From: utzoo!decvax!yale-com!leichter Newsgroups: net.women Title: Re: a compliment (?) Article-I.D.: yale-com.915 Posted: Thu Feb 17 12:45:44 1983 Received: Mon Feb 21 21:28:49 1983 References: burdvax.567 Yes, the audience does make a difference in what jokes or stories I'd be willing to tell. There are jokes I think are funny that might offend some people. That doesn't stop me from telling them - WHEN (1) there is no one around who might be offended (2) I'm pretty sure the people who ARE there will take it in the spirit that it is told - as a funny thing arising out of a stereotype, not as an accurate description. I would not tell a racist joke to a black or to a racist - unless, in the case of the black person, I knew him well enough to understand how he would take it. Similarly, I might feel offended if I overheard an anti-white or anti-Jewish joke, but not if someone I knew well told it. Many women are offended by sexual jokes. It isn't my role to judge whether they are right to take such offense or not; I simply consider it common good manners not to offend people. So, I won't tell such jokes in "mixed company". That does NOT mean I won't tell them to women or in the presence of women - provided the two constraints I mentioned are met. -- Jerry decvax!yale-comix!leichter