Zerlina Maxwell challenges rape culture on Fox News, receives rape threats on Twitter.
I’m still officially on my Man Boobz staycation, but I felt I needed to mention yet another example of a woman saying that men can stop rape … and getting rape threats in return.
Political analyst Zerlina Maxwell went on Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News earlier this week and made the terrible mistake of suggesting to a hostile audience that men aren’t really doing any favors to women by telling them to arm themselves against rapists. Instead, as Salon notes, she said this:
“I don’t think that we should be telling women anything. I think we should be telling men not to rape women and start the conversation there.” She told Hannity, “You’re talking about this as if it’s some faceless, nameless criminal, when a lot of times it’s someone you know and trust,” adding, “If you train men not to grow up to become rapists, you prevent rape.”
Indeed, increased rape awareness has contributed to a dramatic decrease in rape over the last thirty years.
But apparently a lot of men were shocked – shocked! – that a woman would suggest that their patronizing advice was less likely to prevent rape than rape prevention education aimed at the demographic group that is responsible for the overwhelmng majority of rapes. That is, men.
So, naturally, the angriest of these men decided they would show Maxwell just how wrong she was … by threatening her with rape on Twitter.
Here’s just one example:
Rape culture in action.
Maxwell’s supporters have stepped up to defend her and her remarks, and have started a hashtag — #TYZerlina — to continue the discussion. If you’re on Twitter, join in .
Here’s the Fox News segment in question featuring Maxwell:
Posted on March 8, 2013, in harassment, hate, irony alert, men who should not ever be with women ever, misogyny, rape, rape culture and tagged #TYZerlina, fox news, rape culture, Zerlina Maxwell. Bookmark the permalink. 701 Comments.
@ Argenti
Do you know how to use a French press? If so, come on over.
Nerdypants – “But I’m probably over-thinking it; they’re probably just using it as a post-hoc rationalisation for their own shittiness.”
I’ve yet to see any evo-psych stuff that wasn’t doing that. I don’t delve into it; the shit I see here is more than enough. Whatever the scientific origins, I despise the whole popular evo-psych business: like you said, it’s just reductionist, misogynist scum justifying their behaviour and trying to control women.
lol, thanks, I can tell the difference. My point was expressing you were sad, and whining about it, whining seemed more entitled. They had way different tones.
Probably weren’t the best example sentences, but I hoped they’d make the point.
/non poxy people, sorry if I’m not making much sense, it’s rather late here. Poxy, you aren’t making much sense anyway, so at least it’s mutual.
*extends hand to Argenti via teh intertubes, tries not to look like Michelangelo’s idea of God whild doing so*
Bring your summer gear and best iced-coffee making skills, it’s HOT here!
Marie – your statements made sense to me; the distinction between “I am sad ‘cos I’m alone” and “it is women’s fault that I am alone” was very clear.
Poxy, you troll, jackass–the people in that Texas town think she’s a trollop who asked for it. That’s society, dimwit.
Go ask you questions somewhere else, and get a better schtick. Yours sucks.
@kittehs
alright thanks :D I just tend to be bad with telling how well I communicate on the internet, so I wasn’t sure.
@ Marie
You’re being perfectly clear, it’s not your fault that trolls like to pretend to be stupid so they can make you keep talking to them.
And here’s the original, because the Akon version doesn’t quite capture the pathos that is the life of a troll.
http://www.lyrics007.com/Vinton%20Bobby%20Lyrics/Mr%20Lonely%20Lyrics.html
“Do you know how to use a French press? If so, come on over.”
Always! And with freshly ground beans :)
Guess I should get started on writing up instructions on caring for the fish?
Then again…it’s warm wear kitteh is…or is it warm your way too Cassandra? Decisions decisions! (I don’t like iced coffee btw, so I probably suck at it, I drink the stuff hot year round)
Pro-tip Poxy, you’re never going to either make friends or influence people if you come in with questions, ignore the answers, question the intelligence of the regulars and assume we don’t know how fallacies go. I’m only resisting the urge to play Spot That Fallacy because I have the good doctor Reid paused on the other screen.
Were you really that condescending? (I might have been at that age, but I strongly affirm everyone’s right to have told past-me to shut the fuck up.)
It’s still California-cold here (ie down below 50 at night). I’m a coffee slut, though – hot, iced, Arab, French, whatever. Just not instant, please.
@ CassandraSays
dang, was that song relevant to the troll? My love for music and headache are at war with each other, though, regardless.
Just click the second link, no sound there.
