It isn't really shocking when conservatives dismiss the ordeals of rape victims. They are conservatives, so for them women are always to blame for being brutalized. But when a blog that announces itself as "feminist" takes a dismissively flippant attitude to gang rape, it just beggars belief. This is how a "feminist" blog called Gender Across Borders begins a post on Lara Logan's gang rape:
So, Egypt’s recent burst of positive, peaceful freedom is not all hearts and rainbows for women – despite our maintenance that women played a key role in the movement. CBS released a statement today confirming that their chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan was beaten and sexually assaulted while on assignment in Cairo late-last week. Absolutely horrible.
So being gang raped is not ALL hearts and rainbows? Seriously? Who could have thought. We really needed a feminist blog to inform us of this. Is dismissing rape victims in this egregiously condescending way a new trend in feminism that I have missed?
Right after a quote describing the gang rape, the pseudo-feminist blogger shows us where her true allegiances belong:
I am overcome with mixed emotions — the overwhelming sentiment for Egypt is still one of celebration and pride, but let’s not kid ourselves that for women, some realities really and truly never change.
Yes, it's true that in what concerns rape, things don't seem to change much for women. And that happens precisely because even a feminist blogger can't control the desire to chirp like a stupid parrot about their idiotic, blathering celebration and pride two seconds after they describe a gang rape. Was there any real reason not to keep celebration and pride to some other post? Is there a need to insult every victim of sexual violence out there by this "oh, pity you got raped but otherwise everything is really fantastic" discourse?
Liberal bleeding hearts bleed for pretty words and abstract causes not for actual human beings who are suffering.
Liberal bleeding hearts bleed for pretty words and abstract causes not for actual human beings who are suffering.
14 comments:
Actually, I think the meaning of the sentence is that "the Egyptian revolution is not all hearts and roses for women as witnessed by this recent gang rape". I don't think that the meaning of the sentence is "Gang rape is not all hearts and roses". I also think that "not all hearts and roses" is heavily ironic.
Knee-jerk anti-feminism isn't any more intelligent than knee-jerk feminism.
If you think that the flippant tone of the post is appropriate for a discussion of rape, then I don't know what I can do to help you.
The last sentence of your comment is worthy of Sarah Palin.
I am somewhat confused by this post. It looks like you are very angry right now. I don't think there is any limit to the human capacity for insensitivity, and this is what I would call really insensitive : http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/02/16/2011-02-16_nir_rosen_us_journalist_trashes_cbs_lara_logan_on_twitter_after_sexual_assalt_in.html?r=news
I'm not just angry. I'm in a state of a blinding rage, actually. My BP is through the roof to the point where I can't see straight. Thank god, I don't have to teach today.
This isn't just about insensitivity. Many people are jerks about rape, I know that. But this is supposed to be a feminist who wrote about this. A feminist who talks about rape in this way is incomprehensible to me.
There's an old Paul Newman movie called "Cool Hand Luke" which spawned a famous quote from a great character actor named Strother Martin: "What we have here, is failure to communicate". I believe this blogger is probably not the sharpest literary knife in the dishwasher, and simply did a poor job of constructing her statement.
Secondly, as a rock-ribbed Southern conservative I have to vehemently disagree with your characterization of all conservatives being insensitive to rape in any form - that's an unwarranted conclusion and probably stems more from the emotion of the moment. I'm the father of two daughters, one of whom is still dealing with complications from a predatory manager for whom she worked about five years ago (actually, she's about your age). Our family has been down that road and got the T-shirts.
Finally, the management of CBS news is distinctly liberal and no strangers to feminism. It surprises me that they didn't issue a more appropriate statement. In the final analysis, the blogger did a poor job with her post on this subject and it seems to me the appropriate action would be to leave comments on her site letting her know just how we feel.
D: I was referring to certain discussions of this gang rape on conservative websites that take "she had it coming" attitude. I didn't link to them because I don't want to give them any hits.
I also want to remind you that the moment a conservative governor gets elected they immediately make women pay for their own rape kits.
I'M VERY sorry for what happened to your daughter.
"I also want to remind you that the moment a conservative governor gets elected they immediately make women pay for their own rape kits."
Please explain.
Not to fan the flames, but here's another idiotic statement about this tragedy - coming from an apparent liberal, no less.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110216/ap_on_en_tv/ny_lara_logan_tweets
I sometimes wonder if these people really think about what they're writing - especially considering it can be seen around the world in a matter of seconds.
On rape kits:
http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2009/05/friday-edition-you-gotta-be-kidding-me-beat
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jacob-alperinsheriff/sarah-palin-instituted-ra_b_125833.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-cutbirth/how-can-texas-force-women_b_201289.html
What an idiot is this Nir Rosen.
And the counter-argument on rape kits:
http://townhall.com/columnists/amandacarpenter/2008/09/11/the_palin_rape_kit_myth
Who cares about Palin if it happened in a variety of different states?
Or are you one of those Palin fans? If so, then I'm sure you'll love my posts on Palin. :-)
More on rape kits:
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/05/13/making-rape-victims-pay
And still more on rape kits in TX:
"...In May, a Houston television station aired a report, picked up by CNN, that caused an uproar in the advocacy community because it implied that sexual assault victims were being billed for forensic exams, Camp said.
In response, both the attorney general’s office and TAASA issued public statements that termed the TV story inaccurate and misleading. The attorney general's office said that as of Jan. 1, the office had paid for 57,702 rape exams since December 2002 and had not denied any requests for reimbursements for the kits from law enforcement agencies."
Source
http://politifact.com/texas/statements/2010/jan/12/barbara-ann-radnofsky/radnofsky-says-attorney-general-requires-rape-vict/
Just to answer your question - Yes, I like Sarah Palin; No, I don't think she's prepared or qualified to be POTUS.
What is it that anybody can possibly like about Sarah Palin? Except those people, of course, who like her because she reinforces every nasty anti-American stereotype.
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