Today I’m going to talk about Janet Bloomfield — AKA JudgyBitch — and her bizarre attack on the original Don’t Be That Guy anti-rape posters in Edmonton. But I’m going to take a bit of a detour first, so bear with me.
I recently picked up a copy of Arthur Koestler’s The Case of the Midwife Toad, a nonfiction account of a scientific feud that provided me with some diverting travel reading and put me in the mood to read more of Koestler’s nonfiction.
But doing some rudimentary Googling I made a rather horrifying discovery about Koestler, whom I’d admired since reading his bracing account of breaking with Communism in the classic The God That Failed anthology: according to a recent biographer, Koestler was a serial rapist and abuser of women.
While some doubt the evidence of rape, even his supporters have had to acknowledge, as one reviewer has written, that Koestler’s “treatment of the many women in his life [was] – even without the ‘rape’ – deeply unpleasant. He was manipulative, demanding, sexually voracious and utterly faithless.”
Koestler himself doesn’t exactly make a persuasive witness for his own defense, having once written to his second wife that “without an element of initial rape there is no delight.”
But in some ways as eye-opening as these revelations has been the response of some of Koestler’s defenders. Case in point: Michael Scammell, the author of a nearly 700-page biography of Koestler. After detailing many instances of Koestler’s mistreatment of women, he writes of the accusations of violent rape:
The exercise of male strength to gain sexual satisfaction wasn’t exactly uncommon at that time … The line between consensual and forced sex was often blurred.
Hey, it was the 1950s. EVERYBODY raped women back then.
The sad fact is that, while this is no defense of Koestler’s alleged behavior, there is an element of truth to Scammell’s claims. The line between consensual sex and rape was often blurred back then. Women were often cajoled, pressured, manipulated, and forced into sex by more physically powerful men. And neither party necessarily recognized what had happened as rape.
The fact that the line between consensual sex and rape is a lot clearer today — and that the rate of rape has declined markedly in the past several decades — is largely due to feminism. Feminism challenged older attitudes and definitions of rape and worked at changing these attitudes through education and awareness campaigns.
Feminist activists worked on teaching — and reteaching — both men and women what is and what isn’t acceptable sexual behavior.
It’s an ongoing process, which continues in awareness campaigns like this one, the Don’t Be That Guy campaign launched in Edmonton (and elsewhere):
It’s pretty clear that there’s a lot more work to be done, as the reactions to this campaign have pretty clearly shown.
Anyone who has read much in the so-called manosphere — on MRA and PUA sites alike — will have noticed a lot of alarmist nonsense about the alleged difficulties men have in determining if a sex act with a woman is consensual or not, as if it is simply impossible, if there is any confusion, for men to open their mouths and ask. MRAs and PUAs act as if obtaining consent “the way feminists want it” would consist of some complicated legalistic procedure that would ruin sex forever.
This is patent nonsense. Clarifying issues of consent about (and during) sex — making anything that’s blurry clear — can be done in less time than it takes to read this sentence.
“Do you like this?” “Yes.”
“Do you want me to [incredibly dirty thing]?” “Yes.”
But, as I said, the MRAs and PUAs complaining about the alleged difficulties of consent don’t really seem to be interested in making things clear. They would, it seems, rather have things as blurry as possible.
And that’s because a lot of them want to return to a world in which, to paraphrase that quote from Scammell above, the exercise of male strength to gain sexual satisfaction isn’t exactly uncommon, and in which the line between consensual and forced sex is often blurred.
They would prefer to return to a world in which it’s considered fair game to “take advantage” of seriously drunk women. One in which all accusations of date rape could be dismissed as the result of a fickle woman changing her mind later.
And that, I think, is why MRAs have such a problem with date rape awareness campaigns like Edmonton’s Don’t Be That Guy campaign — which they try to both ridicule as unnecessary and denounce as an exercise in Nazi-style anti-male propaganda. Sometimes both at the same time.
Consider, for example, Janet Bloomfield/JudgyBitch’s recent A Voice for Men post on the Edmonton poster controversies. Bloomfield — who apparently likes to think of herself as one of those no-nonsense women who can get by just fine without any help from feminists, thank you very much — begins by trying to ridicule the original Don’t Be That Guy posters as simple-minded, obvious and utterly unnecessary.
Referring to several specific posters from the original campaign, she writes:
No, obviously, you should not be having sex with a woman so drunk she is passed out face down on the couch with her ass in the air. …
Obviously, helping a drunk woman home does not entitle you to sex.