Ok, I shall :D
(OT, but now I end up using the big smily face most of the time because the eyebrows on this one :) start to freak me out after a while. and the eyebrows on this one :( make it looks so sad I feel bad using it after trivial thoughts. This smily face rambling is probably a sign I should go to bed…)
Oh, is that what you think? Well, I think you’re the sort of person who comes here to say obnoxious things about extremely painful topics, and maybe that’s something that bears reevaluation.
I am so chastened by Poxy’s rebuke. Can’t you tell?
@Teh Kitteh’s:
Accusing someone of JAQing off means silencing criticism, which can go to the extreme, which is called immunization against criticism. I gave you an example where a good-faith poster explained the experiences he made at a different feminist blog, namely Skepchick, and was accused being an MRA, posting in bad faith while in reality the people who were accusing him just couldn’t support their claims. So with Skepchick of course, one could nearly sympathize with them being a bit paranoid, after all what happened. But as it turned out it wasn’t paranoia…
Marie – did you ever see the thread where someone (katz? cloudiah?) posted a link to the pictures of Sam, the cat with eyebrows?
@The Kitteh’s: Pop-science is always a bit crap, maybe the message gets garbled on the way down from the ivory towers, or maybe the early preoccupation with sexual selection meant it couldn’t be received without being politicised. But I think altruism research is nifty, inclusive fitness and evolutionary game theory. There’s a wonderful doco called ‘Ape Genius’ that explores that if you’re interested.
That’s not eyebrows, that’s another set of ears o.o
OT-ish but this really reminds me of someone I saw who said the word ‘mansplaining’ was being used to shut down criticism. Was that a troll here?
@kittehs
That’s much cuter than I assumed it’d be. The eyebrows just make it look a little worried. Why are you worried, little kittty? /small animal deprived.
Now you’re really into troll territory, Poxy. “Silencing”? Bullshit. You’ve already had it pointed out that JAQing off means you aren’t engaging with the answers you’re given, and you’re acting more and more trollish in these last few posts: being condescending, telling regulars how to behave,and refusing to consider your own behaviour. That’s on top of coming in admitting you don’t know what you’re talking about (and as I said, and others have also, ignoring the answers you were given. This isn’t a Feminism 101 site, something else you have failed to take away from the article you linked to. All you seem to have taken in there is the poster’s self-justifying whine, not the replies he was given.
If you’re posting in good faith, you’re doing a really bad job of it. Go away and consider your own actions before you lecture regulars here about ours.
Poxy, please shut up. We are not silencing criticism. We’re silencing a sanctimonious jackoff. No one gives a shit what you have to say anymore. If you want to be heard out, you’ll have to learn not to act like a wanker.
When I first saw that kitty I thought it looked like he had caterpillars on his head! He does look a bit worrit, though. :D
Agh, whenever I think of “ivory tower” and “science” in the same sentence I think of that douchecanoe Richard Dawkins. Cannot abide that man, and that was before his contribution to elevatorgate. But yeah, no question real science gets totally garbled when it’s popularised, even without malice aforethought.
@Poxy: You aren’t being silenced. There is nothing preventing you from giving a measured, rational and good faith response to to my criticism of what you wrote here.
This cat with eyebrows has the perfect expression for trolls
@katz:
No? But it happened at Skepchick:
You’d have to have an actual point for us to disagree with…preferably one we haven’t heard and rebuked repeatedly.
Cassandra — instant coffee is heresy. To like it is to blaspheme the coffee gods (my mother gets real cranky when I say that every time she makes herself instant decaf, wtf’s the point of instant decaf?!)
See that right there? “Wtf’s the point of instant decaf?!” That’s a question, granted the bar for convincing me that there is, in fact, a point is awfully high, I am actually willing to listen.
Also, the goalpost shifting is a thing of beauty. For extra lulz, lawyers don’t try to blame black magic anymore so they don’t exist completely outside society? If the Criminal Minds I just finished was real, you can damned well bet that an insanity plea based on a belief in black magic would occur (Corazon, for the curious)
Maybe you live in a dorm or small apartment with no room for a coffee maker and you also get terrible headaches from caffeine.
Small animal deprivation?! Baby hamster to the rescue!
(Tries to think of a reason for instant decaf)
So, um, say you like the taste of coffee, but not really, and you don’t have any coffee making equipment and can’t afford to get any, and you don’t need the caffeine boost. Maybe then.
I have a friend who keeps trying to get me to try the “coffee sticks” from Korea, where you just add water to get cappucino, etc. Generally Korea makes great coffee, but I’m just not buying the idea that the instant kind with “milk” included is worth drinking.
