Humor is a great way to overcome the grief of a tragedy. It helps to alleviate the negative feelings associated with an occurrence and instead create a more lighthearted tone, if only on the surface and possibly for a short amount of time. Roxane Gay recognizes this, but adds a stipulation to that statement: some things are simply incapable of acquiring that lighthearted, comedic tone. She argues her claim in her article “Daniel Tosh and Rape Jokes: Still Not Funny,” specifically combating the topic of rape jokes. Using an informal tone and a very logical approach, Roxane Gay expresses her argument that rape is incapable of being viewed in a comedic way.

The main argument of the article is this: “Humor is subjective but is it that subjective?” (Gay, “Daniel Tosh and Rape Jokes: Still Not Funny,” p. 88). 

One could easily make an argument that the intended audience of this piece is those who find edgy humor, such as rape jokes, funny. Most of the time in this article, Gay explains how rape jokes should not fall into the spectrum of comedy by using logical reasoning, otherwise known as logos. Gay also harps on the consequences of telling rape jokes; if the person who tells the joke is in a position of authority, then they are implicitly giving their audience permission to do what the joke is about. It could be said that she is addressing those who make these jokes because she gives another view on these types of offensive jokes. She even criticizes those who find these jokes funny by saying “Humor is subjective but is it that subjective?” (Gay, p. 88), saying that not enough time can pass to allow a rape to be funny. 

Of all the three appeals, logos is the most prevalent in this text. When Gay asks the question “Humor is subjective but is it that subjective?” (Gay, p. 88), she acknowledges the well-known fact that humor is indeed subjective and that some people find edgy, offensive humor as comedic, but she comes at that claim with a limit that makes a lot of sense when you pair it with the evidence she gives: some things just should not be considered funny. With enough time, some things previously thought of as unfortunate or even tragic are things in which some people may find humor, but Gay argues that this should not and is not the case with certain things. She goes on to support this by giving an example: “there are not enough years in this lifetime to create the kind of distance where I could laugh and say, ‘That one time, when I was gang raped, was totally hilarious, a real laugh riot’ ” (Gay, p. 88). When delivered this way, it makes rape jokes seem not very funny at all and that they should never be considered humorous. This is also an excellent example of pathos; Gay is basically telling the reader to put themselves in a rape victim’s shoes and empathize with someone who has had this tragedy occur to them. When thinking of it this way, it is very easy for the reader to say that rape jokes could never be funny if they are this personal. This is exactly what Gay is trying to say: to many people, rape jokes are indeed that personal.

Another very strong instance logos and pathos is utilized is when Gay says “Rape jokes are part of (Daniel Tosh’s) shtick. During his Laugh Factory set, a young woman in the audience yelled, ‘Actually, rape jokes are never funny.’ Tosh is said to have maturely responded, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if that girl got raped by like, five guys right now? Like right now? What if a bunch of guys just raped her…’” (Gay, p. 88),  followed by a one-word paragraph in italics that says “What if, indeed” (Gay, p. 88). This is a good example of logos because she is telling the reader to actually answer Tosh’s question about what would happen if that woman was raped right then and there. She makes the reader take the question seriously and apply logic to such an absurd question that is being passed off as a joke. This is also a good example of pathos because the one-sentence paragraph that follows the factual description of what happened really makes the reader think about what was just described to them. The man was suggesting that it would be funny if the woman in front of him, talking to him at that moment, was raped. It makes the reader realize how awful that would be and how disgusting it is to consider that humor.

Roxane Gay establishes her credibility through her use of facts and logic. A few of her arguments seemed to be not very based in logic and made little sense, such as when she says “Rape humor is designed to remind women that they are still not quite equal” (Gay, 88). For example, men can be raped. Nevertheless, much of her argument makes sense and offers evidence to back it up. A lot of the time when she makes a point, much of that point is just her saying what actually happened. Sometimes she lets the evidence speak for itself, which is enough in some of the situations she mentions.

Obvious moral and ethical values that are implied are that rape is not funny and that humor is subjective. Another implied moral and ethical value that is implied is that one should not make humor on a tragedy until a certain amount of time has passed. Each tragedy has a different amount of time for a joke on the subject to not be considered “too soon” anymore, but Gay says that some tragedies are not capable of converting from grief to humor at all, and that no amount of time is long enough for it to be comedic.

Throughout Roxane Gay’s article, she uses a very informal tone. The lack of formality actually helps her message come across much better than if she used a more professional voice; it makes her points much easier to read and therefore more easy to receive. She does not use unnecessarily wordy sentences and she does not try to sound more sophisticated by using big words. She is very clear and to the point when giving her arguments. 

It is perfectly fine to have a sense of humor that involves more touchy, offensive subjects. People find different things funny because humor is subjective. Roxane Gay acknowledges this. However, she says that some things should not and cannot be considered funny, no matter what kind of sense of humor someone has. Roxane Gay argues that rape cannot be a subject of humor because enough time cannot pass in order to view it as comedic.