And in what is going to come as SHOCKING news to everyone, if someone doesn’t want to have sex with you, you should not have sex with them.
I’ll give you a while to process that information, because I’m sure that until this clever campaign came along, you were all busy screwing comatose girls at parties and gleefully hailing cabs so you could help ladies home and then rape them.
That would be very witty and pointed but for the fact that, guess what, men do attempt to “have sex” with women who are passed out or asleep, and that there are plenty of men who seem to think that this counts as a sort of “no harm, no foul, no rape” situation.
Take a look at the discussion whenever this topic comes up on Reddit, for example. Or consider all those supporters of Julian Assange who pretend that the issue is women changing their mind after sex when in fact one of the things he’s been accused of is penetrating a woman sans condom while she was sleeping.
And as for “taking advantage” of seriously drunk women, well, there are plenty of men who think this is perfectly fine — and some who make this the centerpiece of their “seduction” technique. Indeed, one prominent PUA — Roosh V — has confessed to doing just that with one woman who was clearly too drunk to consent:
While walking to my place, I realized how drunk she was. In America, having sex with her would have been rape, since she legally couldn’t give her consent. It didn’t help matters that I was relatively sober, but I can’t say I cared or even hesitated. I won’t rationalize my actions, but having sex is what I do.
Somehow this confession — boast? — hasn’t, to my knowledge, earned him any condemnations from manosphere or MRA bloggers, or even, it seems, cost him any fans.
Meanwhile, on the very site Bloomfield is publishing her post, Paul Elam blames drunk women for being sexually assaulted, writing (as I pointed out yesterday) that women who drink with men are, “freaking begging” to be raped,
Damn near demanding it. … walk[ing] though life with the equivalent of a I’M A STUPID, CONNIVING BITCH – PLEASE RAPE ME neon sign glowing above their empty little narcissistic heads.
After dismissing the Don’t Be That Guy campaign as so much silliness, Bloomfield makes a sudden 180 degree turn and declares it the virtual equivalent of Nazi propaganda against Jews.
Which would be offensive if it weren’t so manifestly absurd. The Don’t Be That Guy campaign isn’t directed at men, per se. It’s directed at men WHO THINK IT’S OK TO RAPE WOMEN and/or MEN WHO MAKE EXCUSES FOR RAPISTS.
A good number of these men — and some women with similar beliefs — seem to spend much of their time reading and/or writing for manosphere sites like Roosh V’s blog and A Voice for Men.
Sorry, the allegation of the incidence of false rape accusations being equal to the incidence of real rape.
Pecunium — you know, all this logic is well and good, and I’m about to commit a fallacy myself here, but fuck it. The biggest issue here? All those people would have to live with the knowledge they helped kill thousands. That’s a death toll about ten times the most prolific serial killer (who holds that dubious honor by a sizable margin)
And I just plain don’t think there are enough people who could live with that, have the power to pull it off, and the knowledge required. Enough to pull it off that is.
Also, Snowden might be more apt than Manning here. But that’s neither here nor there, other than as a lead in to…
Petey! Saying the towers fell because of terrorists who also hit the pentagon does not equate with agreeing with the wars, the use of drones, PRISM, etc.
Didn’t I give him a false analogy for that? Or was it for something else?
And that’s hilarious. Questioning potentional terrorists? All in a days work. Mangos? Recoil in horror. So are mangos your kyptonite then?
“Incredible claims require extraordinary evidence.”
Such as the claim that the buildings could possibly have fallen that way (freefall speed, fell perfectly in their own footprint, completely crumbled leaving little or no evidence of their original structure) for any other reason than a planned detonation? Such as the claim that building seven could possibly have fallen in the exact same way because there were a few fires inside? Yes, those are pretty incredible claims.
And even given the logistical difficulties of what you describe, I would sooner take the inside job. Look, the morning after it happened, there were enormous banners on the news channels loudly and jingoistically proclaiming, “America’s new war!” Like I said, keep laughing. Maybe the reason you’re so blase about it is because you’re in on it as well. I can’t see any other explanation…
The sad thing is that he is (or claims to be) a physicist.
For your further amusement, he writes fiction. I mean, aside from the 9/11 truther stuff. It’s called “Piercing the Soft Spots.”
Some people just sound rapey no matter what they’re doing.
Okay, I’m still awake because INSOMNIA.
But OH NO, Petey’s on to us, we’re in on it. I BROUGHT DOWN THE TOWERS FROM LOS ANGELES, EVEN THOUGH I WAS ASLEEP WHEN THEY FELL. IT WAS MY DREAMZ. Librarians are super dangerous; don’t mess with us.
