Hunting Season

[TW: Rape, sexual assault]

It's interesting what happens when the hunters become the hunted, isn't it?

Over the last few weeks, more and more victims of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and rape have come forward. I'm sure even more will come forward in the weeks and months to come. Something happened when Harvey Weinstein was utterly destroyed for his reprehensible crimes. Women began to think that maybe, just maybe, they would actually get justice after all. And so one woman came forward. And then another. And another. And as each woman raised her voice, the men who had silenced them for so long were suddenly forced to face the consequences of their actions. Valuable things were taken away. Careers were ended. Punishments were meted out.

Women across the country breathed a cautious and wary sigh of relief.

And men began to feel threatened, for some reason--they are so terrified that there's about to be some kind of hysterical mob violence where men are rounded up and accused of sexual assault for funsies. Which is weird, because the FBI consistently puts the false report rate at 8%, and this study done by the National Sexual Violence Resource Center in 2012 indicates false report rates between 2-6% in varying cities and states. It's no higher than the false report rate for any other crime.

So it's almost like, if a woman comes forward saying she's been raped, the likelihood of her lying is 2-8%. It's almost like, if a woman comes forward saying you've raped her, the likelihood that you've done it is 92-98%.

I'm starting to think that if you've never raped or sexually assaulted anyone, you shouldn't be this concerned that women are feeling like they can come forward and name their attackers.

It's interesting how you're so quick to demand that people trust the justice system until it's you in the handcuffs, you in the defendant's chair. If you're not guilty, you don't have anything to worry about. Isn't that what you always say to folks who are falsely arrested while exercising their right to protest? Maybe you should just let the justice system do its job--once you've been thoroughly investigated, you'll be exonerated. Just relax and let the system work, right?

Well, time to eat your words. If you've never raped anyone, you don't have anything to worry about. Maybe you should just let the justice system do its job. Once you've been thoroughly investigated, you'll be exonerated. Just relax and let the system work. If you're not guilty, you don't have anything to worry about.

Do you?

Sutherland Springs

TW for gun violence, particularly against children]

By the time of this posting, you’re likely aware of what happened on Sunday night in Sutherland Springs, TX—26 people gone. Gunned down by a “mentally ill lone wolf” who they will refuse to label as a terrorist because he's white—and I refuse to use his name because I don’t want to add to his inevitable infamy—who was allowed access to an automatic rifle despite being discharged from the military and court martialed for assaulting his wife and child.

I don’t even know how to describe my emotional state at this point. I’m beyond angry. Furious doesn’t cover it. Because we keep letting this happen. Over and over and over again. Because when it's white men committing the violence with what they believe are their Constitutionally-guaranteed guns, apparently it's perfectly okay. Because in this particular instance, half the victims were CHILDREN. CHILDREN. One of those children was just 18 months old. One victim was eight months pregnant. Her fetus was just a month or so away from being a newborn baby.

If you’re wondering why you don’t hear our pro-life Republican representatives demanding sensible gun control, that’s because they’re not. Because they’re busy offering “thoughts and prayers” instead. And that’s because they don’t actually care about a fetus’ “right to life.” If they actually care about fetuses, they should demand immediate action on sensible gun control legislation. But they won't. Because even if they believe that a fetus is essentially an already living, breathing child, we’ve already established that it’s not about saving fetuses—it’s about controlling women’s bodies and therefore their lives. Always has been. Their radio silence on this most recent mass shooting is perfect evidence of that. But we also know that dead children isn’t enough to sway them from that sweet, sweet NRA money, anyway.

Because we’ve done this before.

We lost 20 children—babies, really—at Sandy Hook Elementary back in 2012 and not a single common-sense piece of gun control legislation ever got passed. No one even bothered to fight for it. They just offered thoughts and prayers, as usual, and life went on. A year passed. Two years. Now five. More people died. More children. So much death that could have easily been prevented had the Republicans just pried their fingers from their guns and their NRA membership cards for one fucking second and passed some fucking gun control. But no. Their love of the 2^nd Amendment (and those super-shiny NRA paychecks, of course) superseded those kids’ right to life, and so they did nothing.

And they will do nothing now.

The fact that a fetus likely died with a bullet through it won’t even make them flinch.

And life will go on. For some of us, anyway.