The Public Shaming blog and Twitchy.com have been doing the world a service by documenting some of the worst rape apologist nonsense that sprouted up on Twitter in the wake of the Steubenville rape verdict. I thought I would add some more screenshots to the growing pile.
TRIGGER WARNING for some really horrible rape-apologizing bullshit.
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Atheist author Michael Crook had many opinions on the matter, some already cited by Public Shaming. Here are some more:
For more of Crook’s awful thoughts on the case, see this terrible post on his blog. Let me put another TRIGGER WARNING on top of the TRIGGER WARNING I posted above; Crook is really a piece of work, and his post is one of the worst things I’ve read since I started this blog.
Someone calling himself Reality Talks had even more opinions on the subject:
Bill Peace III thinks the whole thing is hilarious — except for the part about the rapists being punished:
A fellow named Tyler figures that the victim “got [what] she deserved.”
A teenager calling himself Space Cowboy shows how the attitudes that define and perpetuate rape culture are absorbed at a pretty young age:
Amazingly, after being called out on his bullshit on Twitter, Space Cowboy seemed to realize that he had been wrong to blame the girl, and deleted his victim-blaming tweets. Assuming he wasn’t being sarcastic when he tweeted that “the girl is an angle, [sic] the boys are to blame entirely,” it’s a heartening development, and evidence that rape culture can be unlearned as well as learned. If he was being sarcastic, his deletion of the offending tweets at least suggests that he now realizes that blaming rape victims is not socially acceptable in all social circles.
The misnamed Truthwatcher, meanwhile, blames everyone but the boys, with his Tweets basically serving as a sort of Rape Culture FAQ.
These are just a few snapshots from the Twitter stream. There’s a lot more nastiness out there.
But these comments are really nothing compared to the crass tweets, and pictures, and videos posted by or otherwise passed around by the rapists and their accomplices and their enablers. Or the threats, some of them made in the wake of the verdict, against the victim from anonymous internetters — and, more to the point, by other students at her school. I can only hope there will be more indictments, not only of the students who participated in the victim’s ordeal but of the adults who knew and did nothing or even worked to cover it up. The whole thing just sickens me.
Ask and you shall receive! Maybe this guy can help with the brain scrubbing!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFLWK2VKdmQ&w=560&h=315]
@kate, Endless hugs (if they’re welcome)! Glad to hear that you have lots of love and support, and that you’re finding it here too.
Also, the “X must be a sad broken person to have done things like that” narrative is very dangerous, because the reality is that most rapists look just like everyone else. The fact that these boys are crying in court doesn’t mean they’re not predators, it just means that their tear ducts are functional.
it worked! it worked! it worked! SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!
…Ahem…
That was my first successful embed, and I’m rather chuffed about it, in case you couldn’t tell.
Bathing Shiba with rubber duckies is very cute.
@Kate
I am so sorry. Hugs if you want them and, in honor of today’s horrible PUA dancer, dancing kitties!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6H6CcGiuFo
That dog with the duckies is adorable. Also adorable:
Or perhaps an adorable Danish polar bear cub is more in order. Note: The polar bear belly in view at about 0:47 may make you bury your face in your computer monitor.
When a woman loses her virginity, her vagina doesn’t suddenly become an uncorked bottle of champagne left unattended at a party available for anyone to drink. WTF is wrong with some people?
Kate, as other people have said, expressing my sympathy here in mere words just feels trite and utterly pointless.
But I would just like to say that if I could, and if it was ok with you I would give you the biggest hug in the world. And then I would make you homemade soup and baked goods of your choice and give you a bright red, wooly blanket to wrap yourself in and watch happy films with you. Do you like Studio Ghibli films? I find they never fail to make things feel better.
I am so sorry if this thread has been triggering and upsetting for you, and I hope you get the love and care that you need.
@cloudiah OMG!! THE TONGUE!!! THE TONGUE AT 0:28!!!
