Sunday, December 19, 2010

Assange and rape culture

Wow - there is a helluva lot of stuff going on in cyberspace about Julian Assange. He's such a hot topic that even stuff.co.nz is posting useless articles about how his hairstyle has changed over the years.

But nevermind the bollocks. With mixed emotions - some pride, some fear, quite a bit of anger - feminists all over the world are venting spleen on rape culture. This case has gone from a righteous call for justice to a media fuckin' circus.


Rape is horrible. Yes? Anyone want to disagree with that? My logic is sound. If anyone wants to play devil's advocate or whatever with me about the technicalities of this case and how it's different from being raped at knifepoint or by someone you thought you could trust - take a flying leap.

Rape is a crime. Crimes should be punished accordingly. This is why we have the institution known as the Justice System.

NO, it is not fucking fair that women who report rape are dragged through the muck by the system. NO, it is not all right for defense lawyers to tell a room full of strangers the sexual history of those women. To make it sound convincing enough that she ASKED for it. That she DESERVED it.

Because fuck no, we don't.

It is not fucking fair that men who are to all outward appearances good guys and pillars of the community or just famous for some reason or other AND ARE ALSO RAPISTS get away with it.

They are getting away with it because suddenly every rape apologist airs their opinion on twitter, facebook and their blogs. This is a power and control thing: they make us scared. And then women back down, rape gets forgotten, life goes on...


Damn it, it doesn't. I hope BECAUSE of all this shit the women who were raped by Assange stand up, have their day in court and WIN. As a big final fuck-you to rapists and the people who help them get away with it.


It's fucking me off that there are other women out there on the internet getting trolled and flamed and emotionally abused by rape apologists and rape supporters. (Much love to ya, sisters.)
All of it is said with the intent to get us to shut up about rape. To let it drop. No, fuck you guys, I won't let it drop. I am not shutting up. We are not backing down. We are going for justice.


(Maybe I've missed something out. This is not an academic essay - this is just guts. This post is better.)

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