You may have seen this one already, but, really, this has got to be the most poetically apt illustration of what a nightmare Trump has been/will be for women that I have yet seen.
From Mic:
A prominent local Republican in Greenwich, Connecticut told a town worker “I love this new world, I no longer have to be politically correct” before adding she was “nothing but a bloodsucking lazy union employee” and pinching her in the groin, according to a warrant reported on by the Westport Daily Voice.
The alleged pussy grabber in question, a member of Greenwich’s Representative Town Meeting, has been charged with fourth-degree sexual assault. His lawyer, naturally, has tried to pass off the incident as nothing more than a bit of fun, a “playful gesture,” but local authorities aren’t buying it.
Donald Trump is not only a bigoted, woman-hating sack of garbage who likes to boast about grabbing women “by the pussy.” He’s an enabler of, and an inspiration to, bigoted, woman-hating pussy-grabbers everywhere. He makes them think this sort of crap is ok.
We need to deprive him of even the tiniest shred of legitimacy. He doesn’t deserve it.
@Argle Bargle, <3
That's such a tough situation, for you and for your friend. Really, your friend hasn't got much choice beyond "be a jerk". It's not actually being a jerk – he’s being manipulated by someone he cares about – but it sure feels that way to him. It’s a very tough thing for guys to do – they’re told by society that they need to “man up and take it,” and they’re taught that their emotions aren’t worthwhile. They’re taught to protect, provide, and support, regardless of how painful it is. (Plus of course, that their protection, provision, and support are supposed to be repaid with obedience, but that’s another topic)
His significant may or may not be consciously manipulating him, but the end result is the same – the only way out is for him to cut that connection and weather the feelings of inadequacy that his gender role will inflict on him.
I suggest you tell him, directly – he has permission to cut his significant other free and to ignore her emotional manipulation. Tell him that you know it’ll take strength to keep her away despite her hurt, but that you know he’s got it in him to do it. Tell him that it’s time for him to put his own feelings first for a change, so that he can get himself into a position where he’s able to put others’ first again.
Show him that it takes courage and strength to stand up against abuse, too; let him know that you support him regardless but you would really like to see him make that final cut, clean and final, for his own sake. Tell him it’s time to write a new chapter and end the old one.
I’m rambling, I hope that’s of some help. He’s dealing with some very deeply-seated gender role issues, so it can’t be easy. Lots of love, and lots of luck.
@Margot, <3
uuughhh. That’s so horrible. So angering. You don’t deserve that.
The other person is reaching out for help – but they’re reaching out like a remora searching for a shark. Their plea is a jaw full of teeth, asking for flesh to dig into. I like the advice you’ve been given already, to be honest – call the suicide prevention help line. I personally would send this person this picture in response to a picture of their own:
http://tvlvmcjg4f-flywheel.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/NSPL_Logo.jpg
And then cut contact. Sticking around, or letting yourself get pulled in again, won’t help them – it’ll just let them drag out their dependent relationship. I’d send them that pic, and say “I don’t want you to hurt yourself, but I’m not your solution, this is” or something to that effect. Because you aren’t their solution. That solution has to come from inside themselves.
That’s a horrible situation, Margot. I hope it goes okay. Cut the cord and get as much distance as you can, for your sake and for theirs.
<3
I’m living with my parents right now; I hope that’s not a sign of my own failings. I mean, it could probably be taken as one to be fair, but I’d rather be judged on my actual failings instead of where I live.
Congratulations. A troll argument I haven’t heard yet! Okay, I’ve seen circumcision compared to rape before, which is ridiculous. But I have yet to see it used as an excuse for sexual assault.
Here’s a tip for you, asshole. There’s no excuse for sexual assault. None.
And since when was circumcision a tradition brought about by women? It’s a Jewish and Muslim religious tradition. Two very patriarchal religions. It was made popular in the US among those who are not Jewish or Muslim not by women, but by a prudish old-timey medical establishment IIRC it had something to do with discouraging masturbation. Not gonna dig up links if you’re only a drive by troll.
Also, there is still plenty of rape culture in places where circumcision is not the norm. So not only do you fail at causation, you have not even established correlation like you believe you have. Thanks for playing though!
@ask me about my weiner
http://gif-finder.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Ari-Gold-Get-The-Fuck-Out.gif
For the lurkers:
1)Factually incorrect. Maybe(?) 91% of Murican, white, amab babies, but not of white, amab babies generally. Circumcision isn’t especially popular in Europe, and most white people live there. And why does ethnic background matter… I ask rhetorically
2)circumcision is not sexual assault. Wouldn’t be the 1st time a troll has made that claim. The idea that circumcision is sexual assault seems to be based on the premises that circumcision is assault on a sexual organ. So is a punch to the nads. Don’t make either a case for SVU
Assuming the troll meant “female objectification of and…”, citation very much needed. The Murican circumcision fad came along as a result of a man selling anti masturbation cereal. Also, this was in a time when a father would have had the final say in any decision made for his child. Beyond that, explanation needed regarding how/why this supposed entitlement to ‘male bodies’ that leads to circumcision only extends to certain parts of the globe and not others
Nah, we got that one pretty well figured out. This post, for example, is a prime exemplar. Blame women for something they didn’t do and use that blame to rationalize sexual assault against women. Reflexively remove any and all spotlight from sexual assault. Frame the 2 as a matter of equality, thus presenting them as inseparable, thus making discussion of sexual assault without ‘what about teh menz’ out to be a form of prejudice of discrimination. All basic stuff actually
If the cause/effect relationship being implied here were real, then sexual assault should be reduced or nonexistent in cultures where routine circumcision is not a thing. Should be easy enough for our drive-by to provide a citation in support of that, right?
