RawStory has a piece up highlighting The top 5 rape apologist reactions to the Steubenville rape verdict. It’s well worth reading. As the author of the piece, Emily Mullen, notes:
The Steubenville guilty verdict spawned nearly as much rape apology as the original news of the case did, highlighting the point — made by feminists like Zerlina Maxwell and Jaclyn Friedman — that America has a long way to go before it gets past blaming victims and sympathizing with rapists.
I haven’t yet run across any reactions in the Manosphere to the verdicts, but I’m sure we’ll see some in the next few days. If you run across anything especially awful, in the Manosphere or outside of it, please let me know.
Men’s Rights Redditors, currently silent about the verdicts, were up in arms the other day because Reuters was identifying the accused — now the convicted — rapists, while not identifying the victim. Or, as MRAs prefer to put it, the “alleged victim.” Now, as RawStory points out, she is getting death threats.
EDITED TO ADD: More victim blaming online, as catalogued on the Public Shaming blog: First post, second post with more.
Below, Several examples borrowed from Public Shaming. TRIGGER WARNING for rape apology.
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@Marie
When I want…
Even in progressive circles, the conversation around this case is so gross. People obsequiously deny that they’re victim blaming … then follow it up by beseeching young women not to drink too much.
^Ikr (at regnaldgriswold). There’s a thread on it in the writers board I frequent, which is normally cool with sexism/transphobia/racism stuff, and while no one was directly victim blaming, it made me feel as uncomfortable as hell reading it.
@diogenes
Why not now? Unless you really need to think that long before attempting to come up with an argument, but being the intellectual you are, you should have no problem telling us why we all should do piv.
Diogenes, I’m really not in the mood for this shit, in this thread especially. You’re on moderation now.
@Diogenes
Yes. While it is important to encourage responsible drinking, this is not the context in which to discuss it.
Thanks for moderating him so he didn’t cloud up this thread, David 🙂
HAHAHA, I’m shitposting. That’s rich coming from him.
Thanks, Dave.
That first screenshot makes me despair for humanity. I thought feminists were the ones who hated men…
And DtC calling hellkell — of all people — a shitposter. The lack of self-awareness is strong with this one.
Or indeed the self aware trollness. I’mma stop giving him the attention now.
So, um, a post with some relevance to the thread.
FUCKING HELL, people, is it THAT FUCKING DIFFICULT TO NOT RAPE PEOPLE?
Was incredibly surprised that most of the posters on the Roosh forum were actually condemning these two shitstains for what they did.
Did not expect that.
@MorkaisChosen
“FUCKING HELL, people, is it THAT FUCKING DIFFICULT TO NOT RAPE PEOPLE?”
Spot on
A friend told me that the young woman’s mother made a really good, strong public statement after the verdict, but she didn’t have a link and I am afraid to venture out into the Internet. Anyone have it? Was it good?
Oh my god those tweets are horrible. How is any of that acceptable to say?
@ArchaeoHolmes And yet people don’t seem to agree. Apparently it’s what anyone would’ve done. I’d… like to think that is not the case, and am fairly sure I’m right to think so.
Love your kitty avatar, quantumscale.
Briefly delurking to share a great piece by Roxane Gay about this: http://roxanegay.tumblr.com/post/45636644308/what-empathy-is
@MorkaisChosen
I think decent people agree with you.
Yay, I is kitty! Yours is adorable.
This whole thing is so disgusting. It’s great that the judge came to the correct verdict (and as one who thinks that minors shouldn’t be tried as adults, it’d be hypocritical of me to complain about the short sentences), but the media reaction is sickening. Boo hoo, boys committed a crime and have to deal with the consequences.
Although, I was pleasantly surprised by the comments on the gawker article Dave tweeted.
And this, right here, is why we can’t have nice things.
I’ve got fond memories of an attractive female friend of mine getting absolutely plastered at a post-show celebration. At the time I was 19, desperate, dateless and filled to the brim with hormones and silly juice.
You know what I did?
Together with another friend, we walked her home, dropped her off to her flatmate and made sure she was ok.
We didn’t do this because we were special snowflakes. We don’t deserve medals. We did it because it’s kinda the minimum in terms of basic human decency. I would have done the same thing for another friend, regardless of gender or their sexual attractiveness to me, much like I’d make sure a friend who fell over and hurt themselves got home safely. It’s the right thing to do.
We didn’t rape her. The thought never crossed my mind. Most people wouldn’t rape a woman in a similar situation. The thought would never have crossed MOST people’s minds. To excuse the crimes of Mays and Richmond as a “boys will be boys, everyone’s doin’ it” kinda crap speaks very poorly of certain segments of society.
“Be responsible for your actions ladies before your drunken decisions ruin innocent lives.”
Yes, it’s terrible when a woman gets drunk and then decides to force some poor innocent into ruining his own life by viciously passing out in his general vicinity.
I’m a woman who had many “fun” misadventures in my misspent youth, most of them involving intoxicants. I have passed out next to male friends more times than I care to remember, which generally meant fighting over blankets all night.. The only time anyone tried to rape me (a brother of a friend of mine, when I was asleep on the couch), I fought him off and when I woke up more sober, walked into his room and broke his nose. Of course, his mom blamed me, but my friend took my side.
Because decent people don’t take advantage, they help their friends when they (accidentally or on purpose) get trashed. I mean, it took years for my husband to be OK with the idea that me initiating sex when I’m drunk makes it actually fine for him to go on with it.
Addendum/clarification: in my particular marital relationship, it is accepted that drunken consent is actual consent (on both sides). Other relationships function by other rules, and I am in no way attempting to prescribe behavior.