#rapeculture | #humanitystrikesback | #TheWomenAreSpeaking
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That is: whose standards, what's happening, and which women are speaking into amplification - and what they are saying, of course. There's that, right?
If that's our priority, sure.
Think of it this way: I actually am not a fan of meshing the Moore and Franken cases together because it results in the two-bit sort of politicking you're getting into. And nor am I especially fond of generalizations about what counts as left and right; whenever someone wants to complain about "Democrats", suddenly the party becomes the American "Left"; it's kind of a sick joke at this point, but I don't actually care because given a choice between receiving the data and stanching the flow according to an internal standard of what is legitimate according to my opinion is precisely how society has managed to put off dealing with this issue. I want the fucking data.
Nor are we done with either of these cases. To the one, they can both get a lot worse. To the other, try using your political acumen and watch what Al Franken is doing; he is stuck with a process, is not resigning during a period when the news can only get worse, and he has precisely one way through this with no guarantee of where and how he lands. To the beeblebrox, we get a definitive statement and periodic boundary of some sort from Yellowhammer voters soon enough; the politics of sexual violence move with that vote.
Meanwhile, the women are speaking, and it is precisely not my job or yours to filter that speech according to political need. Seriously, as much as I disdain treating the Democratic Party as the Left, it's not like leftists are any better at showing women basic human respect: Rape culture is not a partisan investment.
In the end, driving stakes to set boundaries only reminds that some expect what women tell us to follow our wishful narratives, which is utterly disrespectful, and also subordinates the larger problem to perception of limited, immediate personal need, which in turn is dangerous.
And if you need a beeblebrox, there is this: As these particular sad tales and the generally tragic narrative of societal atrocity continue, please remember that any stakes we drive along the way might well come back to bite us. It's one thing, for example, that I have used the word "sophomoric" at various times in discussing Al Franken's behavior; doesn't make it right, and all those other unfortunately requisite disclaimers, but the fact remains that I recognize this behavioral pattern. And now there is data suggesting that, while I might not be wrong about recognizing a sophomoric, theatre-related, comedy-derived general disrespect for humanity, that point might not have anything to do with anything.
And if I want to give you a fourth, so that we can stay home and lick ourselves, please consider the prospect of
any moment during this particular period of societal discourse that would see me mansplaining reality, political or otherwise.
The women are speaking. Their narrative is not subordinate.
†
Anecdotal: There is a joke buried in one of Mark Steel's radio lectures, probably, "The Sexual Revolution", about communication, sexual behavior, expectation, and, well, being British; he wonders what the negotiations would sound like, and Carla Mendonça bursts in, declaring that she has talked it over with the sisterhood, and they're definitely not going with feet behind the head.
It's actually kind of grim, these nineteen years later.
The point comes up because recently a bit went around the web from Jackson Katz, and the one thing I can't seem to find an answer about is compartmentalization; if we reject the broader phrase, we can focus on smaller issues one at a time; my cynicism follows up with, "and politick them to death one at a time". What I mean by this is that various forms of violence against human beings orbiting the fact of womanhood are all interrelated, and the result of dispensing with the phrase "violence against women" involves a perspective by which a man hitting his wife has nothing to do with a man raping his girlfriend has nothing to do with a teenager getting on his five year-old sister has nothing to do with demanding sexual favors of women requisite to employment has nothing to do with the forty-eight hookers he confessed to and the hundred-plus we still can't account for officially even though we know who killed them has nothing to do with the fact that prior to the yet-inexplicable massacre in Las Vegas the two largest mass shootings of the year had to do with men being pissed at their ex-wives.
And maybe this would be just a symptomatic byproduct of human error in formulation, and the general discourse will bring the necessary correction—you know, like they always say about how the market regulates itself—except a few weeks ago I happened to hear an interview with Katz, and I need to look it up and see if there is a transcript, and go through it again, because holy shit, it really did sound as if he was declaring demands in order to negotiate the terms by which men will engage discourse about violence against women; it was agonizing to sit through, especially while driving.
†
I suppose in the end, part of the question has to do with what any of us expect. The women are speaking; are we just waiting for them to shut up so we can get on with our lives? Because, y'know, trust me, they
will persist. And to that end, we need only take a look around at the larger circumstance. Look, this isn't the societal conversation that is actually going to get us there, and, yes, in part because of politics, though mostly because men just aren't ready to give up on all this. Still, the shield that somehow obscures rape culture to so many is gashed, and as it shreds unto the myriad forces tearing it to windblown tatters, trying to stitch here and there in order to influence
how the strands break is an endeavor not only futile but entirely dubious. Pick a metaphor; the narrative must not be subordinate, as subordination only protects what the narrative would indict. The beast will roar. And no, we can't control when and how it does. And when the women step up to save us all, all of the people who were trying to control it will still need to get the fuck out of the way. We're in the chapter when people need to learn the idol exists. Still to come is the entirely terrifying debate when rape culture strikes back and asserts its human right to exist, as well as its traditional propriety and even divine ordination. Defense of this idolatry will be a human spectacle none of us really want to witness, but the only way to avoid it would be if rape culture decides to be so kind as to roll over and die.
As to Roy Moore, the next data point is either another accuser or the election. Al Franken? What, more accusers? Is the Senate suddenly going to become efficient? What are the chances voters will eventually send him back? What would that say about what, and the answer to that is we cannot possibly speculate from here.
It took years for a bunch of Democratic supporters to come to terms with rape culture, because while it's true, that's just the way things were does not actually change the definition of what rape is. I focus on the Democrats, here, because it was our president. These years later, we
know Republicans never gave a damn, and were just using women.
You know that bit I do about the psychoanalytic meaning of history? It's not at all unimportant in the moment. But it's also the reason I'm looking at what is happening and reading a different phenomenon. It's also the reason there is only so much shit I can give Alabama, right now. Polls are polls, and people will tell pollsters what each person's conscience wants to believe will make the pollster judge them in some way, and no, that's not just a Yellowhammer psyche, that's everyone else, too. And if I say, for instance, that we just went through the Gay Fray, remember I'm one who holds the Gay Fray was always about women, anyway. I already know we cannot
force Alabama to do the right thing. Doesn't mean I have a clue what to do, but while I'm busy psychoanalyzing Roy Moore's alleged behavior, and how people respond to it, or Al Franken's behavior alleged and acknowledged, and how people respond to it, or ... that's the thing, isn't it? There's a lot of this going on, and it has to do with more than just politicians.
And that larger process is going on. Trying to psychoanalyze this history as it is told seems impossible and is probably irresponsible. The body of information pertaining to Roy Moore will take on entirely different meaning next month. Meanwhile, the way people are treating it tells me a lot about what's going on "out there" in my society.
This time, there's just not much for me to say or do until it's time to say or do something.