Got your 'rape joke card' handy? Two feminists explain when 'rape jokes can be funny'

In case you missed it, during last night’s opening bit, Golden Globes hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler took the opportunity to make a few funnies about the rape allegations against Bill Cosby:

Lena Dunham, for one, thought it was hilarious:

It's like a puppet show. Two women comedians (so feminist!!!) make a rape joke (hey they're women!) and Lena Dunham (A FEMINIST!!) laughs

— ПFFT_GIRЛ (@PFFT_GIRL) January 12, 2015

https://twitter.com/wjlly2/status/554673089586278401

And Cosmo senior political writer and Feministe blogger Jill Filipovic is right there with her:

https://twitter.com/JillFilipovic/status/554659985981210624

https://twitter.com/JillFilipovic/status/554676548264267776

In fact, Filipovic thinks rape should totes be mined for comedic material:

https://twitter.com/JillFilipovic/status/554677246884331520

Salon assistant editor — and feminist, natch — Jenny Kutner agrees with Filipovic:

Last night's #GoldenGlobes were a master class in how to tell a rape joke http://t.co/4PqBMreiDj pic.twitter.com/B8lQWXjnn9

— Salon (@Salon) January 12, 2015

Kutner writes:

You might have heard already that Tina Fey and Amy Poehler “went there” at the Golden Globes on Sunday — that they pulled no punches when it came to the sexual assault accusations against Bill Cosby, that they poked fun at the comedian’s alleged history of drugging and raping nearly two dozen women. It was a good and uncomfortable move. As my colleague Sonia Saraiya noted, the jokes were “bold, brash, and refreshingly on-the-nose,” arguably the only way of handling such a sensitive topic in the first ten minutes of a Hollywood awards show. Ultimately, though, Fey and Poehler didn’t have to bring up the Cosby allegations at all; judging from the audience’s uncomfortable response, people might have been more comfortable if they hadn’t.

***

To be sure, Fey and Poehler stood on stage and made not just one, but a series of rape jokes at the Golden Globes. And they managed to be both refreshing and transgressive in joking about something that’s all too often joked about in the wrong way.