Abusers of the Left

Anita is getting flack because she’s an ignorant outsider. I’m not even a gamer, and this is apparent to me.

Whether you agree the content Anita showcases is misogynistic, offensive or not, most of her videos function on the same, flawed premise: That the negative gender stereotypes she finds in these games are harmful to the gamers that play them. She argues that these games somehow ingrain negative gender stereotypes in the individuals that play. They hurt women via perpetuating these stereotypes, essentially.

This is pure, unsubstantiated BS. Anita would never fund an actual study with the tens of thousands of dollars she’s raised, because she knows any such study wouldn’t work in her favor. It’s easier to buy a bunch of video games, cherrypick the most offensive parts for ignorant viewers, and then keep the rest of the money for yourself and your organization, right?

You’ve gotta wake up to the truth: Anita’s videos are about as effective and as enlightening as an elementary school screening of Reefer Madness. 

Media—especially popular media—reflects already-existing norms, ideas, concepts, and sentiments in a society, it doesn’t dictate them to consumers. Slasher flicks don’t make serial killers. Grand Theft Auto doesn’t increase the probability of shooting sprees. Gangsta rap doesn’t create gangs. The game Bully doesn’t create bullies. Reading 50 Shades of Grey probably doesn’t increase the likelihood of the reader getting tied up and whipped for sexual pleasure either.

If EA Games were to somehow create and sell a video game titled Mysogyny: Women Suck, the only people who would buy and enjoy such a game would be individuals who already agreed with the game’s clearly stated ideology. Anyone else buying and enjoying the game probably just dabbles in whatever fantasy the game presents during gameplay only. 

The probability of this game somehow CREATING a misogynist is about as likely as your local library’s copy of Mein Kampf creating a Nazi. Any such result would be minuscule if charted in a study of any sort.

As a kid, teen, and adult, I’ve been exposed to TONS of media that has displayed women as the weaker, more submissive, and more sexually desirable gender. However, this is not something I feel is reality. Why? Strong female role models, good upbringing, friends, family, amazing wife, and plenty of real-life interactions with women. FUCK A VIDEO GAME! A healthy reality ALWAYS trumps a fantasy. 

If you really want to change hearts and minds when it comes to gender roles in society, you’ve got to work on changing that society’s reality, not its media—especially media that so explicitly deals in fantasy. I know we tend to blame the media for a lot of our ills, but your real-life interactions and role models play a larger role in guiding your moral and social outlook than any music, movie, game, or book you’ll ever consume.

Anita is on the most foolish of errands, but y’all are eating it up like a hot pizza. Looking for positive gender roles in a game like Hitman is like looking for positive gender roles in any of the three Expendables films. There’s nothing applicable to real life in Hitman because the game’s not meant to guide anyone through real life. It’s a violent video game, not a dating advice show. There aren’t a whole lotta healthy social norms in the game because it’s not meant to portray any sort of normality.

NOW DON’T GET IT TWISTED: I do understand that violent, male-pandering video games persist in the video game industry. They make a lot of money, yes. And I completely acknowledge that a lot of what’s in games like Hitman, Manhunt, and Grand Theft Auto isn’t exactly, uh, healthy when it comes to the gender roles displayed. There’s a definitely a lack of female leading roles in many games, too.

However, it’s not like there aren’t alternatives here. There are plenty of non-violent, positive indie and mainstream games out there that would love more customers. And there could be MORE if we supported this sect of the industry. If Anita really cared about the future of the video game industry in relation to her cause, well, then she’d encourage all of her fans to purchase video games that work outside the negative gender stereotypes and violence of games like Hitman. It’s that simple. Supply and demand might have created Hitman, but it can just as easily create games with positive messages and gender roles, and it already has. You just have to buy them and be willing to support future releases that fit in with your taste.

But Anita is no gamer, and most of her supporters aren’t either. They’re outsiders that want to see change in a market they don’t participate in. Anita’s lack of experience is plain as day, yet, she’s lauded as some kind of expert. What if we applied the same angle to me right here:

Would you take my metal reviews seriously if I owned no metal records? Didn’t listen to metal? Had no real history with metal? Disliked metal? Constantly criticized metal with surface-level complaints like it being too loud, satanic, violent, angry, and perpetuating dangerous, overly masculine gender stereotypes? No, you wouldn’t. No one—except people equally ignorant to metal—would take me seriously. I’d be an ignorant outsider, which Anita is when it comes to gaming.

