Domestic Violence Jokes Aren’t Funny

The Onion, a mock comedy news site, ran an article yesterday about Chris Brown and Rihanna. The joke was about how they had split up and that Brown was heartbroken because he thought she would be “the one…he would beat to death.” The article graphically descries abuse on Rihanna and made up quotes from Brown that I’d much rather not repeat. The fake headline received a lot of complaints from blogs and in the comment section on the site. If you wish to read the article it is still up on The Onion’s site and at this time there has been no comment or apology made by the site. The reason I decided to post this article wasn’t to give attention to The Onion or even discuss Rihanna and Browns’ relationship. It was to ask the question, Why do people still make jokes about domestic violence/violence on women. Every time a joke is made, it is received with backlash immediately. In the US every 9 seconds a woman is beaten or assaulted. According to a statistic, 3 women and one man are killed every day because of domestic violence. There is absolutely no humor in someone being assaulted or killed. So why is it that there are people who still make these kind of jokes. You can argue Freedom of Speech (which I support) but at the end of it all I think it comes down to shock and awe tactics. By saying an offensive joke, you are more likely to get attention. Sometimes it seems that our culture becomes so numb to such distasteful behavior that we aren’t even bothered by it any more. While I find jokes about weight insensitive, a joke about abuse and death are unnecessary. What kind of person laughs at that kind of joke? The one thing that I find most upsetting is that there are people who are abused or families who have lost someone due to violence that have to keep hearing these kind of jokes. I’ve never been abused personally and couldn’t even begin to imagine how traumatizing it would be to relive a horrible memory every time someone brought up Rihanna and Chris Brown in a joke. My heart truly goes out to anyone in an abusive relationship or who was abused. You do not have to continue to suffer. There is help for you, and great resources like the Domestic Violence Resource Center are available.

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