![flowersnbullets [them]'s profile picture](../media/pfp/1790736219_4dd4e173.webp)
Here to share some thoughts on rape culture because this topic is fresh in my mind. I’ve liked seeing many more people talk about this thanks to the Cornell case reopening, despite how it messes me up when I hear details of the case. Just life proving over and over again that your male friends can betray you in an instant and face no consequences for it. Betrayal isn’t all, nothing fully erases the trauma of sexual violence…
I saw today that a YouTuber I used to watch (Jacob Geller) raped a friend of his when they were uni students. His punishment was a semester off. Since this actually happened 10 years ago, some people used that as an excuse to shame those who cut ties with Jacob after this came to light. It is so beyond me that some people call that “punitive” as if publicly cutting ties with a man who’s raped someone ever killed his career. It’s all about the man’s promising fucking future, isn’t it??
It’s sickening to see some people say they’re for restorative justice while also acting this way. He didn’t “make a mistake” he violated another person’s rights. Because that is what committing sexual violence is. Whether he loses his online platform or not isn’t a fucking human rights issue. What is it with the excuses?! Why must people keep associating with others who commit these acts of violence?! Some people cried because his old publishers dropped him… good for them! He can publish his stuff basically anywhere else he wants to!
We cannot keep coddling men like this. Especially leftist men like him. Raping someone isn’t a mistake “another version of you” makes. Years go by & I’m just proven right. I’ve stopped trying to befriend men. I’ve stopped trusting them with the deepest parts of myself. The ones I trusted always found ways to defend themselves & their friends who committed sexually violent acts. Reminder that coercion is not consent! Reminder that no one owes you access to their body!
I’m not out here saying I hate half of humanity, in reality this makes me profoundly sad. No one should have to feel so guarded about interacting with men. Yall have no idea how strongly I wish everyone felt a wave of empathy right now and took notice of the fucked up things they’re doing to others. I’m tired of hearing of so called progressive men and immediately thinking they just do it to get access to women’s bodies. I hate having to think it, but it’s a pattern! I don’t wanna have to fear for my friends’ safety whenever they tell me they met a man or are starting to date one. Who else needs to experience sexual violence before we get serious about calling out our friends & loved ones when they spout rape culture bs?
Isn’t it shocking enough that most of the women and people you know have experienced some form of sexual violence perpetrated by a man close to them?
We desperately need to get our shit together!! Call out anyone defending rapists or sexual violence!! Call out anyone excusing sexual violence with hormone imbalances & similar unrelated shit!! We can’t afford
Comments
Displaying 1 of 1 comments ( View all | Add Comment )
Silverslickboi
I agree with all of this. I feel like we need to hold everyone accountable. I am a man, so of course I do see it from that point of view, but I also see it as a "what would I do if that was my daughter" scenario, yk? From that point of view, it's hard for me to blame a woman for clutching their purse, or moving to the other side of the street, that kind of thing. I hate the idea that someone would act like they're a "progressive" to do something like that and I feel like it defeats the whole purpose. I mean at the end of the day, it's not like they HAVE to be progressive. They could easily just fuck off and be part of literally any other group. I mean I know I'm with progressives on a lot of stuff but I'm also definitely not at rallies or anything.
The Devil's advocate inside of me wants to ask: is there any scenarios where you'd consider someone who had some sort of related past to that to be "past it", so to speak? At what point has a man proven himself that he is trustworthy? Is he never trustworthy? Even if he fully admits all wrongdoing, and has shown what he's done to move past it? It's just a morbidly interesting (albeit important) topic for me.