Margaret Cho

Well, gang, there’s some good news and some bad news. The good news is that feminist comedians and feminist critiques of comedy have been all over the news lately! Woo! Yay!

The bad news is that this is, in large part, because there are a bunch of people who think that they have a constitutionally enshrined right to tell rape jokes and then never have to hear any criticism about them. Boo! Blerg!

There have been a lot of great recent critiques of this sadly evergreeen controversy (you can find some here, here, here and here) and also some awesome round-ups of rape jokes that don’t undermine or disempower assault survivors (some examples can be found here, here, and here).

But while challenging rape jokes specifically is an important way to show that comedy belongs to everyone, we can also draw attention to comedians who tell jokes that embrace women’s lives and experiences--rather than reducing them to blank canvasses for punchlines--showcasing the fact that comedy embraces women far more often than it acts shitty and hostile to us.

• This week's homework: check out an excerpt from Professor Melissa Harris-Perry's Sister Citizen on Michelle Obama and the gendered and racialized conceptions of her role as first lady. Extra credit for tying it in to current political discussion!
• Margaret Cho defends any "strong language" she might use on Twitter.
• Peep the new anti-rape culture campaign that focuses squarely on men preventing rape.
• Check out this piece on women leaders in the civil rights movement and see if the museum exhibition is coming to your town.
• Residents of Minnesota state district 61B, say hello to Susan Allen, the first openly gay American Indian woman elected to any state legislature.
• Where's the news coverage of the New Year's Florida abortion clinic firebombing?

Tell us your thoughts or what you're reading in the comments down below!

Margaret Cho explores body image and self-love in her new television series Drop Dead Diva. I recently watched the pilot episode and spoke to Cho about her involvement in the show. The first person to be cast, Cho believes DDD has the opportunity to reach a diverse audience with the message that fat women’s beauty is not just internal.