Flipping the script on rape jokes
Amber Rollo and other feminist comedians are reimagining how we talk about sexual assault.
Amber Rollo is a comedian and a sexual assault survivor
Now she aims to empower survivors by flipping the narrative on rape jokes and addressing trauma with humor. Rollo was one of the women who confronted Harvey Weinstein at a comedy show in NYC in October 2019. The comedian recounted the angering moments leading up to a tension-filled encounter with Harvey Weinstein at a New York City bar in a tweet thread, shaming the venue for hosting him and some in attendance who she says were clearly supportive of the disgraced Hollywood executive. Amber Rollo’s thread began with a sexual assault trigger warning and explained why she was outraged by seeing Weinstein, who is accused of sexually assaulting dozens of actresses, at an event for actors.
Reclaiming the term through comedy
“I think the message that survivors have been getting so far is to shut up, to be quiet about it, to not talk about it. "It's not polite" to "you're gonna ruin someone's career." But what about their own career, and their own life, and their own experiences? I do think that making these jokes is combating the shame that society is putting on survivors. It's not us who should feel ashamed. It is the predators who should feel ashamed about their behavior. We have all this tension all the time and laughter is an amazing release of that tension. It feels very similar to crying, but we are allowed to do it in public all the time and with people we barely know. And that's kind of an amazing way of building people and connecting a community,” Amber Rollo tells Brut.
For the people who maybe don't identify as a survivor
The #MeToo movement brought new conversations about sexual assault, yet Every 73 seconds, a person is sexually assaulted in the U.S. while 3 out of 4 go unreported to the police according to RAINN. Out of 1000 assaults, 995 perpetrators will walk free.
Brut.
23 comments
Carl T.
09/13/2020 08:44WOKE????
Nurdiansyah
09/13/2020 07:24tidak ku mengerti bahasa mu terserah lah kau ngomong apa
Jennifer G.
09/13/2020 05:29I think this is ridiculous. Making fun of anything doesn’t make it better. Ridiculous
Marlene M.
09/13/2020 00:22Rape jokes?! 😡😠🤬
George J.
01/01/2020 19:00Lol, rapists and other sex offenders are triggered look at the comments, some of y'all are probably pedophiles too I bet
Fred S.
01/01/2020 14:43Yawn..another " I've had a bad experience in my life, so I'm going to make it out to be a huge ordeal and keep reliving the experience so I can seem empowered and gain attention from it."
Kenny I.
01/01/2020 00:29Literally no one says this. What people do want you to be ignorant of is the fact that men and boys are the most affected by sexual crimes overall if you Include the church, schools and prison, but since affects the victim mentality of snowflakes the only reasonable thing is to insult and be trigger by it.
Kelly C.
01/01/2020 00:25There’s nothing funny about rape
Michell R.
12/31/2019 23:00I get what she means and if you can keep it there in shaming the men fine, for me i never got the using of rape or child sexual abuse/rape in jokes. But I've also never felt silenced. I'll keep checking it out though.
Halie G.
12/31/2019 22:38Haha I love how all of these negative comments are coming from men.
Mitchell I.
12/31/2019 20:50Im glad others were as creeped out as me. Afraid I was the only one. I cant see how ANY jokes about rape can be funny....serious talks should be had.
Kenneth N.
12/31/2019 20:35Then they want to claim that women are funnier then men
Jay S.
12/31/2019 19:12She look crazy frfr 🤷🏾♂️
Steve S.
12/31/2019 18:09Not sure what rock she's been under, but that's not what society is saying.
James T.
12/31/2019 16:40I beleive she lies
Fitz P.
12/31/2019 16:06This guy has never been assaulted by anyone.
Gary S.
12/31/2019 03:03OH..SHUT UP
Manrique P.
12/31/2019 02:34I noticed you said they're "comedians"... Would you care to explain?
Robby R.
12/30/2019 17:21Yeah, no.
Daniel R.
12/30/2019 04:09Wait till it happen to them?.