[juridatenshi]

A huge number of the examples are encouraging raping, beating to a bloody pulp, and/or murdering women. The issues with them goes well beyond being offended. However, I'm guessing arguments about rape culture are unlikely to sway you if you think these are jokes and not hateful.

As a side note, facebook already censors a bunch of things. For example, they've taken down images of women breastfeeding if nipples are shown. It's kind of fucked up that the sight of nipples in a non-sexual context is worthy of a takedown, but encouraging violence against women is totally ok.

[joshguthrie]

>A huge number of the examples are encouraging raping, beating to a bloody pulp, and/or murdering women.

Is this "encouraging" in the same way "Call Of Duty" (or any other FPS with lots of guns) is (supposedly) "encouraging" kids to take up weapons and kill people?

This whole "encouraging rape culture" is bullshit, you either had the education to respect people (not just women, all people with no distinction of gender) and know that rape is bad, or you don't. No amount of 4chan browsing will ever make you suddenly "snap" and decide that "rape is cool". If a picture with a "witty" caption on facebook is enough to make anyone change its mind, then we should worry about all harmful action, from aggression to murder, not just rape.

By the way, Q: what's worse than a baby in trashcan? A: A baby in two trashcans. Now does this joke encourages infanticide or is it just a piece of black humor that may or may not be to your liking (and will clearly hurt some people who lost a child, sorry if some are among HN readers)?

What's even more saddening about this debate is that YES, something NEEDS to be done and some people who may one day resort to rape or sexual aggression NEED to be educated. Instead people are still losing time here, fighting with people who are just doing these jokes "for the lulz" and would never resort to rape. Don't preach the converted, stop alienating them, and go help educate the teenagers who need it!

[TomGullen]

Well that's where our differences lie. I probably find them equally as distasteful as you, but I don't think a lot of them are encouraging people to actually commit the act of rape and assault.

[juridatenshi]

That's because (hopefully) if you find them distasteful you're not the sort of person who thinks violence against women is awesome. The thing is, there are people out there who do think it is awesome. They tend to have a very different response to these sorts of "jokes" and imagery.

[skwosh]

Good point.

You might say that this kind of thing validates a particular way of thinking for people who already lean that way.

It's not likely to inspire rape, but it has the potential to reinforce a negative perspective of women.

[juridatenshi]

There have been some studies that indicate these sorts of jokes may increase negative behaviors towards women, such as victim blaming. This is troubling because even if these jokes don't inspire someone to rape or assault someone, they may encourage them to act in a way that enables others to get away with doing so.