But … it is kinda funny.

Recently, there was a kerfluffle about women on a talk show making light of the an incident where a woman cut off her husband’s penis after he told her he wanted a divorce. Now, obviously violence is bad, and this is not an appropriate way to deal with divorce. And, as Sara Gilbert pointed out, if the genders were reversed and it was a man who mutilated a woman asking for a divorce, no one would be making jokes.

But some men are incensed and outraged that some women were making light of it. Like, how dare they? Someone getting his penis cut off is no laughing matter!

But … it kinda is. I mean, as a man, I cringe at the thought of another man getting his penis cut off. But, come on, penises are funny. I mean … naked woman? Kinda hot. Naked man? Kinda funny. I should know. Me being naked provokes laughter more often than not. (This is what it’s like being married for nearly two decades, folks.)

Penises are funny. Unless they’re being used to rape or hurt someone. That’s not funny at all. But a detached penis? Remember the last time this kind of thing made news with a guy named John Wayne Bobbit? Everyone from Letterman to Leno was cracking jokes about it. Where were all these outraged men back then?

So yes, it is in poor taste to make jokes about someone’s suffering. But don’t get all outraged about how it’s just as bad as men joking about mutilating women. It’s not. We live in a world where, thankfully, penises getting cut off are an anomaly. But women are routinely beaten, mutilated, or killed for things like this. If you’re one of these “men’s rights” activists who get upset about women making jokes like this, you need to stop being so oversensitive and grow a pair.

Also: Detachable Penis is a great song.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 26th, 2011 at 10:17 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.