Penny Arcade says, "Rape culture is hilarious!"
Has anyone else been following the Penny Arcade Dickwolf Controversy (as I've taken to calling it)? The whole thing started with this comic, posted in August, which many readers took offense to due to an unfunny rape joke. The argument was revived with new fervor recently, and it's still ongoing. Personally, I'm finding it really difficult to enjoy the comic lately, because of the way this whole thing has been handled.

A better and more thorough write-up than I could ever hope to put together has been posted here.

Edit: Via seiberwing: An interesting protest movement has arisen on Tumblr.
Edit again: A couple of comments have indicated that the Tumblr linked in the above post has malware, so tread lightly.

Edit 3: Via lady7jane: This isn't the first time that Mike has exhibited douchebaggy behavior. "I don't know, Love Systems doesn't seem so bad to me."

Edit 4: Via airawyn and alexa: Jerry responds.

Edit 5: Via number13baby, Mike calls for the discussion to end.

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ekaterinv
2011-02-03 10:33 pm UTC (link)

Actually "the only people who are pro-rape are rapists" is very wrong. I don't think Johnny Depp or Whoopi Goldberg or Naomi Wolfe are rapists, but they sure as hell aren't anti-rape if the people doing the raping are people they like. And rape is one thing that, if you're not against it, you're for it.

Also, "teamrapist". People wanting to trigger victims and doing it on purpose. People telling women it's their fault when they're raped. Juries letting rapists off the majority of the time. Yeah, that's all pro-rape. All of it. I'm as tired of people making excuses for that bullshit as I am of terms like "gray rape".

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alexa
2011-02-03 10:43 pm UTC (link)

You're right. I guess I wanted to take into account that, sometimes, when people disagree with statements like "the only people responsible for rape are rapists", they're leading up to some kind of victim-blaming: "Yeah, he shouldn't have done it, but she also shouldn't have gotten so drunk with a guy she didn't know well!" Obviously, that's crap. Also, I don't think that a rapist shouldn't be able to use the existence of rape culture, or the fact that they were raised in one, as a defense for their crimes. I wanted to clarify that, when someone commits rape, they should be held 100% responsible for their crime.

Sorry for not fleshing-out my statement more clearly.

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	ekaterinv 2011-02-04 03:59 am UTC (link)
	I wasn't ranting at you, I'm sorry for coming across that way. I was just... ranting. Here, because I know it wouldn't do a lick of good elsewhere. (Reply to this)(Parent)

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