I’m writing this just a few hours after handling a situation at work in which someone thought it would be funny to make a joke about rape on our bulletin board.

Here’s an obvious fact: don’t ever try to find humor in rape. Ever. You can look for it, manufacture it, fabricate it – but it isn’t actually there.

Yes, there are many things to be found in “rape”. Violence, fear, force, sickness, manipulation, exploitation, deceit, abuse, and even power and the biggest aspect of rape should be the clearest of them all: realness.

Rape is real.

This is far from new.

Rape goes back through time and space. It stretches from stolen civilizations to college campuses, from slave quarters to family homes, from back alleys to first dates, from locker rooms to your own bedroom.

It’s not abstract. It’s not hypothetical or complicated or even controversial.

Controversial would mean that rape is “debatable”, and “debatable” does not coincide with the definition of a rape.

Rape: an act of sexual intercourse forced upon a person

Could I have ended that definition with “without his/her consent”? Sure. But it’s unnecessary. The key word here is “forced”. That should explain everything. But since not even the obvious is always obvious to some let’s define it.

Force: power exerted on an object

Could I have ended that definition with “person or thing” instead of “object”? Sure. But it’s unnecessary. The key word here is “object”. Because if someone has to force themselves on a person, that perpetrator does not see the victim as a person. The victim has in fact become an object.

It’s okay to take advantage of an object. It’s just an object. A thing.

Another definition for “force” that should be noted: physical power or strength possessed by a living being.

To be raped makes you an object.
To rape makes you a powerful living being.

Is the power dynamic established enough here?
Do you see why rape is real?

Read these definitions again.

There is no mention of the victim’s demographics. Age, sex, gender, race, reputation, dress, income, class, education, relationship status, associations, or intentions.

Because none of that matters here.

If it did the victim wouldn’t be an object anymore but a person. And the victim is never the living being in a rape.

Now tell me when at any point in history did any good come out of treating people like objects?

Do not joke about rape.

I’m currently on a college campus surrounded by countless victims of rape and sexual assault. I sit in class discussions about racism and sexism and oppression and everyone shakes their heads and condemns all that is deplorable.

Then someone jokes about rape.

For the amount of money we are paying to further our studies and intellect – we’ve really learned nothing.

What’s the meaning of life? Is God a He or a She? Are we living in the end of days?

Abstractions are hard to define, but rape – as heavy and burdensome and evil and enduring as it is – is simple to understand. It’s 1) serious and 2) wrong.

Do you need a laugh that badly?

The world is full of whimsy and oddities and yes, sometimes we have to laugh to keep from crying – but if you haven’t felt the pain why the hell are you laughing about it?

Do not joke about rape.

Do not joke about rape.

Do not joke about rape.

Do not rape.

Olivia