You know, if I had to put up with what some people are putting up with on a daily basis, I don’t think I would have one tenth the stamina and poise said people manage to display. Jill is incredible. I wish I could have half the strength she does.
And she’s not the only one I’m admiring right now. If you skim that Feministe thread, you’d do well to make sure to read everything Violet Socks has written there. Greatest hits:
It’s a curious fact that the Duke apologists keep saying that the Duke men were tried and found guilty in the media, that for a year now they’ve been publicly branded as rapists. It’s curious because that is the precise opposite of reality. I’ve been blogging this case since the beginning, and the overwhelming brunt of commentary throughout the media and blogosphere from day one has been that the woman was a “liar,” a “ho,” and so on. That the poor white guys were being unfairly accused, that the race card was being played, etc. Remember the guy who at the very beginning referred to her as a “mother” in quotation marks? That’s been the tone all along. The defense attorneys flooded the media with outrageous character assassination of the accuser from the beginning and the white misogynists flogged the “reverse-discrimination” angle for all it was worth. If anyone has been vilified in the media, it’s the accuser. The poor woman never stood a chance.
Yet these hysterical white men continue to yammer on and on about how those poor little rich boys have been victimized.
and
The other thing is that the Duke apologists never mention that the Duke men’s acknowledged behavior that night was reprehensible. These are men who threatened to rape two women with a broomstick, who called the women “n—s,” who made taunting remarks about slavery, and who joked with each other about torturing and murdering black strippers.
Whether the accuser was raped or not by one of them, the men of the Duke lacrosse team are the scum of the earth.
Kudos, VS.
My head’s still reeling from the AutoAdmit crap. Is this the stuff that Markos says women need to thicken their skins that doesn’t really happen?
That AutoAdmit page - yeah, that’s prestigious all right. Their parents must be so proud, and so glad they’re shelling out the big bucks.
When I was a young street “punk” just trying to survive, I can’t tell you how exhilarating it was to hit back. I’m talking about guys who’d walk up from behind and grab me in the crotch or guys who’d grab a boob as they passed by.
In broad daylight on a public street. They felt entitled, viewed me as an easy target.
One I bashed over the head with my closed umbrella, another I kicked in the balls with my steel-toed boots (which were all the rage among us gals at the time). I stood and watched him squirm and rage at me. I suggested he not assault me again.
Never felt more empowered in my life.
Unfortunately it’s impossible to nail the sons of bastards who attack you on the Internet.
Sexual predators are pathetic cowards. I can’t even begin to describe the bottom feeding lowlifes that do it on the Internet.
Those AutoAdmit scum are just begging for the day when the rest of us will dine on Schadenfreude.
I note how most aren’t even hiding how they relate to scum like the lacrosse team, who may perhaps not have actually raped the plaintiff, but who definitely can’t be held up as moral exemplars.
Where is the critical thinking? That those three particular young men can’t be proven to be rapists has NOTHING to do with whether or not she was indeed raped.
I got savaged the one time I ventured a comment at Feministe. Whew! Never again.
(Sigh) I don’t suppose I have anything new to say about all this, except maybe that Markos and his ilk have no idea how thick women’s skins really are. We must constantly monitor ourselves and our surroundings, judging this to be not worth worrying about, that a risk not worth taking, and the other thing just plain scary. If our skins were all that thin, we’d never leave the house.
I was talking with some friends - all of us middle-aged women - about a recent murder of a young woman who made a bad choice of companions. We all teetered on the precipice of “we don’t blame the victim, but what the hell was she thinking?” We started toting up the ways our behavior has changed since our days of youthful invulnerability - not walking alone after certain hours or in certain areas, not being friendly to strangers in bars, etc. Age and experience have made us all too aware that the world is particularly dangerous for women, regardless of age or beauty.
I admire Lesley for confronting her harrassers, but the fact is my fat middle-aged ass is not capable of such a response. I’ll forego the pleasure of a walk on a hot summer night rather than risk being tomorrow’s headline. I hope Markos is satisfied.
Hey, you’re talking about me! That’s freaky—came over to see what’s up at Pinole Creek and there’s my name in lights. Thank you very much for the kind words.
The great irony of the AutoAdmit trolls is that one of them actually posted a comment on the Feministe thread explaining to us feeble-brained women that feminism was obsolete because his generation had moved past sexism. The mind boggles.
I am so glad that one of the very few times I’ve watched the news with my daughter this year happened to be when those interviews were broadcast.