Or maybe you are making a coffee-flavored dessert (many such recipes call for instant coffee crystals because they’re water-soluble) and you’re going to give it to kids so you want to minimize how wired they get, or AWWW BABY HAMSTER
D’awwww That baby hamster is so adorable!!!! <3
Is Poxy making less sense as zie goes on? Because I couldn't tell what the last post was saying, but then again, that may just be my bedtime activating.
Katz — then why drink it at all? That stuff doesn’t taste like coffee, coffee ice cream or something would be more coffee-like. Though really, I only care if I have to confirm that you are not handing me a cup of coffee and not telling me it’s instant decaf. That’s a double sin.
Whatever, in matters of taste…just don’t make me taste it, my tastes are against it.
Also, show of hands, who here gives a fuck what happened to someone not here, on some blog that isn’t this one?
Bedtime powers, activate! It isn’t just you. I mean, I can follow the gist of it, just not the why. Mind, I can follow wtf ABNOY is saying, and am semi-fluent in Owly.
re: coffee
I’ve never understood decaf coffee. Then again, I only drink coffee for the caffine, so maybe that’s inevitable. (I’m also a total wuss with my coffee, I end up dosing it up with so much cream and suger and chocolate….)
I dunno, I’m an herbal tea drinker.
I’ll pretend you’re understanding more because you’re fluent in troll then, even though it’s probably the sleepy reason. But rather than accept it I have got some sugar to perk me up, because going to bed would just be ridiculous*
*tongue in cheek, not sure how to clarify that here.
This is probably just my me-ness again, but I don’t quite understand your show of hands question, sorry. It was a little vague (was it supposed to be?) Idk i’m rambling.
I have no objection to good decaf that tastes like regular coffee, it’s just that the instant kind always tastes either weak or bitter to me. I figure if I’m going to expose my stomach to that much acid I may as well be getting a caffeine kick out of it.
@ Marie
May just be that the acid bothers your stomach, but also, where do you usually buy it? I find that Starbucks requires the addition of lots of milk and sugar for me because I just don’t like the taste, whereas say my local coffee house I don’t find myself adding nearly as much of either since the coffee is smoother. Also, not sure why, but for me iced coffee requires less milk and sugar.
I have never actually “SQUEEd” in my life until I clicked on that baby hamster link.
Poxy, I don’t know if you’re a troll (as we use the term here) or not, but you are definitely being an asshole. If you’re not a troll, try a little introspection about why you’re getting such a negative reaction.
If you are a troll, step on LEGOs for all of eternity.
My mum drinks instant decaf. She likes it and neither of is interested in the matter of making coffee; also she doesn’t want the caffeine (also even if we wanted to have coffee-making machinery, we have literally no space to keep it). Could we knock off what’s sounding like coffee snobbery, kthanks?
Normally I just make it in a coffee maker (so, grocery store). I think it’s the taste thing, though, because I just don’t like the taste of many coffees. The time I had coffee at starbucks I had to add a lot of sugar and stuff, too, though. I figured since it was a store only for coffee the coffee would actually be good. :p
BTW favorite fruity herbal tea.
http://www.farleaves.com/shop/tea_page.php3?tea_id=73
Favorite spicy/ gingery herbal tea.
http://www.mightyleaf.com/loose-tea_herbal-tea/ginger-twist-loose-tea/
Favorite roobios blend.
http://www.mightyleaf.com/loose-tea_herbal-tea/organic-african-nectar-rooibos-tea/
Yeah, “how is this relevant?” was my thought on that one.
A lot of people just don’t like the bitter/strong/aromatic thing that coffee has going on. In which case it’s basically legal speed, so go ahead and dose it with whatever makes it palatable.
My dad drinks it straight no matter how strong it is. Never did understand how his stomach could handle that.
(I never did understand the logic by which coffee and caffeine pills are legal but amphetamines are not, btw. If I drink enough coffee I may as well be tweaking from a behavioral pov.)
Cassandra, those loose-leaf teas all look lovely! I love loose-leaf but I can just never gear myself up to make tea that I know will require washing the pot and strainer afterwards.
I actually had a good, strong cup of coffee at a French restaurant this morning, which was the first coffee I’d had in about 6 months — and it made me sigh with happiness. So sad that coffee in general does not agree with me. :-(
No, it does not. Naming the behavior is just exactly that. Naming the behavior. You can keep on JAQing off if you want to. Expecting to do so without anyone noticing that you are JAQing off, or mentioning that you are JAQing off is unrealistic. Calling it silencing criticism is absurd.
