Yesterday, the Supreme Court of the United States struck down a Texas law that would have majorly restricted access to abortions. The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, like many users on Twitter dot com, was excited by the news, and fired off a joke to celebrate:
Celebrate the #SCOTUS ruling! Go knock someone up in Texas!
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) June 27, 2016
Inciting men to “go knock someone up” frames yesterday’s news not as a victory for women’s bodily autonomy, but as carte blanche for the bros of Texas to get their bone on without worry. This joke bugs me because it co-opts a conversation about the health of women and people who can get pregnant, and makes it about men.
As is the case with most late-night entities, The Daily Show has a predominantly male writers room (four out of their 18 writers are women). Their social media person or persons may operate relatively independently from the other writers, including Trevor Noah himself, but the male-dominated culture of the show likely still accounts for this take.
Regardless, social media is hard. Whoever runs The Daily Show‘s Twitter has the unenviable job of encapsulating all the nuance of serious breaking news items like yesterday’s SCOTUS ruling in 140 characters or less—while also trying to be funny. I couldn’t do that job. Still, I wish that The Daily Show had responded to concerns differently.
When other social media users called out the account for its glib response to an important ruling regarding women’s health, The Daily Show responded:
Friends, we’re certainly not promoting abortions. Just excited about #SCOTUS reaffirming right to choose.
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) June 27, 2016
That response likely mollified people who were offended that The Daily Show‘s initial tweet framed abortion as an insignificant, easy decision (for some people it is, for some people it isn’t), but it doesn’t address what I see as the main issue here—the fact that the show automatically presented men as the default, even when discussing a ruling that impacts women and people who can get pregnant.
(via Pajiba, image screenshot via Comedy Central)
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