That was someone’s quip on FB, pointing out how many rape victims using that pseudonym show up when rape hits the spotlight. Case in point, the Cornell gang-rape case.
Someone complained on Bluesky recently that it was ridiculous that so many people were shocked — did we learn nothing from MeToo, and multiple past cases? While I get her incredulity, I’m fine with this case generating public outrage, even though it’s only one of countless such cases.
Perhaps it’s that like the Pelicot case in France, the rapist texting to his buddies with an offer of free-you-know-what undercuts the idea that rape is some guy losing control or making a stupid mistake or thinking with his small head. When you’re offering a woman zoned out on booze and ketamine to your friends, you’re making a conscious choice — and it’s a very bad choice. Cheryl Rofer on LGM suggests parents dropping their kids off at school the past month or so may have played a factor. Or that the fury of #metoo, contrary to multiple proclaimations, hasn’t died away.
Jill Filipovic writes about “feeling de-personed, reduced to a sexualized thing, to a collection of body parts. Feeling profoundly betrayed because you thought a man was worthy of your trust and you learned the hard way he saw you as less than a human and more of an orifice with a brain inconveniently attached. Feeling the sheer terror of realizing your physical safely is contingent on the whims of a larger, stronger man (or a group of them).”
“This is precisely why more women don’t come forward, and why more rapists aren’t prosecuted. Because mostly-male cops and prosecutors find it more believable that a 20-year-old would want to have sex with a room full of fraternity brothers than accept that she was raped. What ever happened to common fucking sense?” — Jessica Valenti.
What happened may be that the DA decided New York’s rules on rape while voluntarily intoxicated made the case a long shot — but as pointed out at the link, that’s no excuse: “This district attorney saw an allegation of a gang rape and didn’t even bother to interview the victim. He looked at a summary of the allegations and came to the conclusion that there was no provable crime, and didn’t bother to conduct an investigation.”
“Thomas Giuffra told CNN’s “State of the Union” that people attempting to unmask his client’s identity had also targeted at least three women mistakenly identified as her. The former Cornell student is identified as Jane Doe in court documents.“She’s received multiple threats, and women who aren’t even Jane Doe receive threats,” Giuffra said. He added that he had received a threat Sunday morning.”
“The Cornell 7, did not take turns raping an incapacitated girl for seven hours because they were unaware that their act was non-consensual. The lack of consent WAS. THE. APPEAL. This is not an educational issue, this is a VALUES issue. If you value dominance, rule-breaking, feeling powerful and asserting your manhood more than you value not-hurting a woman, rape is the outcome of those values. A non-consenting girl is a feature, not a bug of frat life. Dominating her makes them feel powerful, allows them to assert status with their boys and proves their masculinity.” — Celeste Davis in a post on why most proposed solutions won’t solve the problem.
“It is notable, however, that in Sanday’s and others’ research, participants and spectators both talk about assaults of women using the language of fun – “party games,” “trophies,” and “entertainment.” They consistently express cruelty as enjoyable leisure, not coerced, reluctant conformity. This goes beyond masking despair with a visible laugh or pretending to be having fun. The issue on campus isn’t “a woman got drunk and something bad happened to her”; it’s, chances are far more likely, “a man set out to find a person who is drinking and knows it will be harder for that person to say no, resist, or be believed later.” Anti-feminists and misogynists prefer to focus on a victim’s culpability rather than on perpetrators’ decision-making process and incentives, however.” — Soraya Chemaly.
In the case of Megyn Kelly, they focus on the victim being unattractive: “That the girl who was never the most sought after suddenly had four guys who wanted to have sex with her. And she counted this, yeah, in her inebriated state, as a win and liked the feeling of being sexy and desired and wanted.” You will not be shocked “she’s too ugly to rape” is an undead sexist cliche — but while Kelly does not shock me, she disgusts me. Never let rape-apologist bullshit like that get normalized.
“It’s a horribly familiar shape. We recognize it. We’ve seen it before, too many times to count. We saw it in Steubenville, in Glen Ridge, in Saratoga, in Torrington. We saw it at Trinity High School — Louisville’s version of Georgetown Prep. It is the shape Gibby Haynes described as “the ever-present football player rapist.” It seems like every town big enough to have its own McDonald’s has one. Except there’s never just one. Because this species always hunts in packs. The activity is, for these guys, a form of male bonding. The bond this forms and expresses is, for them, the most important thing. “Bros before hoes.” The girls they join together — always together — to prey on and to humiliate are incidental, interchangeable, forgettable and soon forgotten.” — Fred Clark’s thoughts on the Kavanaugh hearing sound perfect for the present controversy.