For the first time today, I’m actually smiling (actually, sitting around with a soppy grin on my face and drooling because the overwhelming cute of that little bundle of snorgaliciousness short circuited my brain!!)
Oh, and who do I send my drycleaning bill to? The expression on Siku’s face while getting rubbies at about 1:20 made me laugh so hard I left a puddle on my chair.
“Those boy’s lives are ruined” – I’ll believe that when I see it. Historically, athletic “golden boys” don’t get their lives ruined over little trifles like raping someone. Not that I WANT boy’s lives ruined, but that they ruined someone else’s life seems to be of little consequence.
Also, ted, seconding others, now is not the time. Having been in the position of having my sexual abuser tell me point blank to my face “you need to learn to let go of your anger” I’m rather more of the opinion that clamoring for “sympathy for the perpetrators” is yet another means of shutting the victims up. It certainly was in my case. Maybe that is not your intent, but that is often the end result. So many people in the media already HAVE clamored for sympathy for the rapists and look at how it took focus away from the crime they perpetrated and cast them as victims. Not to mention, it demonstrated perfectly why so many rape victims choose not to prosecute. Death threats and hate tweets and getting called a whore and being told to just stop drinking etc, etc, etc. All silencing tactics, all part of the culture that enables rapists like these two young men.
@kate, seconding others, ALL the furry animals and internet hugs and whatever else you find comforting. I’m so sorry.
@ostara321, That’s awful. I hate when people tell crime/trauma victims how they’re supposed to heal, but it’s a special kind of fucked up when it’s the perpetrator doing it.
And yeah, the cynical side of me fully expects to see one or both of them playing pro football in a few years, with many calls for “letting them move on, they’ve paid their dues.”
My cat Hazel is being unusually (for her) affectionate today, which I think is her way of sending hugs to anyone who needs them.
Man, haven’t even finished the article and I think micheal crook should be sealed in a vat of legos for all eternity.
@spacecowboy (yes, I am trying to yell at someone in the original article).
YES THE TITLE OF SEX OFFENDER IS WRONG! THEY SHOULD HAVE THE TITLE OF RAPIST BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT THEY ARE!
well, that’s all I can stomach. I love (and I mean hate) how I read the trigger warning, David puts up the trigger warning 1) on the website 2) on the article and it’s like totally marked, my brain just hates me and I have to read it 🙁 bad brain why do we not agree on this. I’m rambling here. gahhhh I hate people. or at least rapists and rape apologists.
comment when I’ve read everyone elses comments soon 😛 just had to rant at those pathetic excuses for
humansbacteria.wow first comment is horrible
@paul
wtf I just read? god, you should join micheal crook in his karmic vat of legos.
@AK
hugs if you want them. It made me feel some ill too, but not as much as some other things have, though I suspect it’s just people reacting differently. There’s such a high content of shittyness in the world to see.
@seraph
THANK YOU I WANT TO TAPE THIS STATEMENT FUCKING EVERYWHERE BECAUSE IT IS SO FUCKING IMPORTANT! I KNOW THIS IS IN ALL CAPS BUT THIS, ALL THIS
I volunteer for cactus implanting.
@ted the fed
This is where I’m going to have to disagree. 16 year olds know rape is rape. I’ll give my 15 yr old brother a pass on dumb jokes, or just not being mature, but raping someone who’s unconcious has no fucking moral grayness, any rape has no moral grayness, their age does not affect the fact that they are horrible people, and gee, I wonder how the fucking victim feels about it. Sorry for all the cussing, but, damn. NO. decent, heck, even not horrible, minimum standard to socialize with humans teenagers know that rape is fucking wrong and they are fucking responsible for their behavior.
god, they are horrible. grrr. I hate rape culture. may they step on ALL the legos.
@kate
God, that’s so horrible. So sorry about what happened to you. Hugs if you want them.
@beshemoth
O_O don’t know about them but when I was 16 my parents weren’t constantly following me. I left the house, with telling them where I was going, but I always seemed at some point you stopped making sure your kids were constantly supervised. Oh wait, they just want to blame someone besides the kids >:( (or any boys, and you pointed out)
fuck…. O_O
YES.