How about you guyz? How’d you bring down the Towers? Telekinesis? Lucid dreaming? Kittens? THIS IS CLEARLY THE ONLY LOGICAL EXPLANATION.
Lol, not only are we all David, we’re all US government super secret conspirators. I wonder what other things we all are.
I can’t see any other explanation, other than kittens. Kittens. KITTENS.
I totally brought down the towers through telekinesis in my sleep when I was 11, because I’m secretly an Indigo child and it’s all part of God’s plan, because God hates America a la Fred Phelps.
I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that he doesn’t actually believe the sun is about to go supernova, but I do rather like that in his fictional story there’s a giant government conspiracy.
“Such as the claim that building seven could possibly have fallen in the exact same way because there were a few fires inside?”
You mean the building that had one of the corner support columns destroyed? That one?
“Such as the claim that the buildings could possibly have fallen that way (freefall speed, fell perfectly in their own footprint, completely crumbled leaving little or no evidence of their original structure) for any other reason than a planned detonation? ”
Large building tend to sandwich when the supports fail. One floor collapses into the next, which then collapses into the next, and like a row of horizontal dominos, the whole thing ends up a pile of rubble where the building once stood. And how’d the supports fail? They were designed to withstand wind forces, not the sort of forces a plane crashing into a building causes.
Speed? See above about dominos. Evidence of their original structure? Many tons of rubble doesn’t tend to look like much of anything now does it?
” Maybe the reason you’re so blase about it is because you’re in on it as well. I can’t see any other explanation…”
I’ve been polite so far, that? That’s the line. And now you can kindly fuck off. This is your warning, fuck with pecunium again and I will get HULK RAGE on your ass. It’s his story to tell, if he wants to, why this is personal. But it is.
Such as the claim that the buildings could possibly have fallen that way (freefall speed, fell perfectly in their own footprint, completely crumbled leaving little or no evidence of their original structure) for any other reason than a planned detonation? Such as the claim that building seven could possibly have fallen in the exact same way because there were a few fires inside? Yes, those are pretty incredible claims.
Have some evidence: Ignore it at your peril.
Physics of the WTC Collapse
Original Paper on the Collapse
And, last, A newer theory that the planes generated an explosive mix of aluminum, hydrogen, and water which caused explosions, which cut, and buckled, the internal members of the unique design of WTC 1 and 2.
And even given the logistical difficulties of what you describe, I would sooner take the inside job.
Proving you have no interest in looking at facts. The “logisitical difficulties” you gloss are insurmountable. Millions of dollars. Hundreds of people with very specific, specialised abilities, 20 people willing to kill themselves to pull it off.
Years of planning, months (if not years) of work in the execution. A willingness to kill tens of thousands of people (recall that most people got out of the Towers). A willingness to kill hundreds, to thousands, of military personnel at the Pentagon (people who might be needed if this sparked an opportunistic attack from Russia, or Canada, or whomever).
All of that with perfect secrecy. Not one person had second thoughts, anywhere along the way, and not one had second thoughts in the 12 years since. None of them saw what was done with what they took to be a Noble Cause, when they did it, and turned it into a proto-police state that is proud of torturing people, waging needless (and poorly executed) wars, etc.
This, you expect me to believe because it’s more plausible than physics?
Right.
Good luck “honing your chops”.
It does make me kind of curious whether he actually made up everything about him being a physicist, etc, given his amazing displays of scientific ignorance in actual conversation. But it seems more likely that he’s just a master of compartmentalization.
For values of “perfectly in their own footprint” that include taking out WTC 7, and much of the surrounding area, including paarts of the connecting structutes between PATH WTC and MTA Church/Chambers.
So yeah, if you count dropping stuff a 1/4 mile away as, “perfectly within their own footprint), yeah, you got me.
(since I don’t,and I walk that terrain every day I go to work, I’ll take my lying eyes over your bullshit words)
Maybe the reason you’re so blase about it is because you’re in on it as well. I can’t see any other explanation…
Aw dude… you went there? Ok. I’ll repeat, with a bit more emphasis, my reaction to your horror at, “don’t be that guy”.
Maybe the reason you are so upset about is that you are “That Guy”, I can’t really see a better explanation.
(and, FYI, You caught me. I was in on it. I was part of the agitprop committee which laid the groundwork by making Osama bin Laden look so bad. We arranged it so that the strikes in Sudan would be close, but not quite, and then turned that into a wag the dog event, so that we would have convenient bogey-man to use as a red-shirt when we had a malleable POTUS, who would allow the greater design to move forward.
