TRIGGER WARNING: Graphic descriptions of sexual assault; rape apologetics.
Journalist Lara Logan recently appeared on 60 Minutes, giving the harrowing details of the brutal sexual and physical assault she sustained at the hands of a mob while covering the protests for (60 Minutes) in Cairo this past February.
When news of the assault first hit the internet, you may recall, it seemed to open the floodgates of misogyny and racism. Looking at one Yahoo News story on the attack, I found hundreds of vile comments – some blaming Logan for her victimization, or doubting it ever happened; others using the assault as an excuse to spout hateful filth about Arabs and Muslims in general. In the “manosphere” itself, the reaction was predictably appalling, with many MRAs not only mocking and belittling the victim but using the case to push their own retrograde agenda. (See my post here for more details.)
Even within this context, the reaction of blogger Ferdinand Bardamu of In Mala Fide stood out for its sheer nastiness; I wrote about it here. In his first post on the subject, Bardamu mocked the victim, declared that “she had it coming,” then suggested that she probably hadn’t been raped at all. Based on no evidence whatsoever, he speculated that she may have just “made the whole thing up to garner attention and sympathy from the weepy, chivalrous masses. “
Bardamu has now used the occasion of Logan’s new CBS interview as an excuse to mock the victim again — calling her, among other things, an “idiot,” a “moron,” a “strumpet” and a “fake-breasted tart” — and to repeat his contention that she wasn’t “really” raped at all. Indeed, he says, the interview has “vindicated” his skepticism about the rape. Why? Because in her interview of 60 Minutes, Logan had spoken about being penetrated by the hands of her attackers. Bardamu evidently finds this highly risable, and somehow manages to convince himself that Logan was merely groped:
But seriously, “they raped [you] with their hands”?
Look, I’m no scholar, but even with feminists’ constant re-defining of rape, I know for a fact that rape has to involve a penis. Specifically, an penis entering an orifice without invitation. If you didn’t get a dick forced into your mouth, vagina or asshole, you didn’t get raped.
Logan and CBS’ deliberate vagueness about the “sexual assault” back in February was no doubt calculated to make people imagine the worst possible scenario that could happen. A line of hairy, creepy men pulling a train on her. Triple penetration at all times, the hairy sleazy monkey-men shooting jizz in every hole in her body, donkey punching her every time she tried to resist. In reality, she probably got spit on a few times, had her butt slapped, and had her silicone tits felt up. That’s not rape, you strumpet, that’s Spring Break in Cancun!
It’s hard to even know where to start with something this appalling. First of all, as a few dissenters pointed out in the comments on Bardamu’s post, it is still rape – “real” rape – when you are penetrated with fingers, bottles, or any other foreign object. When Abner Louima was brutally sodomized with the handle a bathroom plunger by New York city cops, that was rape, real rape. And what Logan says happened to her was real rape too.
As for the rest, I think the only thing to do is to contrast Bardamu’s words with Logan’s account of what happened to her, taken from a transcript of the interview.
As Logan tells the story of the assault, she and her crew were caught in the midst of a mob. Men grabbed her, groped her, and literally tore the clothes from her body. As she describes it:
I feel them tearing at my clothing. I think my shirt, my sweater was torn off completely. My shirt was around my neck. I felt the moment that my bra tore. They tore the metal clips of my bra. They tore those open. … [T]hey literally just tore my pants to shreds. And then I felt my underwear go.
Some men began beating her with sticks and others, with their hands, penetrated her. In this and the following passages I’ve bolded the statements dealing specifically with the sexual aspect of the assault. Logan again:
I didn’t even know that they were beating me with flagpoles and sticks and things, because I couldn’t even feel that. Because I think of the sexual assault, was all I could feel, was their hands raping me over and over and over again. …
They were tearing my body in every direction at this point, tearing my muscles. And they were trying to tear off chunks of my scalp … not trying to pull out my hair, holding big wads of it, literally trying to tear my scalp off my skull. And I thought, … I am going to die here.
This assault lasted 25 minutes. Logan says:
[T]hat’s when I said, “Okay, it’s about staying alive now. I have to just surrender to the sexual assault. What more can they do now? They’re inside you everywhere.” So the only thing to fight for, left to fight for, was my life.
