Green Jokes

I find green jokes offensive. Not even for the sake of being "in" will I pretend to enjoy them. I'll take any name-calling directed my way for that stance with a smile, but join the fray? Never.

Years back, I was tutoring this Grade Six boy who made a big deal of how tightly clothed his female teacher was. He described her in great detail and refused to stop even when I told him to. I was so disgusted and was not concealing how I felt, still he persisted. The next time he did this, I told him "that's it. I refuse to tutor you any longer. Just tell your mom what happened." He was teary eyed, but I didn't flinch.

This afternoon, a boy told me of a green joke a teacher in school told his brother's class. When I saw the teacher, I expressed my dismay about what I learned. The butt of green jokes are usually the female populace, and the joke he told was no different. while I'm no feminist, I take offense at sick jokes, regardless of their object of derision.

Why do people crack green jokes? There are so many jokes one can share that can elicit laughter, guffaws even, etc. without their having to be green. Men are men, one might reason. But when they crack green jokes about women, does it mean they have forgotten that their mothers and sisters are female? Maybe they don't like their wives, but for heaven's sake, what about their mothers, sisters, grandmothers, aunts?

It saddens me when I learn someone I know is no different in this regard. It doesn't amuse me at all. It's not cute. It's sick... and sickening.