And I still stand by my PMRC comparison, too. I see similarity in her determination to find social dangers where there really are none. Yeah, Anita has nowhere near the same level of power or political influence, and she probably never will. And she probably won’t try to pull off the same censorship stunts due to the inevitable failure of trying to enforce or legislate any such censorship. It would be more beneficial to her to stay on the sidelines and collect her fundraising bucks as she highlights games she deems misogynistic. I agree America’s got a long way to go when it comes to creating social equality between the genders, but video games are nowhere near the root of the issues we need to address. They’re just an easy target for the quick to complain.

- Sheila Jeffreys on the effects of legalized prostitution on women (via thespinsterette)

Never thought of this, fuck.

A story in the Kansas City Star is rippling across the Internet as a post-Steubenville example of how communities still circle the wagons and protect student athletes who commit sexual assault. 

A story in the Kansas City Star is rippling across the Internet as a post-Steubenville example of how communities still circle the wagons and protect student athletes who commit sexual assault. 

A pair of sexual assaults that occurred one day last year in Maryville, Missouri, weren’t much different from ones that happen every day: there were teenagers, there was alcohol, and there were rapes that the perpetrators claimed were consensual.  

As reported by the Star, on Saturday, January 8, 2012, Maryville High School freshman cheerleader Daisy (whose identity has been made public by her mother) had been having a sleepover with her 13-year-old friend.  The girls were drinking liquor hidden in her bedroom and texting Matthew Barnett, 17, a football player and acquaintance of her older brother. Daisy had a crush on the older boy, who had been at the Coleman home just days earlier watching TV. That night around 1a.m., the two girls snuck out of the house to meet up with Barnett and a group of his friends, sneaking through a basement window at Barnett’s house.

There, Daisy was handed two glasses of booze, one after the other. She doesn’t remember being raped by Barnett, while one of his friends, a 15-year-old boy, raped her 13-year-old friend as she said “no” multiple times. One boy who was there that night, Jordan Zech, 17, a football player and wrestler, captured Daisy’s assault on on iPhone video.

Daisy was so drunk she had to be carried out of the Barnett home; multiple kids confirmed that as she was being taken back to her house, she was crying.  Daisy’s 13-year-old friend found her way back into the Coleman house, but Daisy was left in a tee shirt and sweatpants on the front lawn overnight. When her mother, Melinda Coleman, found her the next morning after she heard noises from outside, Daisy’s hair was frozen.

Melinda brought her daughter indoors and warmed her up in a bath. That’s when she noticed physical signs of sexual assault and immediately took her daughter to the hospital. 

Police hauled in the young men, who admitted to drinking and “sex” with the girls. Barnett insisted what happened was consensual; under Missouri law, sex cannot be consensual if the victim is incapacitated by alcohol. Barnett was charged with felony sexual assault and misdemeanor endangerment of the welfare of a child.  Zech, who had filmed the encounter, was charged with sexual exploitation.

Retribution against the Coleman children was swift. Daisy was suspended from the cheerleading team (presumably for drinking) and slutshamed by her peers. Melinda Coleman was warned about chatter online saying her sons would get beaten up. Daisy’s older brother heard Zech’s video of the assault was being passed around school. Then Melinda Coleman lost her job at a veterinary clinic. (Her boss admitted to the Star to having “ties” to one of the boys involved.) 

This is where the story takes on a Steubenville-level of absurdity in how the perpetrators walked free. In March 2012, prosecutor Robert Rice dismissed the felony cases against the boys. Barnett’s misdemeanor charge for child endangerment (for leaving Daisy out in the cold) was later dropped as well. 

In an interview, Rice was quoted as saying, “They were doing what they wanted to do, and there weren’t any consequences. And it’s reprehensible. But is it criminal? No.” How did Rice come to such a conclusion? Barnett, it turns out, was a grandson of former MO State Representative Rex Barnett. Rex Bennett denied any meddling to the Star.

Because the charges were dropped, rape kit results and witness interviews are now sealed. A Change.org petition by a friend of the mother of the 13-year-old girl is asking for Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster to step in to investigate Rice’s mishandling of the rape case. 