Ultimately, Logan was rescued and rushed to the hospital. Logan continues:
I stayed there for four days, which was hard. My muscles were so unbelievably sore, because they were literally stretched from the mob trying to tear my limbs off my body. My joints, every joint in my body was distended. And then they, the more intimate injuries, the injuries, the tearing inside. And the mark of their hands, their fingers all over my body, cuts and everything you could imagine. But no broken bones.
This horrific account bears very little resemblance, it hardly needs to be said, to Spring Break in Cancun.
Naturally, a number of the commenters on Bardamu’s site manage if anything to be even more vile than Bardamu himself.
McGlothin suggests that Logan probably enjoyed the experience:
It’s not impossible that she went all the way to orgasm when the testosterone filled raging men fingered and groped her. That would explain the vagueness of her description: she was way enjoying it so much that she could not remember precisely what happened except that they molested her manually.
Attila concurs:
This gynbot just wants attention, and is playing the “Arabs are animals” routine for brownie points. She probably got groped a little, in a way that she has never been groped before, and she may be reacting to the fact that she may have gotten a thrill out of it.
Commander Shepard throws some racism and “slut”-shaming into the mix:
She was raped by their hands? LOL. A pretty blond like Logan probably spent her youth getting gang banged by alphas. In this case the men were beneath her (dirty sand niggers) but even they didn’t penetrate. She’s probably more upset about her bruised ego than her bruised body.
Bardamu wrote his post, I should note, before the interview aired, and before anything beyond a few quotes from it had been published. But it is telling that he has not bothered to go back and watch or read the full account. Not that it would matter; he made up his mind on the case a long time ago, and I doubt that anything could change it. Like many in the “manosphere,” Bardamu and his fans see only what they want to see, and use their imagination – and their prejudices — to fill in the rest.
In case anyone’s wondering what Ferdinand Bardamu is about, here another sample of his writing: Saving the white race with sexual degeneracy, which proposes that feminism and sexual freedom be exported to poor countries so that their societies will self-destruct just as the West has.
(Everything is womens’ fault with this guy.)
You want to end the alphabetaomega structure that you think exists in the world but you want nothing to do with women that you label as omegas. How are you supposed to end this system you say exists when you are taking an active part in supporting/creating the system by viewing women in the alpha and beta categories a superior to omegas?
I don’t get it. If you follow them because they offer a better tomorrow, why can you not describe what this better tomorrow is and what steps need to be taken to get there?
About a year ago I decided that buying a house would lead to a “better tomorrow” for me on a personal level, so I set about making changes to my lifestyle so that I could sock away the extra necessary cash for a downpayment, closing costs, moving costs and a little extra. I had to change how I ate (in vs. out), how I entertained friends (fun picnic vs. expensive dinners), and adjust other plans, but I’m well on the way to my personal “better tomorrow” and will soon be able to buy a house with more than the recommended downpayment.
If you can’t articulate the end goal and the steps to get there it’s a dream not a plan*.
You’d have better luck with the underwear gnomes than with the MRA’s for your “better tomorrow”, because at least they seem to be trying to iron out the details of their “step 2″… the MRA’s don’t even have a solid definition of what their “step 3: profit!” will look like. Or if they do, they know it’s so repellant that they know better than to outline it in a public venue.
*thank you Gail Vaz-Oxlade!
MRAL, you keep moving the goalposts here. First you claim that most women don’t get rejected or made fun of, and can’t understand it. Then you claim it’s only hot women. (For whatever value of hot.)
First you claim that fat women can’t really get laid, and then you claim that they can’t get laid by alphas. (For whatever the fuck an alpha is.)
Well, you’d probably rank me as a beta, and I am here to tell you that I have been very cruelly rejected and made fun of, by men and by women, many times. I have also been let down gently, and just flatly ignored by someone I thought was a hottie.
I also frequently bed men you would probably consider omegas. Because I love sex, and I think they’re the bees knees.
And has it ever occurred to you that perhaps the reason women have nothing to do with you is because you keep calling them bitches?
@ScareCrow P-Man
Cause maybe ozymandias doesn’t want to risk being stalked in real life? Or she doesn’t have a wordpress account? Or she’s in the Witness Protection Program? Or one of a million other reasons someone might not use their real picture on the interwebz regardless of their hotness?
