Bullet in Tennessee

This was how it ended.

People found comfort in the fact that it was “meant” to come down to a blood-spattered backseat of a grim new-model Chevy with a hood bent like a crocodile muzzle, to a hole in your delicate, mysterious brain; what better way to exorcise genius?

The note that they found on you was addressed to your sister, “whom [you] loved.” It wasn’t meant to dismiss your parents, this note, it was borne out of your love of precision.

Your parents lived mostly in their thoughts: somehow managing to talk above your head even when you became a head taller than both of them, or else lapsing into “cool” phases, offering you wine and unsolicited advice about condoms. Your sister was near and keen, mouth hanging open in wonder at everything you did: college math in the seventh grade, tae kwan do black belt, balancing a spoon on your nose and explaining stochastic differential equations at the same time.

You dutifully went on double-dates with me, knowing that my best friend Ruth pressured me to “not just be the freaking third-wheel all the time.” For Ruth’s benefit, you brushed strands of hair out of my face and, with a look of desperate teenage longing, whispered things in my ear:Continue reading “Bullet in Tennessee”

Shorter danaseilhan: “Sexual assault and harrassment are bad things. Unless they happen to a mouthy stripper.”

This LJ user recently showed up on a Pandagon thread of doom with a few things to say about Renegade Evolution’s bad day at work (for the sake of context: Ren Ev is a stripper who cut a performance short when the drunk rednecks who hired her became dangerously aggressive – not to mention the insults they were hurling – by the way, this happened last year… And people seem to be obsessed with the issue nonetheless):

…And the fact still remains that it’s easier to rape you if you’ve already appealed to a guy’s libido and you have fewer clothes between you and him. Above and beyond the oppression inherent in participating in an industry that says to men, Here I am all wrapped up for you as a commodity because YOU ARE ENTITLED TO IT.

And I don’t care what she feels. I could feel that the earth is flat and you guys would laugh at me. Deservedly so. One’s personal feelings do not change political facts.

I wasn’t going to bother commenting on this particularly egregious case of rectal-cranial inversion, until I heard that this lovely lady was still defending her position elsewhere. And something inside me died.

Behold:

I know what that’s about and it is a really tough thing to clarify. On the one hand, men are moral agents and responsible for their behavior unless they are insane or senile. On the other hand, it is one thing to be assaulted in the daily course of an ordinary life–and here I mean even a life that a guy would count as ordinary, which may or may not include the occasional bar hop or frat party; it’s another to take on a line of work in which sexuality is inherent, go running around to the homes of total strangers in a very misogynistic culture and expect that nothing will ever happen. It’s still their fault… but doing something like that is like playing Russian Roulette with a sentient gun. [emphasis mine]

So. Dana believes that there is such a thing as an “ordinary life” and appoints herself as arbitrator of what an “ordinary life” is all about. She allows a woman some leeway if she occasionally finds herself in a bar or at a frat party (but only occasionally!) – but a line of work in which “sexuality is inherent”? Tough titties, Gwyneth Paltrow (she’s done nude scenes!). Tough titties, Gisele Bundchen (she poses!!! In lingerie!!!). Tough titties, belly-dancing instructors of the world (this one is pretty self-explanatory, no?).

Dana’s unfortunate condition (the afore-mentioned rectal-cranial inversion) does not allow her to see how sexuality and the workplace and, for that matter, life, intersect. Continue reading “Shorter danaseilhan: “Sexual assault and harrassment are bad things. Unless they happen to a mouthy stripper.””

Smackdown Time: “All heterosexual women are rape victims”? Oh yeah?

A regular old feminist is usually pretty weary of the standard clichés: “all feminists hate men,” “all feminists think sex is rape,” “all feminists wear clown shoes and smell like cow dung,” and so on…

HOWEVER,

Every once in a while you really do stumble on to folks who believe that, and I quote, “all heterosexual women are rape victims.”

Hokay. Right. So.

I showed the afore-mentioned comments to a friend of mine who was raped a couple of years ago. She’s a writer who is currently compiling research on what she believes to be “dangerous rhetoric” in regards to rape. She asked me to help her out. I dropped her a link (among many other links).
Here’s what she had to say:

Continue reading “Smackdown Time: “All heterosexual women are rape victims”? Oh yeah?”

The Blunt Mirror

“Who was it who had the bright idea to use sunlight hares in the attack?” The General asked impatiently.

“Hares, sir?” The adjutant hid his amusement. Although the General was only beginning to gray about the temples and the nose hairs, dementia was surely not far off.

“There was a figure on a hill. Outflanking the poor bastards in the ravine. The figure was holding a mirror, reflecting light onto their faces. It wasn’t remotely clever it was… ridiculous, that’s what it was.”

The adjutant’s ruddy complexion momentarily turned white with fear. The General did not notice. He was not in the habit of noticing things that were of no tactical importance. Continue reading “The Blunt Mirror”