Trigger warning: rape “jokes” and apologists.
Our school has a van that makes a loop to various shopping places where students can get what they need and that is somewhat reliable. On it today, 2 people who I perceived as women were talking about people they knew, including how one guy they knew was probably going to “rape everyone” and make it “4 in 4″ (a reference to the “1 in 4″ group on campus that’s designed to stop sexual assault and harassment, the name because 1 in 4 women are sexually harassed and/or assaulted in College).
I’d like to assume they were joking. But even if they were, rape jokes are problematic so it’s still messed up. And it’s pretty likely that they weren’t really joking. Or they thought they were joking because they thought the guy was joking- but the guy wasn’t joking. I really wish I knew who they were talking about and who they were to report this to someone.
I’ve seen some people try to justify saying that they raped their partner by saying “it’s just an expression“. It’s not. Rape is not slang- it’s a horrible, horrible thing. And it’s not something that’s okay to joke about.
