Friday, August 01, 2003


Who Moved My Soap?

By ALEX COOLMAN

Now that Martha Stewart has been criminally indicted, we're curious to know when the jokes are going to start about the possibility that she'll be raped in prison.

Maybe Jay Leno can do a monologue on the subject, suggesting a few wacky tips to help Stewart avoid sexual assault behind bars. Maybe the idea of rape in prison can even be used as a gag in commercials and turned into some kind of hilarious parody of a business advice book.

Sound implausible?

Sound like something so crude and insensitive that it could never happen?

Unfortunately rape is prison is routinely exploited in exactly these ways. The latest entry in the prison rape joke genre is Andy Borowitz' new book Who Moved My Soap? The CEO's Guide to Surviving in Prison, which is a tongue-in-cheek primer for business executives facing the possibility of spending time in prison, and includes the predictable discussion of life as a "prison bitch" and the hazards of "peter-gazing."....