But, because people, such as yourself, have seen through the subterfuge which was the series of attacks on 11 Sep, 2001, we have had to remain in an agitprop mode; so as to discredit the valiant supporters of Truth, Freedom, and the American Way [at the price of dealing with feminists; because it takes someone gullible enough to think that teaching people what rape looks like will actually shift the social climate from one which conflates women with human beings who do things like go out in public and have a couple of drinks instead of understanding that as soon as they order a second beer they become the legitimate target for every fuckmuppet who chooses to think with his dick and so can’t be raped, merely fucked over and abused: dudes like yourself]. Those supporters meant I couldn’t retire to the South of France, as I wanted, and instead had to stay in New York).
Well okay then, if you find it funny I guess I’ll let it go. But I still think he should fuck off.
And email me if his treating this as an intellectual exercise is getting under your skin.
My alarm is set for 3 hours from now, so I should probably get to bed >.<
I know it’s terrible, but when I saw “my boyfriend Pell”, I laughed loud enough to get annoyed looks from the cats.
Also, I had a fun theory (disproved by a querry to the illustrious David) about Pell. He’s trying to get every open IP address in his area banned so no one can comment on Manboobz. Coffee shops, campuses, libraries. That’s why he has to go from intro to peltdown so quickly. He has to RACE to another location to try it again with this and other websites. Can you imagine? Dressing up like a teenager to hit the High Schools, like he is elderly to get in to Senior Centers and Assisted Living Communities. Trying to hold it together in Apple Stores? Even has a pet forger to make IDs.
Well, at least your conspiracy theory only requires one person to be in on it. That makes is viable, unlike our truther here!
Petey–
I know this is from a while ago, but your example of programming being so equal opportunity bothers me. Especially since your examples use words like “extrodinary” and “against all odds”. If all you need is passion, drive, and ability, what “odds” are against a female programmer, if not discrimination? And how does “free software programming” being so open and such mean that when it comes to being hired, eventually, for their work, discrimination doesn’t happen?
Isn’t the frequent goal of a passion that is monetized (painting, programming, land scaping, carpentry) to be paid for it? To be able to support yourself on hard work you love instead of doing it in your spare time while working for minimum wage somewhere you hate?
Argenti: It’s not funny. It’s ludicrous.
1: He knows it’s false and thinks somehow this will work as an insult.
2: He thinks it’s true.
2a He thinks this can get me to confess, and crack the case wide open (never mind that I’ve kept the secret for between 13-20 years).
This from a dude who thinks, “I don’t have any idea what the real numbers are, but they must be like my preconceived ideas which mean women getting raped isn’t a big deal”.
That’s the level of dumb on display. He’s making Pollock look good.
But David allready said it is not so. Oh well. Such a fun theory, seemed a shame to let it go to waste.
It was Cat Anger Consequences. Because Hadj knew he was going to the vet next day.
Pecunium — almost, ALMOST, makes Pollock seem better. Except Petey is obviously full of it, while Pollock wadn’t getting pegged as a troll and thus people were buying his shit.
And of course it’s ludicrous, I didn’t mean that, I meant the part where he’s assuming that any involvement you might have would be as a military contractor or whatever. Not as yet another person with ties to New England. His wording makes me think it isn’t personal to him the way it is to everyone up here, and thus he fails to realize that.
Kitteh — well there you have it! The ultimate in cat anger consequences!
Sure, but he’s a lot less of a problem than terrorists across the table from me. He’s less bothersome than mangoes.
He’s just another rape-apologist troll who wants to make sure that what he does doesn’t get called rape. That, and a second rate skier, and fifth rate writer.
All of it with pretensions to competence.
*waves a can of mango juice at him* back you, I said back!
I’ll grant that compared to your former line of work, he’s cake. But mangos remain yummy. Or kyptonite.
He’s rivaling Pell for th pompous asshole title though. And not just a second rate skier, but a pissy one. I played second chair violin back in school. Being a reasonable person, usually, I see second best as holy shit, I’m actually good at this!
I’m falling asleep on the iPad. You know what time it is right? I’m going to bed while I can still get in two hours, g’night (for real this time)
I leave for a few hours and come back to find that Petey has gone from “dumb sexist asshole” to “fullblown conspiracy theory spouting wingnut”? Truly, he is an onion of stupidity.
PS : The reason that North America can’t become a prison planet is that it’s not a planet, it’s a continent. Or is WWIII going to launch the entire continent into orbit, somehow?