Someone on Ravelry has an icon with a picture of David Bowie in Labyrinth... and a joke about rape. I am not usually a letter-of-complaint type, but this is just ridiculous. So I am sending this email to the owner of the icon:
"You may not realize it, but any kind of rape joke, but especially ones involving "you know you liked it" is not cool. Ever. No way, no how. Even if they have a picture of David Bowie. Private joking as a way to process things is very different from publicly displayed comments and icons.
Please consider the high number of women who have lived through rape or sexual assault, and the effect your icon has on an unsuspecting reader having fun on Ravelry, only to be reminded of a deeply unpleasant experience, and the way it is devalued and brushed off every day. "
I'm just sick of it. Sick of random reminders that I am, merely by being a woman, at greater risk of violence, sick of these reminders coming up and slapping me in the face when I am going about my normal day. Sick of movie trailers and television shows that treat sexual violence as some sort of voyeuristic marketing tool. Sick, in particular, of the idea that it's just part of how the world works, something to be taken for granted and worked around, something I just have to learn to deal with.
So this is my awareness activism for the day. Dear fellow knitter: Knock it off with the rape jokes. XTHXBAI.
3 comments:
Good for you!
I haven't seen this, but I'm appalled that someone would put that up.
Someone complimented her on it too. I just do not get how it's funny. Especially to women.
I'm totally with you on this one. I'm not much of a complainer either, but sometimes we need to speak up and let people know this isn't right.
I worry that the film and TV industries used these scenes for shock value but instead everyone is becoming so desensitised that it's just normal.
I hope you made them think before posting things like this again.
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