Day: October 11, 2013

Can “you’re scaring/hurting me, please stop” get twisted and become a bad/manipulative thing?

Real Social Skills
A reader asked:
Can “you’re scaring/hurting me, please stop” get twisted and become a bad/manipulative thing? I’m thinking it can, but am not sure where the line is.
realsocialskills said:
Yes, it definitely can. I don’t know how to describe where the line is, but it’s definitely possible to use those phrases to manipulate or hurt others.

Anti-lesbian hate joke example

Real Social Skills
A reader asked:
The racist ice cream joke you just posted about can also be swung in the direction of sexual harassment. When kids found out my friend and I were lesbians, they would torment us with similar jokes just to get us to “admit” to liking dick. I still don’t understand why jokes like that could be funny to anyone.
realsocialskills said:
Yes, that’s another really common kind of hate joke. I have some theories about why people tell jokes like that, but they’re not yet well-formed enough to explain outside my head.