Is it ok to make fun

[GirlinContempt]

Poll question: Is it ok to make fun

of the way a person looks? Especially a woman?

[ghostsofgiants]

1. Not unless they're famous, apparently.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

2. Uh, never.

Even in jest, things can be grossly taken out of context.

We have to ask this question because.....

:shrug:

On Edit: I'm a bloody hypocrite because I often snigger at Bush. Whoops. Oh well. Too late to change my answer...

[GirlinContempt]

5. I'm just curious of the general consensus

I've noticed a number of people getting upset when people make fun of others based on the way they look, and thats good. However, I also see a fair number of people who do it themselves, as if it's somehow different because it's someone you don't like.

I only added especially women because I generally find women are on the receiving end more often, as well as defended more often.

[realisticphish]

31. you're right there

i find it interesting that women are judged more frequently on appearance than men (even by other women)

[ZombieNixon]

9. Keyword "people"

Bush is not "people." Bush is "preznit." :D

[GirlinContempt]

11. reply to your edit

OK, I'm not calling YOU specifically out for this, but:

I don't understand when people feel the need to take their dislike of a person to the lowest common denominator. There are SO MANY THINGS that can be said about Bush (for example), why go to his appearance? To me it just seems juvenile, it avoids the persons real issues with him, and is something he can't really control. The things he CAN control should be pointed out and talked about, not the way he looks.

[ZombieNixon]

15. Actually (and I found this surprising),

I've had conservative acquaintances state that "Bush looks like a chimp" or "Bush has big ears." This is a great point to seize on because I've managed to get them to work their way up to actual issues they disagree with him on. :shrug:

[GirlinContempt]

17. In my experience

it comes across as immature and petty. Thats how I feel when people do it, and I know many people who'd quickly shut down any kind of conversation if thats where I went.

Different things for different people & all that.

But, do you have a double standard about it? If they made fun of... Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, pick a name, would it bother you?

[ZombieNixon]

18. Having lived in hellshitandfreeperville for eight years,

I built up an immunity to insults against Democrats. I usually went something like "Sure, John Kerry looks like Alf...BUT..." and then enumerate issues. Just me, I guess.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. Depends on the context.

Say for example, if they're vain and they've got it coming. Then shoot.

[GirlinContempt]

6. Well, anyone could make the argument that person x is vain

or person y has it coming, could they not?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. Sure.

Which is why I say it depends.

[ghostsofgiants]

13. So if I make fun of the way someone looks, it's okay...

As long as I decide that they're vain? Even if my claims of their vanity are completely arbitrary?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

14. Well then it would be OK with you.

And it would be OK with me if I thought the person you made fun of also had it coming. OK is also arbitrary.

Let's use an example. We're all in high school and Mindy, the pretty cheerleader, likes to bully the unpopular comely girls. Maybe it makes her feel better about herself or something. Now if one day you see Mindy picking on acne-ridden Juanita, and you tell Mindy that she really shouldn't be making fun of others, what with Mindy's enormous buck teeth and walleye- then you'd be alright in my book.

[Ariana Celeste]

20. Agreed

:hi:

[Orsino]

4. I guess it's okay to make fun of someone's fashion *choices*...

...if one is sufficiently familiar with that person's culture as to be qualified to judge.

[GirlinContempt]

7. That makes some sense.

[Robb]

10. If, like me, you're willing to hold all humanity in equal contempt

...then it's fine. Thanks for asking, funny-looking. :evilgrin:

[GirlinContempt]

12. Anytime, ug-o

:D

[MrSlayer]

16. Let no affliction go unnoticed.

Words to live by.

[flvegan]

19. Define "ok"

Accepted in conversation, pertinent to specific example or just across the board for self's sake?

[GirlinContempt]

25. Define it for yourself

the question is, is it ok? How you define ok, or in fact that the different meanings of ok would change your answer, is part of the answer.

[Ariana Celeste]

21. Depends on the circumstances, I think.

Are you with a couple of close friends, where you know what does and doesn't offend them, and is it just between you guys? When my buddies and I are drinking we talk a lot of shit, but we all know it isn't serious, and no one who'd be offended is around to hear it. My SO and I tend to talk a lot of shit because it's just funny to us, but we don't do it around anyone who would take us seriously.

Otherwise it's unlikely I would find it "ok".


On edit, #14 I have done before. And don't regret it.

[GirlinContempt]

26. OKay

[LeftyMom]

22. The unspoken DU rule about this is that it's okay with right wingers

I think that's pretty fucked up, but hey, what do I know? :shrug:

[GirlinContempt]

27. I've noticed that too

[realisticphish]

23. Never

regardless of race, gender, or whatever else. I myself have been guilty of it, but it is NEVER OK.

[GirlinContempt]

29. Alright.

[no name no slogan]

24. If you make a public spectacle of yourself, then you're fair game

If you deliberately seek the public eye, then you are open to scorn and ridicule.

if you are accidentally cast into the public eye (a la Monical Lewinsky), then no.

[GirlinContempt]

28. See my reply up thread

An arbitrary personal measure of acceptable ridicule. Which, is fine if it works for you.

[Autonomy]

30. Other - No, never, except in rare circumstances

such as in response to vain hypocrites who mock others based on their looks. Principles aren't moral handcuffs.

[swag]

32. Not to their faces; only behind their backs. But it is okay.

Edited to replace comma with semicolon.

[GirlinContempt]

33. Uh oh

:hide:

[TheProphetess]

34. I say no, it's not ok - not for a man or a woman

I took a class in grad school and on the first day, we were all asked if we'd ever felt discriminated against. Most people talked about their race, gender, religion, etc., but when it was my turn, I mentioned how I felt that people judge me negatively based on the fact that I am overweight. BTW, that really surprised my classmates (none of them were overweight and I don't think it had ever occurred to them that weight would be an issue).

I then gave an example of how I had to take a gym class (as an undergrad) and I took badminton which I thought would be fun like we play at BBQs. Turns out, badminton is an Olympic sport (which I didn't know) and is much more fierce and harder to play than you'd think (like tennis). So, after I caught on to the tactics needed to be good at it, I was actually doing fairly well at the game and had advanced to play against a woman who was a tennis player and very good at badminton. She looked at me (she was very thin and fit) and I saw the smirk on her face, which (to me) read, "this fat-ass will be easy to beat." I worked hard, I was sweating my little heart out, and trying my hardest, but I actually won the match and that memory has stuck with me very vividly. I know that I surprised the hell out of her because she couldn't imagine a "fat girl" beating her at a sport.

So, I think we spend way too much time judging people on their looks. I don't care what Ann Coulter, Laura Bush, Barbara Bush, Lynne Cheney, George Bush (Jr. or Sr.), Rush Limbaugh, Karl Rove, etc. look like and I absolutely HATE IT when people on so-called progressive chat boards immediately jump to the easy attack about one's looks. Why not attack what's really wrong with these people and that would be their inner selves? It's actions, not looks, that matter. I hope that one day we (society, that is) will get that through our brains.

BTW, then we wonder why we have an increase in eating disorders for girls and boys, an increase in the number of very young girls worrying about gaining weight and wanting to be on diets, an increase in body dysmorphic disorders (having a skewed view of one's body and hating the way one looks), especially, most recently, young men with muscle dysmorphic disorder (feeling like they aren't muscular enough and hating the way they look). Hmmmm....where does all of that come from?

[GirlinContempt]

35. Well said

Thank you

[TheProphetess]

36. No, thank you

Great poll question and interesting answers from our fellow DUers. :hi: