Before seeing this thread, I received a message from Destiny about the post, and I would like to share with you all some of the message I sent her in response:
I see how some people could view this joke as being sexist and offensive, but I think it's a harmless joke. The punch line of the joke is not that the person is a woman, and the joke would serve the same purpose if it was a man. "Being told" is a slang expression, it doesn't mean that the female was told to do something, and I see how people may not have realised this and thus, taken it out of context.
For the record, I am a woman and a feminist. I believe the ill treatment of women is something society overlooks in the twenty first century and it's an important issue people need to examine and realise that there's still a gap between ideal gender treatment and reality. Last week, I was just at a December 6 memorial to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in the Montreal Massacre and I heard very empowering speeches by women who had been abused in the past.
I certainly would not have posted the joke, or found it humourous in any way, if I thought it was about a female being battered. But that's not how I interpreted the joke, and thats why I posted it. So really, I think this is just a misunderstanding and I hope that something like this won't be an issue again. |