Also, apologies for not being on-topic. I think I got caught up on MRAL’s comments because the actual post is so abhorrent that I had to take time out before entering into these comments just in case something equally repulsive was waiting here. It was easier to answer his strange support (and saying ‘I can understand where they’re coming from’ is supporting them, implicitly)
It’s hateful, and it’s hard for me to even consider that there are people out there (like the author in the OP) who can see a horrible thing and feel vindicated by it, and try to squeeze the pain and suffering of another into their twisted world view.
MRAL is preaching revolution, bay-bee! The oppressors will be cast down, and a new society will be created by the dictatorship of the sexual proletariat.
Omegas of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your virginity!
I haven’t read the comments yet – but the pathologically complete and utter douchebaggery on display in those quotes just defies belief.
Those swine aren’t even part of the human race.
Kodiak, I agree that the vile garbage posted at In Mala Fide is difficult to read and process. That poor woman was raped in that mob and then some Internet wackos make light of it and blame her for the attack. It’s like a case in Texas where an 11 year old girl was gang raped by 20 men, and then some horrible people called her family to threaten them and blame the child for the attack. It makes me sick that people could have such demented views about rape.
Okay, okay, let me make sure I’ve got the rules right.
1. The single most important political issue in the world today is men getting turned down for dates.
2. The only rejections that matter, however, are those suffered by men who aren’t “alpha males.”
3. “Alpha males” get rejected, too, but it doesn’t hurt them because they’re just that awesome.
4. Women of all descriptions get rejected, too, but they deserve it for asking out guys who were out of their league.
5. Does it thus follow that if a man gets rejected, he deserves it for asking out a woman who was out of his league? HELL NO. IT MEANS THE GREATEST INJUSTICE IN HISTORY HAS JUST HAPPENED.
6. The Men’s Rights Movement has a secret plan to fix things so men will never get turned down for dates. No, you can’t find out what the plan is. It’s a secret.
7. Contrary to previous MRA reports, it is now believed possible for a man to be both an “alpha male” and a “mangina.” President Obama, for example, has achieved this mystical fusion, presumably while not busy killing the fuck out of bin Laden. I for one am extremely excited about this new finding and eagerly await the MRA movement’s corresponding derogatory term. I suggest “alginas.”
8. As long as we live in a world where men sometimes get turned down for dates, it’s perfectly reasonable to hate women so much that you cheer rape gangs.
9. No fat chicks.
Like other people, I’m focusing on this nonsense because the original post is just too depressing and foul, but I do recommend reading the Lara Logan interview. It’s hard to get through, but her description of being saved by a group of Egyptian women who shielded her and threw water on her attackers is inspiring, as are her final comments about other journalists thanking her for coming forward:
…women never complain about incidents of sexual violence because you don’t want someone to say, “Well women shouldn’t be out there.” But I think there are a lot of women who experience these kinds of things as journalists and they don’t want it to stop their job because they do it for the same reasons as me – they are committed to what they do. They are not adrenaline junkies you know, they’re not glory hounds, they do it because they believe in being journalists.
MRAL, if you are even a real person and not some marginally-clever parody troll, you are a weak and bitter little creature. You say you don’t hate all women but your preferred insult is to compare men to women (and as CB said, that only works on people who actually think women are inferior). You say you’re unfairly turned down by women because of your appearance yet you casually judge women by the same criteria. You are everything you claim to hate and I have zero sympathy for you and nothing but sympathy for every woman who has ever or will ever be unfortunate enough to have to interact with you.
I’m out. Peace.
MRAL, I knew a guy in high school who had a cleft palate. He did very well with the girls, dating some the PUA crowd would rate pretty highly on their little scale. He certainly did better than I did. Why? He was confident and outgoing and personable.
And no, he wasn’t rich. He did have a car, but it was so crappy and old and rusty that it literally had a hole in the floor on the front passenger side.
He absolutely deserved his dating success. But I rather doubt that many girls with cleft palates would have been dating “alphas” in high school.
I honestly don’t know if MRAL is a troll; if so, he’s pretty pitch-perfect. I’ve seen all of his arguments, such as they are, from MRAs/MGTOW/PUAs before, which inclines me to think he’s real.