 In the mean time, the Coleman family has moved 40 miles away. Six months ago, they learned their Maryville home had been burned to the ground. Daisy, according to the Star, has attempted suicide at least two times.

It’s a story that calls to mind not only Steubenville, but Rehtaeh Parsons and Audrie Pott, two teen girls in Nova Scotia and California who killed themselves after they were raped by peers and then harassed for being victims. As is all too common, these young women were blamed for their own assaults while their rapists receive a slap on the wrist (at most). Daisy is still alive today, thankfully. Here’s hoping the national focus on her story will bring more attention to both the slutshaming and abuse she and her family suffered, rather than magnify it.

UPDATE: Here’s more information on rapist Matthew Barnett’s grandfather, former MO State Representative Rex Barnett (R).

Representative Rex Barnett, a Republican, represents Atchison, Nodaway and Worth counties (District 4) in the Missouri House of Representatives.

He was elected to his first two-year term in 1994.

Rep. Barnett is a retired Missouri State Highway Patrol officer. He worked in Troop H for 32 years.

He is a deacon in the First Baptist Church in his hometown and is a member of the Masonic Lodge: Scottish Rite, Shrine, Order of Eastern Star, Farm Bureau, AQHA and APHA.

Rep. Barnett attended Trenton Junior College, Draughn Business College, and Central Missouri State University.

Rep. Barnett currently resides in Maryville with his wife, Anna. They have two children and seven grandchildren.

Anonymous has announced that it is taking part in attempting to get charges brought back against Matthew Barnett and others.

On Sunday morning, the Kansas City Star published a horrific account of the rape and subsequent harassment of 14-year-old Daisy Coleman and her family. By early Monday morning, the hacktivist group Anonymous had taken up the cause on the Coleman’s behalf.

The facts of the case are not in dispute: on January 8, 2012, a high school senior recorded himself having sex with Daisy Coleman, then left her, drunk and nearly unconscious, on her parents’ front lawn in freezing weather. The senior in question, Matthew Barnett, had given her “a big glass of clear stuff,” and tests at the hospital seven hours later showed her with a blood alcohol level of 0.13.

Barnett was arrested and charged with sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a minor, and while in custody confessed to having sex with the drunk 14-year-old, but insisted that it was consensual. He also admitted to leaving her “outside sitting in 30-degree weather,” and it was Barnett who informed police that the sex had been recorded on an iPhone. Police later executed a search warrant on the Barnett home, which yielded physical evidence including Coleman’s panties and a bottle of Bacardi Big Apple.

“Within four hours,” Sheriff White told the Star, “we had obtained a search warrant for the house and executed that. We had all of the suspects in custody and had audio/video confessions.”

Despite this, two weeks later the charges were all dropped. Barnett’s grandfather, Rex, a Republican state representative, claims that the dismissal had nothing to do with political influence. The prosecutor who worked the case said that teens “were doing what they wanted to do, and there weren’t any consequences. And it’s reprehensible. But is it criminal? No.”

The Coleman family moved away, but had been unable to sell their house. Last April, it burned to the ground in what authorities characterized as a “suspicious circumstance.”

Early this morning, in response to the Star‘s report, Anonymous posted a letter to the town of Maryville:

We demand an immediate investigation into the handling by local authorities of Daisy’s case. Why was a suspect, who confessed to a crime, released with no charges? How was video and medical evidence not enough to put one of these football players inside a court room? What is the connection of these prosecutors, if any, to Rep. Rex Barnett? Most of all, We are wondering, how do the residents of Maryville sleep at night?

If Maryville won’t defend these young girls, if the police are too cowardly or corrupt to do their jobs, if justice system has abandoned them, then we will have to stand for them. Mayor Jim Fall, your hands are dirty. Maryville, expect us.

The campaign has been dubbed #OpMaryville and begins in full today.

Update 11:38 a.m. EST: The victim in this case is underage and her name would not normally be released; however, the Star appended the following to their coverage of the case:

Seven months ago, The Star began looking into the 2012 case of two young teens who told authorities they were sexually assaulted by older boys. The Star spoke extensively with the mothers of the girls, interviewed dozens of others and reviewed hundreds of pages of records, from sheriff’s office interviews with the accused to medical records. While most documents were sealed by authorities, many were copied previously by the Coleman family and provided to The Star.

