Yeah. I’m tired of it too. Abuse of power is the best reason to never concentrate power.
I never forget that their God turned a women into salt, and they find that just.
This pattern of abuse, it goes back quite a ways, and it may be a bit of a conspiracy.
Availability of Internet porn also correlates with less sex crime as well.
I can. But just one. But you know what? I believe you’re still entirely correct.
So long as our responses are based in a search for justice and not for revenge, every accusation must be taken seriously, as the powerful RELY on the re-victimization of the already suffering by the doubtful and the egocentric, aided by toxic enablers and codependant flying monkeys - to further shame and silence.
We must remember justice is based in rehabilitation. Punishment is based in vengence. If it is not restorative, it is not the justice we need to heal.
I don’t know how to get us all there. To the place where we all prefer healing to revenge… I really wish I did. So much suffering in this world when people cannot stop themselves from acting out and taking. It’s all so gross.
In this case, not possible; he’s an actor.
Customers of prostitution are punished in many countries. In France, where a law to this effect just passed, customers of prostitution are required to follow a course on respecting women. Basically, the underlying reasoning is that there is no real consent once money is involved, the prostitute is forced for economical reasons. Hence, prostitution is sex without consent.
Associations of sex workers have argued that they freely chose their job, the law passed anyway.
I have no idea how many prostitutes are forced into the job and how many do it as a “vocation”, but I know that a sizable percentage do not do it entirely out of their free will. Therefore, I don’ think that prostitution is a solution to the problem of forced sex, but rather just moves the problem towards more vulnerable segments of the population.
I agree that the law in France is not solving the problem either, BTW.
What happens if we automatically believe anyone with an accusation?
For a moment I understood ‘sexual harassment by multiple women’.
…and may there be a wasp’s nest in there for each and every one of them.
We have a very, very strong culture of “innocent until proven guilty” in the US. So whenever a person is identified as a possible assailant it is “alleged” until the trial completes with a verdict.
Unfortunately many people conflate that to “victim is lying until proven truthful” which is simply wrong.
You can have both “Innocent until proven guilty” and “Victim is truthful until proven lying”, but it does involve some cognitive dissonance on several levels, and there are many people who want to see justice done, but in identifying a possible solution don’t see that their solution may actually be undermining one tenet or the other.
Solutions shouldn’t undermine either foundational tenet.
Sexual assault cases, particularly old ones, are particularly difficult because little to no physical evidence (which people trust more than testimony) exists to support either side. It becomes a war of words, and “beyond reasonable doubt” becomes a very high hurdle to overcome with just words from the victim. So in cases like this it’s still weighted in favor of the assailant.
We must encourage people to come forth immediately after sexual assault (which necessarily involves teaching them what it is so they can identify it immediately, and removing the stigma so they can feel comfortable doing so) while there’s still physical evidence to be examined.
Your post has one of my favorite typos of the week.
It’s fucking ironic that whenever these allegations happen, we have to once again be reminded that some people lie about sexual assault. It does nothing to actually address the problem, instead making us question whether it’s a problem at all. Does it matter? Does it matter to Anthony Rapp or any of the number of people who came forward about Weinstein or Cosby or whoever else? It’s a particularly pernicious form of goal post moving, because it just reinforces the idea that rape isn’t a “real” problem, and that the victims are primarily to blame for their assaults.
You might not have meant any of that and fair enough, but god damn am I sick of having to hear this in literally every single conversation about sexual assault. It’s almost more tiresome than the discussions about how the person dressed, drank, acted, or existed as a human being.
I’m sorry, no. The problem is particular people thinking they are entitled to take sexual pleasure where ever they like, even though someone is yelling stop. If someone gets their rocks off by brutalizing others in a non-consensual way, they are on a power trip and something is broken in their heads.
I recently saw Impulse* for the first time (even though it’s 33 years old). That film seems more and more prescient, although that specific behavior isn’t in there.
*I didn’t link to Wikipedia because that article has a plot spoiler right off the bat.
Yes, what a jerk I am for asking for the slightest bit of verification before condemning anyone on any accusation.
What kind of country do you want to live in, exactly? Trial By Media is a horrible thing, and presumption of innocence in the absence of any kind of verifiable fact is literally what our legal system is based on!
Just because it’s an emotional issue for you doesn’t mean we should turn off the need for some kind of proof; that’s how witch hunts literally happened in this country.
Quack quack.
Sexual assualt is about sex only in the same way that violence is about anger. The motivation is irrelevant. A person who rapes or assaults because of libido or physically assaults to relieve anger have both decided that using other people to deal with their feelings is acceptable.
The fact that being able to buy consent or fantasize might prevent some from doing it in the short term doesn’t really solve the problems that would-be rapists have with themselves and others.
Some people call it an “accusation”. Other people might reasonably call it “first-person evidence”, and “verifiable fact”. Potato, potatoh.
You’ll take this personally, so I won’t bother telling you not to. But amongst that, do try to understand that the main problem here - which you did recognise in your first post - is that too often a woman’s word is not taken as evidence.
What happens if we automatically doubt anyone who says they’ve been victimized?
What happens if we put the onus on the victims rather than teaching our society that touching anyone without their permission is fucking wrong?
What happens if we value industries and entertainment franchises and profit margins over the safety and well being of actual individuals?
What happens when we allow our pop culture to keep reinforcing toxic stereotypes that send the message that some people’s only value is ‘in their skin,’ and that such people have no agency?
The current fuckin’ status quo, also known as rape culture, that’s what.
This! An endless parade of questions of the victim… “What were you doing at that party? Why were you dressed like that? Did you give him any indications that you were interested? How drunk were you? How many people have you had sex with? Are you bisexual? Have you ever lied before in any context whatsoever about anything?” If they are men, “Well, why didn’t you fight him off? Are you gay?” And so on.
No one is saying due process should be thrown out the women, by why are victims of sexual assault held to some higher standard than victims of other crimes?
