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Today in Rape Culture: More #Steubenville Awfullness on Twitter

Not actually the victims in Steubenville
Not actually the victims in Steubenville

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:

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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:

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Bill Peace III thinks the whole thing is hilarious — except for the part about the rapists being punished:

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A fellow named Tyler figures that the victim “got [what] she deserved.”

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A teenager calling himself Space Cowboy shows how the attitudes that define and perpetuate rape culture are absorbed at a pretty young age:

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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.

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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.

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The Kittehs' Unpaid Help

cloudiah – I volunteer for litter-cleaning and vacuuming duties. My domestic skillz, they is limited. 🙂

CassandraSays
CassandraSays
11 years ago

My only objection to Manboobz Island – where is it going to be? Because if it’s too remote for there to be gigs then I’m going to need it to be close enough to fly to the mainland when there’s someone I want to see.

Also I should probably admit that my idea of “island vacation” is more “luxury hotel or private cottage on beach with full bar and nearbye pool” and less “camping on the beach”. Like, imagine the exact opposite of a hippie backpacker? That’s me.

AK
AK
11 years ago

@titian…I actually agree, I think. I think the internet has made misogyny, racism, homophobia, transphobia…the list is depressingly long, but you get the idea (since this is a blog about MRAs I’ll focus on the misogyny from here on out)…far more visible than it ever has been, and I think it is horrifying in the short term, but probably good in the long term. It showcases the horror of misogyny–and how widespread it really is–while simultaneously giving a platform to anti-misogynist voices who might otherwise struggle to get exposure. It opens up the conversation in a way that we haven’t had much of before.

And with the cases lately that have been too high-profile to ignore or sweep under the rug–the Steubenville case getting that way *because* of social media–well, I sure hope it is a turning point.

I also have to say, I doubt she’ll ever see it (I’d tell her directly if I knew how), I can’t tell you guys how much I respect Jane Doe in the Steubenville case. It would probably have been easier to just quietly withdraw her complaints, but she followed through in spite of the harassment and death threats. I hope the guilty verdict has helped her find peace, and I hope she knows how important her decision to pursue this has been to so many other women.

cloudiah
11 years ago

Well obviously we’d have a helicopter to get people to the mainland as needed. And a swim-up bar. And maybe one of those restaurants that’s underwater so that you can watch the fish swimming around — Argenti would like that. Those who like to camp could camp, and the rest of us will sleep in real beds with high thread count sheets.

It goes without saying that there would be fancy throw cushions and scented fucking candles everywhere, right?

Marie
11 years ago

@cloudiah

dang. I’m with you on all but Dr Who XD (I just don’t watch it). Luckily, I’ve gotten better at blocking out tv in the background. Except Spongebob. God that show is annoying @_@ (someone was babysitting today…)

@kittehs

I volunteer litter changing + cage cleaning too 😀 I’m for some unknown reason not bothered much by animal excrement. Also, when my depression is working with me, I can make us relatively pretty cakes.

cloudiah
11 years ago

That otter is adorable.

The Kittehs' Unpaid Help

Cassandra, ditto on holidays. Camping, no thanks.

Manboobz Island needs to be somewhere temperate … not smack on the equator (shudder) but not where it’s gonna freeze so much all we can do is huddle over fires all winter.

We really need a migratory island. (No cruise ships plze, boring boring boring.)

The Kittehs' Unpaid Help

Marie – yeah, animal poo doesn’t bother me at all. Just as well given Fribbie’s digestive system. ::hack hack choke::

Marie
11 years ago

I’m taking this opportunity to show off my cakes, because I’m a total braggart XD I can make us kitty cakes: http://imgur.com/yrous3b

CassandraSays
CassandraSays
11 years ago

Can we have flowers floating on the surface of the pool? There was this hotel I was at once in Hawaii that did that with plumeria flowers and it was gorgeous.

The Kittehs' Unpaid Help

Whoa, Halloween kitty cake! Was the cake itself chocolate, or just the icing, or what?

CassandraSays
CassandraSays
11 years ago

Behold, my favorite Halloween-themed cake (kind of).

http://www.bakerella.com/eye-popping/

Marie
11 years ago

@kittehs

cake= chocolate, all the brown icing= chocolate. It was yummy 😀 I love chocolate.

I probably should be glad my brain fizzed over John Anderson’s comments. I managed not to notice him. :/

Marie
11 years ago

@cassandrasays

those are suprisingly cute, for disembodied eyes XD Also the spider ones. d’awwww.

CassandraSays
CassandraSays
11 years ago

I do think the eyeball cake pops would be better if they were red when you bit into them. Red velvet cake with white chocolate icing, maybe?

The Kittehs' Unpaid Help

I went “eeek!” when I saw those eyeballs. And no, I was not impersonating the Librarian of Unseen University.

I missed John Anderson too, or rather, didn’t miss anything, by the sound of it.

CassandraSays
CassandraSays
11 years ago

I’m really not looking forward to finding out how many other victims these little assholes had, although it’s good that the information is coming out in the sense that maybe those girls will get some justice and the sentences for the little assholes will be increased.

Argenti Aertheri
Argenti Aertheri
11 years ago

“And maybe one of those restaurants that’s underwater so that you can watch the fish swimming around — Argenti would like that.”

Yes! I vote for an artificial reef, since we’re kind of killing the natural ones and all…

Somewhere near Sumatra so I can still enjoy my clown loaches? So an inland river (actually, you’d need a water source, so that’s a good idea in general!) — one problem there, afaik most of the habitable islands have native people’s who’d probably not really want us to show up and interfere (hey MRAs? Hunter gatherer societies are still a thing)

/fish tangent

CassandraSays
CassandraSays
11 years ago

I’m going to have to vote for a tropical island. Please let’s not end up somewhere in the Hebrides like that Survivor-style reality show.

pillow in hell
pillow in hell
11 years ago

I volunteer to embroider all the cushions on Manboobz island and make sure they are well stuffed.

Also more than happy to make all the SCENTED FUCKING CANDLES. Would you prefer them hand dipped or made from molds?

CassandraSays
CassandraSays
11 years ago

OTOH, we could totally try to sell the Redditors on the idea of settling in the Hebrides. It’s cheap! Not many people there any more! And then they would arrive to find nothing but rain, scrubby little plants, and the occasional sheep.

Kate
Kate
11 years ago

@tedthefed

I understand what you’re saying. I accept that you’ve learned from this, and will probably take time to think about “set and setting” in the future.

I want you to know that I appreciate the thought you put into your position, and understand that your intent was not to harm or upset anyone. Intent isn’t magic, though, and I hope that’s an idea that will stick with you from here on out.

Yes, the puppy faces helped and I think it’s very nice that you’re taking the time to check in with me. Thank you for that.

Perhaps in another thread, at another time, we can talk about what you were trying to say here. I don’t know if I would ever personally be able to discuss your point of view in a way that would do justice to the very finely nuanced position you’re taking, but I would like to think I could, at the very least, follow such a discussion even if I were unable to contribute in an effective or constructive way.

So, after all this sturm und drang let’s the two of us shake hands and part for now, not necessarily as friends, but not as enemies, either.

pillow in hell
pillow in hell
11 years ago

How about an island off the coast of BC?

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