To the Editor,
In Thursday, Oct. 30’s paper, Will Ashton wrote a column complaining that some dark humor is generally culturally acceptable, while other forms are not. As someone who counts “Wilfred” among her favorite TV shows, let me first assure you that my sense of humor is plenty warped. However, Mr. Ashton questioned why jokes about death are often accepted, while jokes about rape are not. The answer is simple: death is inevitable. Though some may die before their time, some may die in ways they don’t necessarily “deserve” to, and some fight it more than others, all people die. But rape is not inevitable. Rape is the violation of a human being’s control of their own body, and though an average of 1 in 6 women and 1 in 33 men are the victim of rape or attempted rape, it should never, ever be considered as inevitable. There is no choice involved in eventual death, but rape is a deliberate, violent act against another person. And that is why, though I snicker at gallows humor, rape jokes are not funny.
Carolyn Miller is a sophomore at Ohio University studying aviation.
