Maximum Fun Forum

I sent this email to Bryan and Erin. I looove them dearly, but was a little sad about the Jan Brewer impression.

Hi Bryan and Erin,
I have been seriously, seriously diggin' on you guys since you joined the Max Fun network. Just wanted to let you know, though, that I was a little sad to hear you making jokes about intersex people. During your Jan Brewer bit on your last podcast, Erin portrayed herself as Jan and said that she was "born with both parts" (using quotes but I'm not sure if those were your exact words). I love that you're pointing out Brewer's racism and ridiculous stance on abortion - but to continue to stigmatize intersex folks at the same time was just a little sad. We can do that without further stigmatizing a group that has had to face shame for their bodies. I can guarantee that you have listeners who are intersex, because it's actually a fairly common natural occurrence. You can find out more about people who are born intersex on the website for the Intersex Society of North America - isna.org - including how prevalent it is.

I still love you, will still continue to listen. Not trying to police you, just trying to make you aware. Keep up all of the amazing ridiculousness. You make my commute magical!

I know, I totally owed him that just for showing up and listening to me, right, brah?

I didn't think they were stigmatizing intersex people, but Jan Brewer had to be (or have been at some point) a man for the bit to maintain internal consistency

So the ridiculousness is only amazing when they are making fun of everyone except you? Can you see how unfair and discriminatory that statement is? "Dear ErinyBryan, Please continue to make broad sexiest, racist, ageist etc jokes, but do not talk about my niche because that, and only that, makes you a bad person. I am not trying to police you, keep those nigger, spic, faggot etc jokes a-coming! Making fun of those people makes my commute magical!"

I don't have any memories of them being racist. Maybe I'm being selective in my memories. Usually they're not being racist, sexist, ageist just to be those things... usually they are using humor to point out how ridiculous it is to be sexist, racist, ageist, etc. I also feel like being intersex is something that is still really, really stigmatized (so much so that many people don't know that using the word "hermaphrodite" is deeply offensive.) I'm all for humor that points out the ridiculousness of our culture and especially the discrimination in it... but to make fun of people for their identity just because it's weird or different is still not funny to me - and not what I really see them do. I think it happened out of ignorance and that's why I said something. Erin sent me a really nice response back. I'd want someone to do the same if I said something offensive without knowing it. We have freedom of speech.. but that doesn't mean people aren't going to give you feedback.

I think I like longmaejohns! That is probably the nicest and most reasonable way to give feedback about something potentially super heated. Also whoa hateful reply whoa.

I think we are listening to two different shows. Anyway if Erin replied to you personally and you were satisfied with her answer then that's all that counts.

Thanks davin! I try to be reasonable. If you come at people with fire, they're going to come back at you with fire. If you come at them with understanding, they come back more rationally.

I just got way to excited at the Rump Shaker intro for this week's show

One of the people who jumped to defend Akin's extremely stupid remarks was Iowa's very own Steve King. This is the same guy that bravely spoke out in favor of dogfighting a few weeks ago, so there you go. I'm ashamed of him but I feel I should get him out there in the open, like a foot fungus.

The claim that "legitimate" rape causes a hostile uterus that makes pregnancy exceedingly rare has been around for years...and has been debunked for just as long.

Back in 2000 or so, i went to a St. Thomas University (Houston, TX) Pro-Life group's talk on "The Truth About Planned Parenthood." The guest speaker, Dr. Marcella Colbert, made that exact claim. When i requested a citation for that and a couple other claims, she didn't have them with her. She did have one for her "abortion causes breast cancer" claim, but i was already very familiar with those studies and why they were bullshit.

She got worse.

My friend, who, unlike me, was a student at St. Thomas, shared her personal story about how the lack of sex education at her Catholic high school caused her to believe her older boyfriend's claim that "you can't get pregnant the first time you have sex." Unfortunately, she did get pregnant and had an abortion. Later, one of her boyfriend's (or ex-boyfriend's?) raped her, justifying the rape because she was "like that" since she had had an abortion.

Dr. Colbert's response?

The good doctor said there was no way an American teenager could possibly believe that claim about not getting pregnant the first time having sex, even were it never mentioned in the classroom. When my friend insisted that was the case, Dr. Colbert straight called her a liar.

Then, w/r/t to the rape, she said that, "If that was true, that is indeed horrible." Dr. Colbert followed that up by discussing rape prevention by not engaging in provocative behaviors or dress.

I don't recall having ever been angrier. I don't remember what i said in return, although i recall miraculously avoiding swearing. My friend soon lost her will to stay in that room, so i left with her. As you can imagine, i was incredibly proud of her and her courage sharing that in front of all her hostile classmates.

Anyway, the magical, rape-rejecting uterus is nothing new. Whether done cynically or not, i'm surprised that the Republicans have shunned Akin as strongly as they have. I'll be happy to never have to deal with that claim when advocating for Planned Parenthood or for emergency contraception to be included in rape kits...or for rape kits to be both available and their evidence analyzed.

Chris Kluwe made me proud to be a Vikings fan for writing that, which is good as I won't feel much pride in anything that happens with this team on the field.

"... SEX?!"
wall of pop sound

I loved the happy Would You Rathers this week (duck-sized horses vs. horse-sized duck; MBMBaM vs. Jordan & Jesse). The gross Would You Rathers are plenty of fun, of course, but you get to feel sorry for Bryan and Erin after they get put in so many horrible situations.

Holy shit @ Bryan's impression of a straight guy. For a second I thought I was listening to Adam Carolla's podcast.