About that cross at Ground Zero...

[thucythucy]

276. All analogies are strained to a certain extent.

Some more than others. It's what makes for analogies as opposed to "identities"--that is, two situations entirely equal to each other.

Anyway, I specifically mentioned that you never used the phrase "faux outrage." But the wording of your OP on objectification seemed rather confrontational, even dismissive, and thus in league with those who did indeed use the phrase. You could have said, "Men are objectified too" or "Here are instances of male objectification" or even "Let's put objectification into a broader context than simply sexual objectification." Instead it was "You Really Want to Go There?" which came across to me anyway as less an opening to any useful discussion than as a challege to those bothered by the objectification inherent in the SI cover.

Similarly, to make a statement such as "Even denying that 'rape culture' exists is NOT misogyny (it just makes you 'feel' bad)" comes across as less "an attempt to suggest" any particular idea than it does as a denigration of those who believe there is such a thing as rape culture and categorize its denial as misogyny; and to minimize the impact this denial might have on people who know rape culture as lived experience. Specifically, to say both JUST [my emphasis] makes you feel bad and to put "feel" in quotes strongly implies that you regard such "feelings" as trivial, if not delusionary. If that wasn't your intent, then your wording here, as with the objectification OP, very much left itself open to misinterpretation.

If the appearance of a cross or crucifix in a public space comes across as intimidating and hurtful to some people (and I know that it does) and if, as you imply, such a feeling is rooted in both historical and perhaps lived experience (which I believe it is), then it is of course quite proper and reasonable at the very least to respond to those feelings in ways that are compassionate and understanding, and not trivializing and dismissive.

Similarly, if some people view the denial that rape culture even exists as threatening, even misogynistic, then that feeling needs to be addressed in ways that are in the very least respectful and compassionate. The denial of the very existence of rape culture might well be experienced in much the same threatening way by a rape survivor, for instance, as the appearance of Christian iconography by a non-Christian who has a background of religious based oppression.

To me the analogy isn't strained at all. Which is why I asked you about this in the first place.

Best wishes.