Joan Rivers shocks with sickening joke

When popular culture is used to reduce the gravity of gender based violence it becomes a mockery of the efforts and gains made in advocating for gender equality and human rights in general. Popular culture should be a site of contestation that is used to challenge and resist dominant practices and ideologies in our societies and not condone them. Just like many “rape jokesÀ that go viral on social networks and many communication platforms, the joke about Reeva Steenkamp’s brutal killing is highly distasteful and wrong. Commenting on American pop star Christina Aguilera’s blonde hair with knotty cornrow braids, American comedienne Joan Rivers ‘joked’ that “the last time I saw a blonde with red streaks in her hair she was laying on Oscar Pistorius’ bathroom floor.” Read more.