| That's true, when used, it is generally for dramatic effect. Another response mentioned words like "kill, maim, torture, force, destroy", which also may be used for dramatic effect. I imagine that one criticism of such word choices might be that they lead to sensationalism or hyperbole. However, the use of sexual violence in analogy is unique in comparison to those examples, precisely because sexual abuse is a trauma that has been experienced by so many, unlike being killed or tortured. While I mentioned rates of general sexual abuse in my previous comment, rates for forced penetration are particularly relevant, about 1 in 5 for women and 1 in 70 for men [1]. The gender disparity in such rates is important, since it helps explain why different genders have different attitudes regarding this issue. For example, some studies show that women find sexual violence related humor to be significantly less enjoyable than men, perhaps unsurprisingly. Meanwhile, others show that men's enjoyment of such humor is positively correlated with self reported likelihood of forcing sex [2]. Given this gender imbalance, it's not surprising then that the acceptability of such language would be significantly affected by the demographics of the audience. In male dominated environments it would be less likely that many would raise objections, and thereby more likely that the group would ultimately accept such language (in fact, the parent comment to your "Why" question has now been flagged and hidden while the original analogy remains). However, as the audience increases in size and diversity, it will be more likely that there will be objections to such language. This is a long way of saying that sexual violence is not treated lightly in most public discourse, while clarifying that by "public" I mean an audience with demographics reflecting the general population, particularly a balanced distribution of genders. The analogy above may be accepted here or on a forum like r/wallstreetbets, but it would likely be seen as less appropriate on a public earnings call. |