Having just watched it, here's my gut reaction:
Carlin's "rape jokes" punch up: they attack the fundamental patriarchal assumptions about rape, make fun of rapists, and empathize with victims. I don't disagree with his premise about censorship. People should be allowed to make jokes about rape, if they so choose. And yet his "rape jokes" don't punch down at rape victims.
Carlin punches up at rapists, at religion, and yes, sometimes criticizes feminists for "wanting to control free speech," but he also says "I happen to agree with most of the feminist philosophy." He then goes on to make some jokes about feminist philosophy, but they aren't anti-feminist jokes, they're satire. He repeatedly clarifies that he isn't anti-feminist. There's also a lot of socialism and environmentalism built into this set, which are among my values. He criticizes 90s feminists for not being socialist enough and for not being intersectional (ie, not listening to black women's problems). He then says "When it comes to changing the language, they [feminists] make some good points" and then agrees with basic inclusivity language and then satirizes the exaggerated consequences ("person-hole cover" and "David Letterperson").
So no, I don't agree that the clip is not feminist, actually. Carlin's satire is very nuanced and legitimately criticizes parts of 90s feminism that needed to be, which is exactly what I expect from him. I'm thinking of his wonderful set about the pro-life crowd and how respectful he manages to be while satirizing really heavy topics.
His conclusions are:
1) free speech is essential to criticizing government, politics, religion, and other groups (including feminists)
2) rape can be funny -- when making fun of rapists and their logic (ie, how they defend themselves, exposing rhetoric like "she was asking for it" as ridiculous)
3) feminism is important but needs to imagine more for women than becoming "like men" and participating in the fucked up dick-measuring contests of politics and capitalism
4) inclusive language is important when it comes to the equality of people (firefighter, congressperson) but not when it is taken far too literally (manhole cover becomes personhole cover, etc)
5) no one should take themselves too seriously
I agree with all that.
