, endemic crime in our culture and Tosh's jokes only increase the problem. His jokes are likely to trigger survivors of sexual violence (of which 1 in 3 women and 1 in 6 men report being survivors of sexual assault). Some of his actions encourage people, often teen boys, to ignore and violate the body autonomy of women. He has laughed and made jokes while watching and broadcasting an actual rape. (The last two are actions all of Comedy Central are responsible for). 
I have reported the 6/14/11 to the FCC.  I encourage you to take Tosh.0 off the air and sever all ties with Daniel Tosh. I will boycott Comedy Central, and encourage everyone I know to do the same, until this has happened. 

If you want to really make life hard for Daniel Tosh and Comedy Central, report this to the FCC. To do so:

1. Go to the FCC website for filing complaints here. Select “Broadcast (TV and Radio), Cable, and Satellite Issues” then hit “Next.”
2. On the next screen, choose “Broadcast programs showing obscene, profane, and/or indecent material.” Hit next.
3. On the next screen, choose “Complete the form” under “Online form-recommended method.”
4. Complete the form and hit “Submit.”

The episode where Tosh showed the rape of the teen boy aired on 6/14/11.

Rape Apology, Racism and Tosh Fans

By: Liberate Zealot
Content Warning: Rape, Rape Culture, Rape Apology

Unsurprisingly, a lot of people have read my post/seen the video (content warning - rape) where Tosh.0 shows the rape of a teen boy and decided to make excuses for how it isn't "real" rape. Here's my response to the various forms of rape apology that have shown up on tumblr or this blog. 

First lets get this one thing out of the way, because I see a lot of people trying to excuse what happened because it was a “prank”.  Bad things can happen in pranks, pranks can be part of bullying, pranks can be planned with bad intent.  Even if the boys meant this as a friendly prank, it does not change the results of what happened.  And what happened was a serious sexual assault. Non-consensual sexual acts were done to the boy in the white shirt. He had a large dildo jammed at and quite possibly into his asshole, certainly that was the intent since one boy told the rapist to “put it in”.  Even if this started at a prank, it quickly turned into sexual violence and a serious crime.  In fact, the majority of rapes that are done to men/boys by men/boys are "caused" hazing, "discipline", jokes, and "retaliatory justice".  Many of these are gang rapes (while the assault in question is not technically a gang rape, it did involve a group of boys watching and encouraging the rapist). 

Also this is not the first time rapes have happened and bystanders did not intervene.  Maybe some were in shock when their friend took it that far.  Maybe some have been too indoctrinated by the rape myths that men can’t be raped (something the FBI agreed with until earlier this year) too recognize this for what it is.  It certainly seems that a couple of them are just rapists and thus enjoyed victimizing their “friend”.  Which is another thing that is not uncommon for rapists, they target people they know. 
Another rape myth, that apparently those teens, and many people commenting on this have internalized is that all victims act in a certain way that involves screaming and fighting off the rapist.  However,  many victims/survivors go into a state of shock.  They can’t believe someone they trust is doing such a horrible thing to them.  They freeze in panic. And this boy did try to stop/block the assault.  As for him “laughing” afterwards.  I saw his shoulders and ribs moving rapidly, I heard a shake in his voice when he spoke.  Signs of laughter, yes, but also signs of crying, fighting off tears, or a panic attack.  Also laughing can be a nervous/panic response.
 
Many people are also discussing how this isn't "real rape" because there "wasn't real penetration" or penetration couldn't happen under these circumstances and that to call this rape takes away from "real victims".  Now everyone doing this makes me sick and want to scream profanities, but I'm going to try to address these claims with a level of care and maturity that the people commenting thus really don't deserve.   The FBI's updated definition of rape includes “penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.” See that "no matter how slight"?  That means even the smallest amount of penetration changes a sexual assault/attempted rape into a rape. And yes, the video is of a lower quality and from a distance/angle that does leave a certain amount of interpretation from the viewer. But from everything I've seen, based on my and the legal understanding of rape, this is very likely to qualify.  And even if I'm wrong, even if this was an attempted rape that wasn't fully completed, well so what.  Is calling this boy a survivor of rape going to take away from the experiences of rape victims?  I certainly don't feel so, and I am a survivor.  In fact, I'm a survivor of a rape that many would not call a "real rape".  But guess what does hurt survivors of rape? Closely examining the details of each and every rape and having outsiders rule on whether it's "real" enough. Certainly that aspect of rape culture made it take me over a year to fully name what had been done to me.  Hell, in some people's minds the drugging and raping of a 14 year old by a grown man isn't "real" rape. 
Also to the people saying anal is only possible with liberal amount of lube and prep, just no.  From first hand experience, while lube and prep are necessary for pleasurable anal, they are not necessary for anal full stop.

As for the media response, that’s rape culture. The victim/survivor was a boy, and rape culture tells us men and boys can’t be victims of sexual violence.  The assault started as a prank, so rape culture tells us it was just “boys being boys”.  The victim/survivor didn’t scream or act the way a victim/survivor is “supposed to”, so rape culture says they aren’t a victim.  These are all exceedingly common rape apology tactics. 

And of course, the majority of the people making all these claims are the ones claiming that rape culture doesn't exist. 

Now, less prevalent, but equally problematic are all the claims about how Tosh's commentary isn't racist, because "it's a proven fact that black men have larger penises", it was a joke, and if it is a stereotype it's a "complimentary one".  Guess what though, racist stereotypes are racist.  Racist jokes are racist. And there is no such thing as a complimentary/good stereotype.  One doesn't have to be a member of the KKK to be a racist.  One doesn't have to use the n-word.  All on has to do is treat/see people of color as other.  And if you've grown up in North America, Europe, Australia, or plenty of other countries, and are white, than it's a pretty safe bet that you're at least a little bit racist sometimes. 

Daniel Tosh and Rape

By Liberate Zealot

Content Warning - Rape

So Daniel Tosh is a horrid person who makes jokes about rape and uses threats of rape as a means to silence women. 

Lovely, and not too surprising considering an episode of his TV show I saw last summer. It was one of the few times I’ve watched and in it Tosh showed a video of a “dildo fight” that turned into a rape.

He made jokes about the video. This man showed a video of a teen boy being rape by his friend with a dildo for entertainment purposes.  He made jokes about it. 

A description of the video is bellow the cut.  I removed the embedding because they're teens and it might be child porn and illegal.  It's up on Youtube. Again, it’s likely triggering.