Lindy West Fights for the Right to criticize Rape Jokes, gets threatened with rape.

So Lindy from Jezebel (which if you don't read, what, are you living under a rock or something) went on Totally Biased to spend 15 minutes debating rape culture, and arguing that if someone makes an odious, victim-targeting rape joke, "I get to call them a dick."

Seems fair. Here's the video:

Rape culture lost its collective shit. Here's her response to the situation:

I don't believe that previously non-raping audience members are going to take to the streets in a rape mob after hearing one rape joke. That's an absurd and insulting mischaracterization. But I do believe that comedy's current permissiveness around cavalier, cruel, victim-targeting rape jokes contributes to (that's contributes—not causes) a culture of young men who don't understand what it means to take this stuff seriously.

And how did they try and prove me wrong? How did they try to demonstrate that comedy, in general, doesn't have issues with women? By threatening to rape and kill me, telling me I'm just bitter because I'm too fat to get raped, and suggesting that the debate would have been better if it had just been Jim raping me.

You should read her full post here.

I'm not going to repost the comments that were hurled at her, she does that herself and frankly they make me ill.

To be clear, neither I or West think that people shouldn't be allowed to joke about certain topics.

What I will say is that jokes about things like Rape, and Race, and Murder are all dangerous topics for someone who's a public figure. Like hateful words such as "Faggot" or the N word, the topics are "Use at your own risk."

If you get yourself in trouble with the public and create an uproar because you happen to be an ignorant douchecanoe, don't expect any sympathy.

And don't expect us not to hit you with everything we've got.

I disagree with the comedian that Lindy West was debating, but I have to take issue with what he said about not targeting advertisers. Advertisers are fair game. If you're a dick, we're going to call your advertisers. We're going to hurt you. We banished Glenn Beck to the dark corners of the internet, and we've got Rush Limbaugh on his last legs. We've done harm to the entire talk radio genre. That's capitalism, baby. Cry harder. Your tears of impotent rage are delicious.

Our society is drowning in bullshit. We're not going to put up with it anymore. If destroying rape culture means that a few terrible comedians lose their jobs in the process, that's a price I'm more than willing to pay.