Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2017/10/31/npr-oreskes-sexual-harassment.html
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I am so weary of the revelations. Powerful man after powerful man – left, right, or center – getting away with attacking and destroying women. For years. Because those women knew better than to speak up.
I know I should be pleased that finally there might be repercussions for these men. I know it. But it just points out again and again that women aren’t believed.
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I’m glad I read the full article; I was borderline skeptical at first due to the anonymity, long time since the alleged events, and difficulty verifying said events (because when a storm of allegations is coming out, it’s possible that someone might bandwagon in for some personal vendetta), but then the last paragraph or so has his deputy (at the time of many of the events) willing to come forward and verify his history of behavior like this.
Should probably make sure that the verification gets a mention, too; that gives the whole thing a veneer of truth that it wouldn’t have otherwise had.
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[deep, weary sighing]
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I’m not, the guy’s a pig.
Still, I noticed my immediate skeptical response when I first saw the BB article, and I hate that it’s there. I can’t think of a single case of false accusation*, but plenty of clearly true ones, and yet there’s still that little “but what if…” voice in my head and I don’t get it. Maybe society, maybe male “tribalism,” maybe just NPR-say-it-isn’t-so denial, I don’t really know, but regardless of where that impulse came from, it’s annoying/worrying/depressing that it’s even there and I needed to read the article to really get it to shut up.
…so maybe I am glad, who knows?
EDIT: *Not to suggest they don’t exist, just that I couldn’t personally recall any when I wrote that. I meant that as literally a lack of knowledge on my part. Sorry about my unclear wording.
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And this ass; who’s been arrested multiple times.
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God damn it.
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You can’t? Not a single one? I mean, the Duck lacrosse case wasn’t that long ago, nor the UVA “A Rape on Campus”. Not to say that it’s at all common, or that there are any similarities that should cause doubt over any of the current set of revelations.
But the rate of false accusation, though small, isn’t zero. Rounding it off to zero will cause people to notice that elision.
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I was all, not Kevin Spacey too! But honestly it isn’t surprising, men are horny animals (I’m one too) and I sometimes think that men would boink the knots in trees if properly lubricated (with alcohol mb or perhaps glycerin). ‘At Knotty Pine over in the back forty is lookin mighty purty…’). I mean how sick is Harvey that he makes a pass at a woman, is rebuffed so he just masturbates into a plant? LOL! and, sad that the woman in this story was assaulted, don’t wan to make fun of that.
Attention penis equipped humans! stop doing this sh!t, that is all.
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So are women. But most horny people know not to lick strangers, or masturbate in public. The difference is that men who act that way can still be very successful.
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You’re absolutely right, they definitely exist.
I meant meant what I wrote literally, that I personally couldn’t think of any for lack of knowledge, not that they don’t exist (which they clearly do). Sorry about the confusion, it was a poor choice of words and I’ll edit.
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Lemme guess. This guy had the women who worked for him do all his work.
I didn’t think you were denying they exist. I was expressing surprise that you couldn’t think of one. Those particular cases were rather widely reported on in a man-bites-dog sort of way. I can see how it would come across as an accusation of being disingenuous, which was not my intent.
All public comments, even when addressed to one person, have an audience of many. The rounding to zero was not directly to you, but hopefully as a prophylactic against people who would make a rhetorical misstep when talking about the very real and prolific problems of sexual assault.
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You’re right. We should never trust any one who claims they’ve been assaulted, since one person in thousands might be lying. /s
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No. Sexual assault is not about sexual pleasure, it’s about power and exerting it over others.
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In my personal opinion, these claims should be held to a higher level of scrutiny, and if found true - perpetrators must be brought to to a swifter and bolder justice then we have seen so far. NPR image is important enough to be held to the highest of the high standards - our future as humanity may depend on it.
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Is there a reason you feel the need to mischaracterize what I said? It seems as if you’ve approximated it to the closest position you can ascribe to the enemy.
I’m saying that you shouldn’t say “false accusations never happen”, because it’s an opening that rape minimizers can use against you.
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That’s a dangerous oversimplification. It can be about either or both. When a friend of mine was raped, he said “stop” over and over, and his attacker kept saying “I love you, I love you.” He was just some stupid kid who let his dick take over his brain. There are plenty of rapists who are all about the power trip too, but it’s not that simple.
It seems relevant that legalizing prostitution appears to dramatically reduce rates of rape and sexual assault.
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Something tells me if I masturbated in public, I wouldn’t get away with it.
I’m not going to put it to the test, mind you.
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I’d use the “why not both” meme here, but it just doesn’t feel right. Sex is and probably always has been intertwined with power dynamics. I’d like to think that healthy sex is when you have an evenly distributed power dynamic, which really is my ideal, but then again, I’m not actually getting laid.
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