To be fair, Islam does legally allow for rape:
http://wikiislam.net/wiki/Rape_in_Islam
So does Christianity, if the high rates of rape in American jails is any indication…
Also, how crazy do you have to be to take a post about a woman’s brutal rape and twist it into how unjust it is that women don’t want to date you? And then, after doing that, you’re still wondering why nobody wants to date you. Crazy! But yeah, I think everyone would rather go after MRAL than deal with the content of the post, which is too terrible to even consider.
Scarecrow: I don’t have a pic because I’m a sex blogger. Very few sex bloggers use their real names or their pics, because you can get fired from work if your boss finds out.
I’m out. Peace.
Don’t let the door hit ya in the @rse on your way out!!
You say you’re unfairly turned down by women because of your appearance yet you casually judge women by the same criteria.
I guess that’s what “egalitarian” means in MRALand
Heh. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why women reject these MRA’s. It’s too bad they aren’t smart enough themselves to figure it out. I’ve never seen one of them take any responsibility for any part they may have played in the endings of their relationships. No. They are all left for “no reason” or “frivolous reasons”. Never mind that they hate women and treat women like crap, and most are, I am positive, ABUSERS. Because that is exactly what abusers do. They treat their partners like shit, then are clueless as to why when their sorry butts get left, and then they seek revenge. I laugh at how superior they think they are, because really, they are just as dumb as a box of rocks. Ole’ Bardamu is a stupid, ignorant, disgusting person who doesn’t deserve the time of day from any woman. I don’t believe for a second that their attitudes and beliefs are the result of women rejecting them. Their disgusting attitudes and beliefs are the reason women reject them. Their flimsy excuses for their nastiness aren’t good enough. They should all go their own way.
I’ve seen some horrible things in the news, but my god, Logan’s account of her assault is one of the worst. I’m not even a survivor and I felt triggered.
The racist jabs just make me shake my heard. Logan’s assault is especially horrible because she was a victim of mob mentality as well, but it’s not unique. As long as we live in a world where women’s bodies are public property, this kind of atrocity can happen anywhere – the streets of Cairo, or the backyards of Cleveland, TX.
Just letting everyone know that one of my most fondly-remembered boyfriends had (and still has) a deformed eye. He was smart, funny, kind, hot, and great in bed, and I found his eye thing intriguing and attractive even the first time I saw him, though I guess it wasn’t objectively hot (omg, women don’t all judge men by exactly the same standard WHUT?!).
We broke up because he had to move for a job, but we met a few more times when we were in the same city, just for sex, because yum.
So MRAL, please don’t blame your eye for your issues with women; that’s not the problem. Oh, and I’m fat now, but I wasn’t then, in case you’re wondering if I was just an “omega bitch”. And while I remember, I earn more than the last three or four guys I’ve dated, and I still found them sexy in spite of being more alpha than them by your definition!
@ozmandiaansida
OOOOOHHHH.
So let me get this right… a BMI of greater than 25 means a girl is a fat fat fatty omega disgusting bitch worthy of contempt. Do you know how many women this describes?? About 57%! That’s right – the AVERAGE woman is considered “overweight” these days. You rule out more than half the female population as unfuckable and no wonder you think the deck is stacked against you. All men deserve to get laid but only 43% of women do?
So apparently women are controlling men by not dieting themselves into subservience and fuckability!
In all seriousness, at a BMI of 29 I could stand to lose about 25lbs. This would put me at a BMI of 26, still technically “overweight” but at the 52nd percentile for my age and height – which is to say about AVERAGE. I’ve been that weight before and, yeah, I did look better and more importantly feel better (though my fiance still tells me weekly that he thinks I’m hot – one of the bonuses of the extra weight was going from a C-cup to a DD-cup which doesn’t suck :D). I’m working on it. It’s not exactly easy but it’s not impossible (I’ve done it before).
But the question is (or one of the questions is) – how did I get this way? Well, I gained about 5 pounds a year. Yeah, 5 measly pounds. In calorie equivalent that’s about 47 calories or 2.5% of a 2000 calorie diet a day. Which is to say it’s about 2 extra packets of sugar a day – not even noticeable. Hardly “eating nothing but cheesecake” (I don’t even like cheesecake!).
“I suppose the main trick is simply to convince women to stop thinking of men solely in terms of looks and money.”—Men’s Rights Activist Lieutenant
Let’s have more equality and have women use looks as their most important trait like MRAL. He wouldn’t like that because he still wouldn’t get any.