It's not satire. Gwazi makes and links to rape joke alarmingly often.
Would you say it feels kind of forced?
Funny story. There was a time I was really sensitive to mentions of suicide. I'll spare you the reasons and sob-stories, but then I got involved with a girl who would eventually turn out suicidal. Not so much the emo teenage She made genuine attempts at her own life, inspired by mixed episodes. Know the first thing, in my complete shock, I told her? I told her how it scared me and to never do it again.
Pro-tip; never say that.
Something I learned a really harsh way, is that prioritising how uncomfortable are with your subject is fucking up the conversation. You see, she had tried to bring up suicide in past discussions, which I had waltzed all over. She'd made jokes about it too, which I'd repeatedly told her were very unsettling. The way I forced myself to deal with it in order to support her and be able to talk to her about it, was ultimately, writing a satire article about suicide. Funny thing? It worked better than any super-serious talk ever would have. Before it I wasn't even able to have a proper conversation on the subject.
Now I don't think Gwazi is a rapist or has been raped or silently crying for help, don't get me wrong. Comedy allows us to explore the darkness the mind without letting it consume us. I'd be a lot different in how I carry myself if it weren't for comedy. I know blind guys or a dude in a wheelchair, who have learned to better deal with their environment by making jokes about it which made them feel confident and capable instead of victims. I'll spare you the other stories, but point is, while nobody in their right mind in our western civilisation is going to tell you rape is anything but a heinous, disgusting crime, comedy isn't rape. Just know that, anyone who is triggered by rape (and by that I mean experiencing genuine PTSD and not feeling uncomfortable or offended) will eventually need exposure to the subject lest they be doomed to die with it. That doesn't mean it's pleasant. That doesn't mean Gwazi or anyone is an altruist for making these jokes. No. What it does mean is that the audience, willing or by coincidence, has power over the power of his words and how they affect them. There's different ways for the audience to interpret or use them. These are some of the safer venues to explore our fears and darkness; a function humour has had since the dawn of time.
I think, and this is pertinent to both this discussion and the OP, we first need to look at our selves before demanding others to change. Reflecting and taking in account all different sides, will lead to growth and the ability to carry oneself and others through things a younger you thought had control over them.
