Hello! I exist!
It’s been a busy ol’ time (in quite a nice way, for a change). I have writing happening in my head though, as always, so some will make its way onto your screens soon.
In the mean time, you can sink your teeth into the 32nd Down Under Feminists Carnival over at Profligate Promiscuous Strumpet. These carnivals are just my favourite.
Re: body acceptance, you should also be reading:
Let’s Make A Deal at Fat Lot of Good
But You’re Gonna DIE at Fat Heffalump
The Best Thing You’ll Read all Day at Shakesville
Re: rape culture, in light of this latest disaster from Naomi Wolf, I think we all need some of these
Privilege denying Naomi Wolf "Can't say no but can call cops - that's not feminism"
I don’t know whether to thank you or sue for the link to that Wolf piece — it had all the intellectual rigour of a Sarah Palin FB post.
Long time, no see! But I’m glad to see you’re as feisty as ever!
Sorry Jana you got stuck in spam!
Okay, I’m confused. What’s the beef with Naomi Wolf’s article? I thought she had a fairly relevant point. No?
Sorry for the third comment. Is it because rape victims need to be protected, and by releasing their names, they receive too much unfair scrutiny?
I agree that that is the case. But I also wonder if Wolf has a point, that on a larger scale, not knowing the names of the women could contribute to more people assuming they are false charges rather than lending them credibility.
Thoughts?
She has a point, but it doesn’t stand up in the real world. People who report rape can still suffer from slut-shaming, victim-blaming, scrutiny of their sexual lives, labelling as tainted or damaged (especially with some cultural backgrounds) and they are more at risk of being raped again. In a word, they are re-victimised. Some people who make rape accusations, such as the two women who made claims against Assange, receive death threats. We shouldn’t be making it compulsory for all rape victims to run the gauntlet of public opinion and shaming for an ideal which is, well, not the core issue. I have nothing but deep respect for rape victims who publicly speak out but no one should be forced to do that in order to seek justice.
I’m also skeptical about how much it effects the credibility of claims. For starters, the claims only need to be credible in the courts — what the general public thinks in a criminal investigation shouldn’t really matter that much. Secondly, if the name of a robbery or arson or other type of victim or complainant were witheld say, because of their age or because they were a witness at risk etc., that wouldn’t automatically make everyone question whether their claims were made up. It is only because we have such a culture of disbelieving rape victims that this is an issue.
The other really glaring problem with Wolf’s position is that because of above-mentioned problems (like slut-shaming and threats of violence), women who are forced to reveal their identity publicly may be less likely to report rapes, especially when they are raped by powerful and popular men. And the net outcome of that? Rapists rape more people. Getting away with a crime without so much as a police interview is, um, not a deterrent to committing it again! There are already enough obstacles to women reporting rapes: if we remove the slim protections they enjoy in some jurisdictions what will that do to reporting rates?
The reason that rape victims are treated differently to victims of other crimes is because, um, the public and the courts treat them differently. It’s not because women are special snowflakes or failing to be ‘moral adults’.
Eeeew… I clicked on rape apologism and contributed to their hit count. Now I feel dirty!