Radical Feminists and the “Wrong” Kind of Sexual Abuse Survivors: Or Why We Should All Just Slit Our Throats

Satsuma, a radical feminist minion/smelly sockpuppet, has really, really made me mad just now. Satsuma, for those of you lucky enough to have been shielded from her radioactive stupidity up until now, hangs out over on the website of one Cheryl “Heart” Seelhoff (don’t try to leave comments over there, like, ever, they’ll be censored or deleted).

Wise minds have suggested that Satsuma is an invention of Heart. While we cannot verify such claims at this time, we do have our own suspicions.

Now, I’ve already spoken about radical feminists and the “wrong” kinds of women: the “wrong” abuse survivor, the “wrong” PTSD sufferer, etc.

So I am not altogether surprised to see comments like this one, containing statements  that reduce us all to pathetic caricatures, even going as far as claiming that any sort of intimate contact with a man “taints” a woman (boy, that’s a “new” one. Kind of like those Victorian rape survivors who could never been seen in polite society again, eh?).

What Satsuma is suggesting is that all women who have ever been in sex-work or have ever supported sex-work in any way, shape, or form – are all survivors of childhood sexual abuse. And that these survivors cannot think for themselves, they cannot be responsible for themselves, and that they should not be taken seriously.

There are several things going on here:Continue reading “Radical Feminists and the “Wrong” Kind of Sexual Abuse Survivors: Or Why We Should All Just Slit Our Throats”

“New Wives For Old”: Older Men, Younger Women, and Cindy McCain

When I was a teenager, a couple of relatives cautioned me about marriage: “Never go for a younger man, or even a man your age. Go for the older ones, who have money and success and no energy to leave you.”

This advice did not just materialize out of the ether: nearly all the women in my family have been cheated on by their husbands with younger women. One was left with three kids on her hands when her husband walked out on her with a woman half his age. One killed herself. One had to survive the humiliation of having her husband waltz in with his mistress during a state dinner in his wife’s honour.

In Ukraine, these practices are defended on the basis of evo psych: men cheat, women are cheated upon. Men leave, women are left. If a woman decides to cheat or leave, she’s a slut and a whore, but for a man, such things are “forgivable” and “natural” and “hell, he can’t help it if his wife has stetch-marks after giving birth to three children.”

The younger mistresses of older men are looked upon with similar disdain: they’re sluts and gold-diggers. The men themselves are like teflon – nothing sticks. They are only doing what is natural and normal, in a world populated either by worn-out hags or slutty bitches.

I’ve noticed that Cindy McCain gets somewhat similar treatment.

Of course, I can’t compare the attacks on her with attacks on Michelle Obama: brazenly hateful, racist attempts at showing “the angry black woman” her “place,” ignoring her talents in favour of caricature. I furthermore like to think that I have no illusions about Cindy McCain’s privileged, wealthy status, and that she does not need a white knight on her steed to come in for a dramatic rescue right about now.

But I’ll never forget the New York Times article that basically stated that after John McCain left his wife Carol for Cindy, it was Cindy that was socially ostracized in Washington and not John. People turned up their nose at her, not him.

This bothers me.

I have no doubts that Cindy knew all about John’s family and marriage when he started pursuing her. I don’t think Cindy is a helpless victim, I think saying so would be insulting. But in the relatively multi-cultural circles I run in – Cindy is usually the “bitch” to John McCain’s “experienced statesman,” etc.Continue reading ““New Wives For Old”: Older Men, Younger Women, and Cindy McCain”

I has fringe and glasses! I can has Paglia’s love too?

Second highest office in the land and all I need to do is rock that fringe? O RLY?
Second highest office in the land and all I need to do is rock that fringe? O RLY?

The funniest thing about Camille Paglia singing “My Creepy Valentine” to Sarah Palin again, is Camille’s insistence that it was the evil Democrats who hunted poor Palin like a wolf from a helicopter (individual hunters are more respectful of the environment than the food industry, and they aid in conservation efforts when species overpopulation is a problem – but wolves from helicopters? The hell?).

Didn’t Paglia get the memo? The people out for Palin’s blood, the ones publishing weird stories about her, even suggesting that she all but came on to several campaign staff-members – are bitter Republicans.

Democrats don’t pretend to like Palin (and guess what? They don’t have to), but it was the Republicans who wanted a sweet, submissive little VP, then started snarling when things didn’t go as planned.

Of course, Paglia doesn’t have the balls to say it. It’s better to examine the sweater that Bill Ayers’ wife wore, like, 30 years ago (I shit you not).

My favourite of Paglia’s lines about Palin must be the following gem:

There is a powerful clarity of consciousness in her eyes.

Oh, you mean, like, she’s AWAKE? That’s cool, I guess. You never know when the GOP may slip a coma patient past us during an election cycle. Better take what you can get, I suppose.

I also found it interesting that for all of the hand-wringing on Palin, Paglia kept her mouth firmly shut on the slurs against Obama, on the fact that “Arab” was used as an insult against him, on Colin Powell’s stance concerning the sleazy tactics, or on the fact that Palin never gave a press conference – greatly contributing to the media’s animosity towards her, and rightly so. Doesn’t mean you have to give the Obama presidency a blank check, but addressing some of the virulent hatred that Palin’s own supporters have spewed at him would have been honest, at the very least.

I hate to even admit this, because you will laugh at me…Continue reading “I has fringe and glasses! I can has Paglia’s love too?”

Shorter Julie Bindel – “Lie back and think of England”

Once upon a time, Julie Bindel wrote something that really resonated with me: she spoke of being out with a group of women and getting harassed by some tool who just couldn’t abide by the little ladies going out unsupervised. I recall he called them “carpet-munchers,” among other things.

I’m not a lesbian, but I know what it’s like to be harassed for showing my face outside (hey, guy who started cussing me out on my way to the gym today? I understood every word, you miserable swine), and I had to shake my head at just how much our world sucks, and perhaps will always suck, when things like that still happen to people.

And yet, this is the same Julie Bindel who, in her latest expression of transphobia and general disdain for anyone who doesn’t quite live up to her standards, stated the following:

…But I for one do not wish to be lumped in with an ever-increasing list of folk defined by “odd” sexual habits or characteristics. Shall we just start with A and work our way through the alphabet? A, androgynous, b, bisexual, c, cat-fancying d, devil worshipping. Where will it ever end? – Comment Is Free.

Irony much, Julie?Continue reading “Shorter Julie Bindel – “Lie back and think of England””