How offensive is stereotypical gay humor?

All my jokes are offensive. I don't think jokes are funny if they aren't making fun of something (all in good fun I mean, just being plain rude is a different thing) or they're offside jokes. I think jokes about stereotypes are very funny, but some people may not think so. If you feel like you're offending someone, you may want to stop heh.

 

l honestly don't care.

The only time l get tired of this type of humor is if it really is a constant thing and you can sense that the person just wants to be edgy (you can see it by the way they react to their own jokes).

 

I can't say I'm bothered by it because most of my jokes are "off-color." I still laugh when someone updates their friends' Facebook statuses with "I'm gay."

Fun is fun. I only care if someone takes the joke too far.

 

I'm not offended at all by gay jokes. Most gay stereotypes are embraced by gay people anyway (either overtly or tacitly), so it's just self-deprecating humor.

 

u guys ever hear of bo burnham, i think he's pretty funny and a lot of his comedy, if not all is based of gay stereotypes and such...

My Whole Family... - YouTube

oh bo. -- new CD out now! - YouTube

 

Mogget put it very well in a thread a long time ago on this topic. Offensive gay humor does two things. First, it validates any heterosexist people around. They feel that the humor is either true, or they like it that it's used to debase queer people. Second, it does the really terrible thing of making anyone around who is closeted feel unsafe, when you should be that person's greatest ally.

So ya, I take a pretty negative view of stuff like that.

 

What I was talking about mostly just comes into play when people are having a discussion in a group. Say, at a party, where many people are not likely to know each other. An offensive gay joke, while not offensive to you, could just be heaping another brick on the pile of what a questioning or deeply closeted queer person has to deal with.

It's also part of why I'm extremely negative about rape jokes: we have no idea if we're actually in the presence of a rape survivor or someone who knows one, but we stand a pretty high probability of eventually making a major social mistake.

 

The ability to laugh heals wounds. Of course it isn't funny to the person going through that exact thing the joke is about, but i'm sure with some retrospect behind them it would be. Comedy is about making fun of the human element. Unfortunately stereotypes exist for a reason... but that doesn't mean that everyone in that category is the same. I don't take offense at stereotypical gay jokes because there isn't anything offensive about them. Not to me at least. But... comedy is apart of the entertainment industry, which makes it, whether you like it or not, an art form, and art is subjective. So not everyone is going to like every joke... thats life. If we spent all our time worrying about saying the wrong thing in front of people then the world wouldn't work. Conversations, debates, learning wouldn't happen. The world would hold a single view, or a lot more people would go crazy... so... no. I don't find it offensive. I find it more offensive when people are offended.

 

I stand behind my previously stated opinion, incidentally. To paraphrase a quote, "Whenever you tell a gay joke, there's a closet homophobe thinking, 'Yeah, he tells it like it is.' "

 

But there will ALWAYS be people like that. The ability to laugh in the face of adversity to show that it doesn't affect you is a stronger stance than that of silence. In my opinion.

 

I think it's funny if it's told in good faith. One way to tell: Do they involve "gay guys" or "faggots"? If you still treat gay people like people, then there's nothing at all wrong with making fun of their interesting quirks.

... Said the short haired, flannel wearing, derby playing lesbian.

 

Seeing as a person frowning on homosexuality means they're just not for it regardless of even the positives things said about homosexuals, I don't think you telling an offensive joke about your community is going to make the person frown more on homosexuality. I mean, they already don't like it, what you say has nothing to do with how they're going to feel. My point is you're not making them hate gay people or frown upon them because your jokes, they already just don't like homos. Even if someone was on the fence and got all butt hurt or offended by some jokes and decided to hate gay people that's still not your doing. You know what I mean? You have no control over what people will think of you. It's that person's choice to be anti-gay for whatever reasons, sooo joke away.

Oh and no I don't offend easily. I'm understanding when other people's feelings are hurt by jokes and comments and support their feelings, even though they don't affect me, but personally I've been conditioned to be indifferent to a lot of things people say to me, especially things said with malicious intent. I could cry in the bathroom all I wanted, but all that did was take time away from me, so I stopped crying and just kinda switched off, lived in my head. Jokes that are said without malicious intent but still aren't PC or whatever, I'm even more indifferent to. As long as no one's trying to hurt anyone, I don't see the point in getting all up in arms.

 

How do you fit four gay men on one stool? Turn it upside down!

I believe if they're told in good spirit, like it was when I heard it, by a gay co-worker, then all is well. But when there's an obvious aura of 'gay bashing,' then it shouldn't be tolerated.

 

I agree. I'm also not sure if the latter, where there is an aura of "gay bashing", can even be considered a joke. Because surely to them it isn't...

 

To reiterate a point I've made before: intent is not magic. Even if you have no intention of making anyone feel excluded by telling a joke, that has no bearing on whether it will make someone feel excluded.

 

But again, 'pussy footing' around and trying not to upset everyone and make everyone happy just isn't the way the world works. I'm sorry. If i upset someone then i'll apologize. But a joke, if told as a joke should be taken as one. Regardless of your own personal history. Things are going to offend you in life. Its up to you whether you take it seriously and let it get you down or you see it for how it is intended. Its not my job to worry about the feelings of everyone around me 24/7 and censor myself because I don't want to worry about upsetting them. Its my job to lead my life. Freedom of speech etc.

 

Freedom of speech is about what you're legally allowed to say. It doesn't mean I can't criticize your speech, or ask you not to say things. In fact, freedom of speech protects my right to do both of those. If you want to tell homophobic, sexist, or racist jokes that's your right. But you might want to consider that telling those jokes can have harmful unintended consequences.

 

I guess it depends a bit on where you are from. In Norway, we have a habit of making fun of ourselves, our neighbours, bus drivers, blondes, Swedish people (they make jokes about us too!), men, women, etc! So why not gay people? I mean, it would almost be discrimination if I made a joke about a blonde swedish chick being stupid, but couldn`t take a lesbian joke on my own account. If you serve it, you must be able to take it, that`s the general idea around here. And regarding the stupidity of blonde swedish chicks, it sounds cruel, but it`s just silly humor. I am quite aware that there are a whole lot of swedish chicks out there who are a lot smarter than me. But they make some jokes about us too, being arrogant, loud, pridish, etc. So it goes around.

I don`t get insulted easily at all. Norwegians generally do have a broad sense of humor. It`s a bit dark, like British, but more sarcastic and "mean". People up north are even worse, dude, have I heard some messed up jokes from those people. We make jokes of them too though, lol.

I would not approve of a gay joke on the net, because then it`s there for everyone to see, and you cannot know if they`ll take it like you do. So then it is insensitive. But when my sister tells me that if I cannot handle some PMS, I shouldn`t be munching carpet, then I laugh. Or when she asks me why on earth I cannot put together a bookcase, when lesbians are supposed to be all handy and stuff, I laugh too. Or when a guy in class (I took a two month study) called me the class dyke, I laughed.

It doesn`t bother me personally at all. In any way. God knows, if anyone deserves a joke on her expence, it`s me, lol.

But like I said, it`s a different thing if it`s online, or in public in a way that could potentially upset someone. But then I get upset on behalf of whoever could get upset, not for my sake, because I have no problems being made a little fun off. I`ll just repay them in kind.