Misunderstanding the point of comedy

According to Tanya Gold (Have you heard the one about rape? It's funny now, 18 August), the prevalence and acceptance of jokes about rape "normalises and diminishes violence towards women: if it is easy to laugh about, it is hard to take seriously". In my experience as a comic and a human the opposite is true. The ability to both laugh at something and take it seriously is one of the defining characteristics of our species, and almost perfectly describes the social function of comedy. Violence against women is not funny, jokes about violence against women can be. War is not funny, jokes about war can be. Jokes about war do not normalise and diminish violence towards humanity, complex political, ideological and economic structures do. Jokes by their very nature transform their subject, and it illustrates a basic misunderstanding of humour to not grasp this. Such journalism destabilises and corrupts the necessary discussion on such an important issue, and we have to ask: where does it end? No jokes about anything that has caused anyone any damage? So no jokes about war, unemployment, drugs, cars, police, riots, illness, government, etc. It would appear that due to the fact Tanya Gold has failed to grasp the transparent basics of what comedy is, the logical conclusion of her own glaring rage is a world without jokes.
Chris Dangerfield

Thank you, Tanya Gold, for highlighting the impact of "comedy" on the perpetuation of domestic violence and rape. A timely reminder, in the wake of coverage of Shafilea Ahmed's murder, that misogyny and violence against women aren't confined to minority communities.
Rev Dr Catherine Shelley