“This is probably just my me-ness again, but I don’t quite understand your show of hands question, sorry.”
It’s a roll call of sorts, eg “who thinks that baby hamster is adorable, show of hands” would get a round of *sticks hand in air*…idk, maybe you just have to witness it for it to make sense and since no one seems to have an opinion on the matter, that will have to wait for some other time.
As for instant decaf, if it suits you, enjoy, I don’t have to get it for you to like it! Don’t like iced coffee either, but I’ve never taken a sip and then gone “is this what I think it is? Why did you try giving me this?” …it’s the not telling me part that really bothers me, you want to drink it I’m just going to go “huh?”
@ katz
The Mighty Leaf ones mostly come in teabag versions too for just that reason! Tastes like making it from loose leaf, probably because the pouches are so big.
http://www.mightyleaf.com/tea-pouches_herbal-tea/african-nectar-rooibos-tea-pouches/
thebewilderness – so true, since JAQers are trolls and when do trolls ever STFU?
As far as I’m concerned, once someone tries to change the subject to “Why aren’t you guys being nice and treating me the way I want?”, then zie’s a troll.
(As everyone knows, I am not universally opposed to discussing how people are being treated, nor do I think there’s no such thing as inappropriate treatment, but there’s a place and a time, folks.)
(And the place and time are in a separate thread where you’re neither derailing the conversation nor forcing people to participate who aren’t interested.)
@kittehs
(if I’m one of the coffee snobs) I apologize for the coffee snobbery. I didn’t mean to be dissing your mum.
Okay I’m convinced. TROLL.
I drink much more decaf coffee than regular, since the caffeine hits me extremely hard. I actually think too much caffeine has been a contributing factor to some of my panic attacks and feelings of dread before, which aren’t really worth the pick-me-up! But instant coffee always tastes thin and acidic to me, so I won’t drink it with or without caffeine.
Anyway, it’s bed time for very sick Canadian kitties who can’t possibly miss work tomorrow, as wonderful as that sounds. Goodnight Manboobzers.
“(I never did understand the logic by which coffee and caffeine pills are legal but amphetamines are not, btw. If I drink enough coffee I may as well be tweaking from a behavioral pov.)”
If it wasn’t midnight here I’d ask my favorite pharmacy student, but at a guess it’s because it’s harder to overdose on caffeine. At least in coffee form anyways, no clue on the pills. I’d say “because meth is more addictive” but I’m sure how much that’s truth versus urban legend.
Argenti – it’s like the “timid palate” crap about not liking hot food, like there’s something wrong with having different tastes. It just raised my hackles a bit, I’ve heard it too often as a put-down.
Every Xmas, my mother makes this thing she calls “coffee glog” which involves ice cream, whiskey, and instant coffee and it is (a) delicious, and (2) a lovely, gentle high for a holiday morning.
Ok. Thanks for explaining :D
G’night Viscaria.
Viscaria, I hope you feel better soon. Especially if you have to go to work — so sucks to go to work when you’re too sick to work.
Marie – no worries!
I’m with you about Starbucks – tried it once, didn’t like it much. That was in LA.
OMIGOD
I love Mighty Leaf so much. They started as a store called Tea and Company in the Fillmore in San Francisco, and they were awesome even then.
BTW the African Nectar, Ginger Twist, and Blossoms and Berries are all good iced too.
I use instant coffee when I cook. I like red eye gravy, but I don’t always want to get the red eye or give it to the kids so the decaf works a treat. Back in the day, before I became addicted to caffeine and did not like the taste of hot coffee, I used to like iced coffee.
One of the joys of growing up and cooking for yourself is discovering all those things you didn’t think you liked were only that you didn’t like the way other peeps prepared them. Vegies boiled to paste leaps to mind, and coffee, ancient nasty bitter cruel coffee.
I thought I hated veggies for a while, turned out I just hated the way they’re usually cooked in the UK. The first time I had a Vietnamese salad I was all “wait, I like cabbage?”.
Kitteh — sorry, I didn’t mean to come off as “no one should like this” so much as “I don’t get it and goddamned mom don’t serve me it!” …I reserve the right to tell my mother when her tastes are horrendous! (She eats mayo! And frikken pearl onions! And eggplant)
Yes, I realize plenty of people love eggplant, I am not one of them!
Point here? In matters of taste, [insert Latin that amounts to "who the fuck cares"]
Spinach! Proverbially gross because people eat it canned and frozen and all sorts of nasty ways! Fresh, it’s friggin delicious!