December 15, 2006

Rape Is Not A Compliment Melissa McEwan (Shakes) received this comment at her blog. "No one wants to rape you, Shakes. Sorry to inform you." I have my reservations about giving nutcases a platform, but Shakes has several good points about warped perceptions about rape. Some men think it's only the pretty girls. Someone should tell that to the men raped in prison, elderly women or children who are raped each year.
  • Some men think it's only the pretty girls. No, see that is not what they think, it is what they want. A little Nietzschian ressentiment. I am glad she kept her notes from her Gender Studies 101 class. I am sorry to see it as yet another gender based FPP.
  • That's rather harsh.
  • There was an example of certain men thinking precisely that in the comments, in an anecdote about jury service at a rape trial.
  • Ladies, it might be interesting to let the gentlemen argue this one out.
  • Shall we retire to the library for cigars and brandy, then?
  • We shall be happy to handle the discourse for you, loves, but could you please bring us a plate of sandwiches, some chips, and perhaps a bucket of beer? Thanks so, so much. Then off with you and your parlour chat. We'll summon you when you're needed.
  • This explains my 62% failure rate at pick-up joints. The 'I want to rape you' line actually isn't a compliment. I shall have to ask the charming 'Richard' for tips.
  • Ralph, please give your wants to the butler. I'll let him know that you can even have a bit of the best port, if the conversation is worth while. I'm taking the ladies out for an edifying evening at a place I just heard of. It's called Chippendales. Please be out by midnight, though, and clean up after yourselves. The staff goes to be by 10.
  • "bed"
  • Glamajamma, did you rtfa? Tracicle's blog, apologies to all. Thank you, Sullivan.
  • And, by the way, if you didn't guess, the reference to a male strip club was intended to to incite discussion. There have been a number of comments on female-centric threads where men have complained that men have similar issues, but you didn't go into them in depth. It'd be nice if you guys could tell us more.
  • Glamajamma, occasionally you post good comments and links, but lately your comments are more noise than signal. I'm cutting you off for a bit, in the hope that when you return you can actually contribute instead of poo-pooing anyone whose opinion does not measure up to your apparently unique standards. I'm posting this here as a public announcement. Any discussion can take place on the blog.
  • That comment reads as a threat as much as anything. As such, it really doesn't really need any further analysis. We all understand what kind of person uses rape as a threat, even as a 'joke.'
  • I mean the comment on Shakespeare's Sister's blog, of course.
  • Wow, that is one successfull troll.
  • And she's giving this asshole attention, why exactly? Delete the comment and ban the IP. Better yet, call the cops or the FBI and report his IP or whatever else you've got. Fuck yes that's harsh. But as sfred said "We all understand what kind of person uses rape as a threat, even as a 'joke.'" There's "ha-ha" funny and then there's "OMFG I can't believe you said that!" funny and there's even "You are soooo going straight to hell" funny. But then there's threats or outright targeted and personalized assault. The personalized and target aspect of this asshole's comments sets it apart from random stupidity.
  • Somewhat of a tangent, but I happened upon a 1998 movie on cable a month ago called Happiness. I had never heard of it before, but because the cast included some of my favorite scene-stealers (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Lara Flynn Boyle, other people with three names) I decided to watch. Holy shit. From the first scene (featuring Jon Lovitz, of all people) you're hooked and know you must watch the entire film without interruption. It turns out it is all about the intermingling of related characters with a million dark angles, the darkest of which is pedophilic rape. It is hard to say much more without revealing spoilers, but if you either want to explore further the topic of this thread or see a mesmerizing train wreck, rent this film.
  • Ooh, path's taking us furniture-shopping!
  • And she's giving this asshole attention, why exactly? Delete the comment and ban the IP. I had similar feelings. Shakes and I had a discussion about it in the comments. She sees it as part of a bigger problem. I understand her logic. I am a little tired of people like the Westboro Baptist Church getting a soapbox to stand on. I support their rights of free speech. I don't feel I have to give them a microphone to say soldiers deserve to die.
  • I totally support her freedom of speech, and believe that the topics of pervasive male indimidation and domination (as well as worse, actual rape and so on) but it just seems to me like the best reaction and attention - if any - would be to either contact the appropriate local law enforcement or to simply ban him. In his case it's never even a matter of free speech or opinion - foremost for being assaultive and/or insulting, least of which being it's not his blog or dime.
  • RTD, that's a great movie. I found it flicking through the channels a long time ago, and stopped when I saw Jon Lovitz, in that scene you mentioned. I kept wanting to change it for something lighter, but I kept being to shocked to change it. I put that movie up there with Requiem For A Dream or The Piano Teacher. Disturbing flicks.