@ostara
O_O So sorry. Hugs if you want them. What a terrible person (the abuser)
In fact, hugs to everyone who wants them.
@Cloudiah:
🙂 I love every single video you post.
However…
BELLEH! BEHBEH BEAR BELLEH! I think this might be the best one yet! I squee’d so loud I scared my housemate who thought something was wrong! Good one! 🙂
@Historophilia:
You made me leak a little around the eyes. That was so very sweet. Many hugs back to you.
@Ostara321: I am so sorry. So very, very sorry. That must have been so hard to take, so hard to process. You must be very, very strong to have had that happen and still be able to speak of it. So many hugs to you… One day I hope that all of us, the thousand thousands of us that live on long after someone tried to kill our bodies, our pride and our souls will see the day that we no longer have to ever hear words like that again. I hope that day is soon.
@Some Gal:
I have a secret to tell you:
You make me laugh every day. If you ever have a day when you feel bad, or sad, or like you don’t make a difference… Remember that you make people laugh and smile. Giggles are an amazing gift. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
….
Can I just say one more thing? (Ha! Like you could stop me!) :
All of you… you’re all just … *insert word here that encompasses that full-hearted feeling you get when you find people who are just so amazing in so many different ways that you have to smile and laugh and cry or you’ll burst*
Many sympathies for beshemoth and kate. It’s awful but good to have representative voices to say “this has happened to ME, and fuck you”, I think. It’s not all theory to a hell of a lot of people!
All the hugs for Kate, beshemoth, and Ostara.
St. Ted: it’s wonderful that you’ve found forgiveness, but not everyone else has, so take the dramatics elsewhere, kthnx.
@kate: I had thought you stepped near a personal sore spot, that of there being a proscribed way to emotionally respond to rape or sexual abuse, and as a result, I jumped to that interpretation when, i now realize, you weren`t saying that at all, and my response was both off the mark and out of line.
I absolutely didn`t mean to dismiss, minimize, or attack your experience or perspective, and i absolutely had no intention of calling up or poking at your awful experiences. This may sound silly given the context but um, I hope the puppy faces helped?
So, having read some of the media surrounding the Steubenville case, along with the twitter/blog responses above, I’d like to propose the following as today’s essay question:
What the fuck is wrong with people? Discuss.
Seriously, I’m starting the think the only solution is to nuke the entire site (and by that I mean planet Earth) from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.
In a strange way, I think all this horribleness on Twitter is making me more optimistic. It feels like 2012-2013 could be a turning point. I mean, if we were shocked at the Steubenville verdict (and Penn State and Chad Evans), think how the predators and proto-rapists felt. They had been able to persuade us that it wasn’t really rape, or if it was, it was unprosecutable*, or if prosecuted, unwinnable*. They felt safe in their happy little world of rape apology, protected from having to face up to what they were really doing or how hateful they were.
And suddenly, the wall has been breached, the safety has vanished. So they are frantically trying to reinforce all the old protections, all the “she deserved it” and “it wasn’t really rape”.
And you know what – it’s not working.
*sorry to mangle the English language so.
Shit is fucked up and bullshit.
Kate, beshemoth, ostara – everyone who wants ’em, ALL THE HUGS.
Have a baby otter:
http://youtu.be/3y4dSWINnI8
Hope you’re right, titianblue. Hope you’re right.
@Falconer, word.
Remember Reddit Island? I still want a Man Boobz Island, because it wouldn’t be fucked up and bullshit. Plus we’re smart enough to take care of basic things like sanitation, etc., and I think we have some good cooks, and all our pets could come, and we could meet all the littlest manboobzers, and we could have Doctor Who marathons, and science fiction book clubs, and bra fitting parties, and and and …
I just think it would be awesome.
[cloudiah realizes she’s gotten a bit carried away.]