Republicans, Power and Rape Culture...
Republicans on Rape:
"Rape is kinda like the weather. If it’s inevitable, relax and enjoy it."
"If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to shut that thing down."
"Rape victims should make the best of a bad situation." ~
Republicans on Rape
Now we can add to the Republican Cannon of Rape and Sexual Assault :
"Should a man be held responsible for the actions he took as a youth?" - A statement assuming guilt and rationalizing violence.
Apparently, Conservatives can find no shame in the fact that a 53 year old who is accused of sexual assault in his youth is the most qualified person the Trump administration could find to put on SCOTUS.
While the GOP has come to represent everything Anti-Woman, their malignancy is a symptom of Rape Culture and we all swim in its toxic waters.
One of the features of Rape Culture is the presentation of rape only in its most extreme, violent, sadistic form, the sort instigated by strangers. The reality is rape is often not extremely violent, and this fact makes it no less a violation because the cornerstone of rape is non-consent. In most cases, the assailant is known to the victim. The way victims process trauma also differs - it may take them a few days or it may take them decades and by focusing on extreme examples of rape as the sole definition of what rape is, less violent and similarly dysfunctional psychosocial behavior become normalized as "horseplay", and sexual assault trauma is trivialized. In a similar vein, to use an analogy, this same phenomenon is at work when racism is only acknowledged in its most violent forms, like the KKK and Lynching, while discrimination in a million other different, less obviously violent, ways are dismissed and minimized ( anti-semitism and other toxic isms are applicable)
Since Dr. Ford's allegations became public, the idea of whether to "believe" her has also predictably entered the debate, when the focus should be on how structural systems respond to allegations of assault. Far more important than the notion of belief, should be an expectation that a sexual assault accuser's claims are to be treated seriously and with professionalism. How allegations are handled sends a message to sexual assault survivors, both male and female, that demanding accountability will not result in further victimization
Beyond the fact that the GOP denied a sitting President a hearing for his SCOTUS pick, and beyond all arguments about Democrats and their strategies, lies the truth at stake here: We women are not property and it is we who should determine what happens to our bodies.
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But don't do anything to stop it?
That's even worse than thoughts and prayers.
The asshole that said that lost his election to Ann Richards.
When republicans say or do repugnant things, they need to lose elections to Dem women.
