Sometimes, Twitter memes reach such a low point that you just have to sigh with despair. The latest is a prime example of #EverydaySexism, in the form of a rape joke that, for some reason, people just won’t stop tweeting.
The one-liner seems to have originated in August, but only went viral this weekend, with people posting and retweeting the line, “Why are girls so scared of rape? Y’all should feel pride that a guy risked his life in jail just to f**k you.”
“@holyhoe: Why are girls so scared of rape? Y’all should feel pride that a guy risked his life in jail just to fuck you” #ThirstyHoeTweets
— Waleed (@aWgPaShTuN) November 2, 2013
Sadly, only about half of those retweets are in protest of the original joke, and plenty of them seem to be from women. If this “joke” is anything to go by, we’re still at the point where some grown adults genuinely need an explanation for why rape is a crime.
A list of the tweets on Tumblr names and shames anyone who passed on the joke without criticism. That post has, in turn, gone viral, receiving more than 90,000 notes.
Predictably, Tumblr’s thriving feminist community is not happy. “None of these people will mind at all if you hit them in the face with a spade. After all, it’s flattering that you’re risking jail to hit them (or possibly kill them. That should be even more flattering, right?)!” wrote fuckingrapeculture.
As many point out, this is a typical example of rape culture, the concept that misogynist jokes aren’t “edgy humor,” but actually end up reinforcing some people’s belief that sexual assault is no big deal.
As Tumblr user cherubrockerprime put it, “This wins the award for Most Horrible Joke in All of Creation.”
Image via chasecarter / Flickr.