Because domestic violence just never stops being funny

I stumbled on this earlier tonight, and I swear I couldn't even watch it all the way through...

http://www.flowgo.com/funny/4477_50-ways-kill-your-husband.html

It's hard for me to believe someone actually spent the time to write this, animate it and post it on the Internet. What's more troubling is that people have actually commented on it, leaving such witty suggestions as "put the whole bottle of viagra on his tea then put on an iron underwear, lock it, throw away the keys."

Okay, ladies...if any of you are reading this and snickering at the thought of shoving your husband off a cliff because he looked too long at a busty woman in the grocery store check-out line or something, let me ask you this. How hard would you be laughing if this were entitled "50 ways to Kill Your Wife"? If some guy out there in cyber-land had devoted hours to developing a cartoon ditty that extolled the possibilities of stabbing one's wife in the back, would you find that amusing? I wouldn't.

A few days ago, Feministing.com posted this picture of a billboard run by a concrete company in New York - aside from being offensive, it's just not funny. As you can see if you read the comments to the Feministing post, at least some readers chided those who find an ad based on domestic violence-humor to be troubling, writing that the billboard wasn't really offensive. And other posters questioned why so many women are quick to jump on "jokes" that denigrate women, but give a free pass to those that devalue men.

So, for the record, this is me, proclaiming to anyone who'll listen that the "50 Ways to Kill Your Husband" cartoon is just as offensive to me personally as the "kill your wife with concrete this Christmas" billboard. I'll go a step further - not only are jokes about domestic violence not funny, any joke that derives its "humor" from sexism, period, isn't funny. That goes for the e-mail that one of the male administrators sent out to our entire office this week poking fun at female drivers - yes, this actually happened in the Year of Our Lord 2007. (And yes, I called him on it, and yes, he apologized. His defense? The person who'd sent it to him was a woman, so therefore it wasn't offensive. Right. Because your female acquaintance is an effin' idiot, I shouldn't be offended.)

In one of my undergrad classes on advertising, my professor cautioned us about using imagery or slogans that played on ethnic or gender stereotypes (apparently NOT a subject covered by the writer of the concrete billboard...). She gave us this rule of thumb - if you replace the subject of the "joke" with a member of another demographic, is it still funny or clever? If not, than your brilliant ad copy is most likely racist/sexist/classist/otherwise bad.

In the case of the concrete company's billboard, "Husband need new shoes?" would still be just as unsettling to me. Jokes about killing your spouse AREN'T FUNNY. So, by definition, they're not jokes.

As for other sexist "humor" - the sad thing is, my co-worker's e-mail would've been just as amusing if it had included a few male drivers. And it wouldn't have opened our company up to a sexual harassment suit. (But it still would've been pretty unprofessional to send a frickin' e-mail forward to the entire office. Sheesh.)