Axe:
Wouldn’t anti-masturbation cereal be more effective without circumcision? Cereal chafes like hell when you get it under your foreskin.
I’m a white AMAB who wasn’t circumcised. Growing up, none of my peers were circumcised. The only circumcised penises in my school belonged to Muslim immigrants.
Why do all American internet trolls think the internet is a place in America?
uuuugh.
Mark? Mig? Mick? One of them. They’re all part of the Contiguous Ultratroll.
@Can males have some equality, sure they can. They just have to voluntarily shed their social dominance roles.
And I’d love to see your evidence for circumcision in america being due to women. I’ve got subscriptions to a large number of journals, so go ahead and link some white papers if you have them.
Who the fuck is this lawyer, Saul Goodman?
I don’t know what’s worse, the fact that the lawyer actually thought sexual assault was a ‘playful gesture’ or that he figured that would be the best defense.
Moocow: What’s worse is that it probably is the best defense.
I’m personally hard-pressed to think of a better defense.
It’s a good offence, at any rate.
Well, those are new excuses to sexually assault I haven’t heard before: “Trump was elected” and “I’m circumcised! I can’t help it!”
@Laughter at Bigots Very offensive, indeed. *snerk*
By a “playful gesture,” his lawyer means “He did it, but he did it as a socially inept attempt at crude humor and he wasn’t acting on a sexual compulsion.” Sometimes the judge and prosecutor will agree to reduce a sex offense charge to something like misdemeanor simple assault, so he can avoid being put on the sex offender registry or other consequences.
Sometimes it’s appropriate to do that, like if someone has a mental disability and was just exploring someone else’s body (though that’s very rare). But it’s usually Saul Goodman bullshit.
They all know exactly one line from Dr King – the one about “not the color of their skin, but the content of their character.”
As I used to say of Boehner, and say now of Trump, “Dr. King taught us to judge a man by the content of his character rather than the color of his skin, but when the color of his skin is orange, and he did it to himself on purpose, I think we can consider that part of the content of his character.”
@Can males have some equality
*Full body sigh*
Your phrasing reveals your biases and your information is wrong, as several people have pointed out. What is actually true is that many AMAB babies in the United States (as well as my home of Canada) receive routine, medically unnecessary circumcisions. This is a bodily integrity issue. It should be addressed.
It is also completely fucking off topic on this blog and on this post in particular. Do you wank about circumcision on food bank donation requests? “Who cares if kids are starving! Other kids are having their foreskins lopped off without their consent!” Local news stories? “How can you report on the municipal election results when babies are being circumsized RIGHT NOW, AS WE SPEAK.” It is unreasonable and incredibly entitled to expect that everyone (but especially those uppity wimmins) should talk about your pet issue all of the time, to the exclusion of all else.
You’re right Viscaria, it makes no sense to cry about circumcision here, for anyone who cares about circumcision. (I do, it’s a practice that should be ended in my opinion. There are plenty of good reasons against it)
It does make sense to complain about it here if your goal is to harm women and not to protect men, though. The “circumcision!” argument from MGTOW is nothing more than a nasty little knot of “stfu”, “ure just as bad” and “hypocrite.” All baseless, all hyperbole, all as much from their fantasy world as any of their other arguments. It’s not so much an argument as it is a desperate cry for us to just shut up and go away already.
We ain’t goin’ away, assholes. I thought it was the MGTOWs that were supposed to be going their own way, anyways? Want to talk about hypocrisy, let’s start there.
That kitten looks like my Ellie. I thought she was a boy at first, She was that age where it is a little hard to tell by looking and she was orange. Only 30% of orange cats are female. The vet set me straight a couple of months ago, and now I need to call and get her an appointment to get fixed, because she is 6 months. She is a sweet little demon from hell.
With a side order of “The textual equivalent of an unsolicited dick pic” and a heaping helping of “DA JOOZ” on top.
Is this a good time to remind everyone that an anti-Semitic comic called Foreskin Man exists?
Oh my gosh.
His symbol is a ding dong. Like, dude. Try metaphor.
I mean, the silly-putty-baby and the horrendous anti-semitism aside, that’s just silly.
Hah, everyone already demolished the anti-circumcision troll, so I have nothing to add. That said, I do disagree with male circumcision when done for non-religious reasons, since it’s a completely unnecessary, invasive medical procedure done on an infant. (I don’t think religious circumcision is a cut-and-dry issue, if you’ll pardon the expression, but since I’m neither a Muslim nor a Jew, I don’t think it’s my place to criticise it.)
As other people have said about the lawsuit in question: even if it’s possible that pinching someone’s genitals can be a “playful gesture”, the guy’s words make it clear that he was doing it out of vindictiveness and hostility, so that dog won’t hunt.
Oh gee, I’d heard about Foreskin Man before. Fail on every possible level. What bothers me most is that the art is so good. Someone got an actual competent artist to work on… that.
I can never get my head round how anyone could imagine feminists would be in favour of circumcision anyway. Makes less than no sense at all.
(well, I know – they assume everybody thinks like they do …)
@opposablethumbs
Easy. They think feminist means anti-male, so they think feminists are in favor of anything detrimental to people with penises.