Why #mooreandme matters.
So, a few hours ago, an online acquaintance whom I like and really admire posted a two-sentence thingy on why the #mooreandme protest is "not serving anyone" and is "distracting." After a comment from me (and maybe others?) zie took the post down until zie could give it consideration and discuss zir thoughts in a more thoughtful way. And that's cool. That's something I can respect.
But for everybody out there who's like #mooreandme, why does it matter? How is it trying to make things better? Who is it serving?
Please, please, please read this.
Let me excerpt:
So no, no I do not think this is a distraction. I think it's something that NEEDS to be forefront, that people NEED to see so maybe bullshit like this STOPS happening. To women whose attackers are media darlings. To women we know who are afraid to speak up because you fucking know some asshole is going to tell her that it was her fault because she consented some other time, or she wore a short skirt, or she flirted. Or maybe it'll be "she's lying for attention," or "the timing looks suspicious," or "maybe it didn't happen the way she said it did," or any myriad number of things that make women afraid to speak up, because people-- from our friends and neighbors to our "progressive" mouthpieces-- have essentially proven that either she'll be publicly picked apart or flat-out disbelieved and maybe mocked. She may have her job endangered, or her life endangered by assholes who think it's cool to post her name and address. She may have more rape threats directed at her. And the icing on the shit cake? Someone out there will inevitably chime in with "but what about the men who are falsely accused of rape?" as though that were the real problem we should be worrying about.
So is it any wonder that only 40% of rapes are reported? When even the progressives and liberals are chiming in with all the bullshit above, the answer is nothing short of a resounding "FUCK NO."
If #mooreandme is one of the things that brings how fucked up our culture deals with rape accusations to the forefront and even A FEW MORE PEOPLE get it, it's not a distraction. It's a victory.
But for everybody out there who's like #mooreandme, why does it matter? How is it trying to make things better? Who is it serving?
Please, please, please read this.
Let me excerpt:
Reporting a rape and pushing it through the system, for a woman, can be more dangerous and more traumatic and more horrible to experience, for a woman, than being raped. It’s why Roman Polanski’s victim said she wouldn’t co-operate if his case started up again: She’d been bullied too much, it was too much for her to handle. And if you want to talk about the fucking media, when the news got out that Roethlisberger was being accused of rape, ESPN issued a ‘do not report’ order. They TOLD PEOPLE NOT TO REPORT IT, because he was a star, because they had to protect their access to sources. When Isaac Brock [The singer for Modest Mouse] was accused of rape, the reports on the accusations were disappeared from the paper in which they appeared, the reporter herself stopped getting published in that paper, right after she reported that a well-known, well-liked celebrity in Seattle was being accused of rape. This happens, this happens OVER and OVER and OVER again, EVERY TIME. It’s not about Julian Assange. He isn’t a special exception. The way this case has been treated is not even unusual. This happens EVERY TIME a woman reports to the police that a man with a lot of fans and a lot of people in his corner has raped her. EVERY FUCKING TIME. They bully her, the people in charge bully her, his fans bully her, the media bullies her, until she agrees to fucking go away, so people can keep pretending that it never happened. So that it can disappear. So that women just agree to SHUT UP and MAKE IT EASIER FOR PEOPLE TO RAPE US AND GET AWAY WITH IT.
...
And it’s not in question, what Michael Moore and Keith Olbermann did. They spread false information that minimized, dismissed, and misrepresented those allegations. They spread an article that was intended to damage a rape accuser’s reputation, on little to no evidence, and that named her. You can look up the false information they spread online. There are videos, there are Tweets, you can Google it, everyone knows it happened. Everyone knows they failed to tell the truth. Everyone knows they smeared the accuser. Everyone knows they gave the name of the accuser out, to hundreds and thousands of goddamned people. It’s not a subject of debate. They did it. They did it obviously, and publicly, and on the record. Everyone knows that happened. The only thing people are debating is whether it was wrong.... EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT TWO PEOPLE SMEARED A WOMAN ON LITTLE TO NO EVIDENCE AND ENDANGERED HER LIFE, AND WE ARE DEBATING WHETHER THAT IS WRONG.
So no, no I do not think this is a distraction. I think it's something that NEEDS to be forefront, that people NEED to see so maybe bullshit like this STOPS happening. To women whose attackers are media darlings. To women we know who are afraid to speak up because you fucking know some asshole is going to tell her that it was her fault because she consented some other time, or she wore a short skirt, or she flirted. Or maybe it'll be "she's lying for attention," or "the timing looks suspicious," or "maybe it didn't happen the way she said it did," or any myriad number of things that make women afraid to speak up, because people-- from our friends and neighbors to our "progressive" mouthpieces-- have essentially proven that either she'll be publicly picked apart or flat-out disbelieved and maybe mocked. She may have her job endangered, or her life endangered by assholes who think it's cool to post her name and address. She may have more rape threats directed at her. And the icing on the shit cake? Someone out there will inevitably chime in with "but what about the men who are falsely accused of rape?" as though that were the real problem we should be worrying about.
So is it any wonder that only 40% of rapes are reported? When even the progressives and liberals are chiming in with all the bullshit above, the answer is nothing short of a resounding "FUCK NO."
If #mooreandme is one of the things that brings how fucked up our culture deals with rape accusations to the forefront and even A FEW MORE PEOPLE get it, it's not a distraction. It's a victory.