I have been the victim of sexual assault though not as serious as rape. My opinion is that I think different people have a different way of discussing issues in different situations. On a forum some people make jokes, but I do not agree that jokes on a forum are always to minimise the seriousness of the issue. I personally would look at the intention of the person making the joke. I cannot know what Steve's and JeremyP's intentions are with the limited information on this forum, but I sense from their posts on this forum that they think sexual assault is wrong therefore for me their jokes on a forum do not minimise their agreement with that moral belief. If this was a support group for victims of sexual assault I would have a different view.
There are people who suffered racism who still make racist jokes and who can accept racist jokes from others if they sense that in all seriousness the person making the joke is not racist and would support them if there was a genuine issue involving racism. Making racist jokes in a support group for victims of racism would in my opinion be crossing a line.
Of course everyone is different so some people will be offended by a racist joke in any circumstance.
I don't think the intention is always to minimise. People make thoughtless remarks all the time and just because they are thoughtless means that they aren't having a thought out intention. I made clear that i thought here that it's not about the intention but the effect.
Just because we are not a rape support group doesn't mean that anything goes. Indeed, given that we are a mixed group and wr don't have an agreed 'purpose' means that there is a need for some thought about others, and makes it difficult, if not impossible, to gauge the use of humour. I think both Steve and Jeremy got it wrong here, and given LR 's reaction I would argue that has been borne out.