Though The Star’s policy usually is not to name alleged victims in sexual assault incidents, or cases of attempts on one’s life, exceptions have been made in some cases. Daisy Coleman’s name appears in this article with the permission and cooperation of the Coleman family.

Contact Rex Barnett below…

Contact #Missouri official Rex Barnett & ask about his grandson having rape charges dropped http://t.co/pkwDSvUudh#Justice4Daisy #Maryville

Below is a picture of the rapist Matthew Barnett.

UPDATE: This case gets even worse, if that’s possible. It turns out that Matthew Barnett raped Daisy Coleman and another underage minor at his family home, then left Daisy for dead.

A county prosecutor and sheriff have been accused of a cover-up after sex attack charges were dropped against the grandson of an influential Missouri representative.

Matthew Barnett, 17, had been facing charges of sexually assaulting a drunk 14-year-old girl at his family home in January.

But the case sparked outrage among justice campaigners when the accusations were dismissed earlier this month due to lack of evidence.

An online petition claims the decision was made despite video evidence and even before forensic test results had come back from the lab.

It alleges the teenager’s grandfather, GOP state representative Rex Barnett, may have influenced Sheriff Darren White and prosecutor Robert Rice.

It states that Rex Barnett serves on at least one committee with Sheriff White and has called on Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster to investigate.

'The conduct of Robert Rice and Darren White is, at the very least, questionable in this case,' the petition goes on to say.

Barnett had been accused of sexually assaulting the girl while his friend Jordan Zech, 17, recorded the alleged attack on his cell phone.

It is also alleged a 15-year-old boy was filmed assaulting a 13-year-old girl at the same time in the house.

'Cover-up': It is claimed Barnett's grandfather, Missouri State Representative Rex Barnett (left), may have influenced Sheriff Darren White (right) into dropping the charges

Court documents state Barnett left the girl passed out on her front lawn, where she was found by her parents, according to St Joseph News-Press. She says she cannot remember the alleged attack.

Barnett and Zech faced sex charges after the incident on January 8, but these were dropped on March 13 because prosecutors said they could not prove the case beyond reasonable doubt.

Barnett instead faces a misdemeanor charge of endangering the welfare of a child over claims the girl was given alcohol and then dumped outside. No charges remain against Zech.

Mr Rice said it was the ‘right call’ to drop the charges.

'The state does not have proof beyond a reasonable doubt that those two defendants committed the charges that were originally filed against them after concluding our investigation,' he is reported as saying.'

He added: ‘We did have all the medical, and all the information where we could make a decision based on the evidence, and I am absolutely convinced it was the right call to do, and it was the right decision to dismiss it.’

'Questionable conduct': The petition on change.org which calls on Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster to investigate the case

Campaigners have expressed their shock over the decision, which they claim was made before the forensic test results had been been returned.

They also point to the fact there is video evidence and claim the 15-year-old confessed to his part in the attacks while facing charges in the juvenile courts.

The petition posted on change.org, a website which allows people to campaign for social change, says: ‘The rape kits (forensic tests) performed on both the girls haven’t even come back yet for investigators to see.

'Matthew Barnett is also in a very influential family in Maryville. His grandfather is Missouri representative Rex Barnett, and Rex serves on at least one committee with Sheriff Darrin White.

'The conduct of Robert Rice and Darrin White is at, the very least, questionable in this case.

'Please sign our petition, give these girls and their families some relief, justice, and closure.'

It has been signed by 848 people.

AnonNews has the names of both rapists in this case. Take a look below.

Two football players, a 14 year old girl, a 15 year old girl, and a 13 year old girl. Both of the males have a prominent name in this small town (Maryville, Mo). Barnett has a grandfather(Rex Barnett) in the House of Representatives. Zech’s father (from what i’m told) hold’s a major position at a bank. Here is aquote from their families: “It was so quiet and they slid it by so quickly, I didn’t even know they dropped the charges”. Rapist #1: Matthew Barnett (Maryville Missouri) (FB: https://www.facebook.com/matt.barnett.3388?fref=ts ) Rapist #2: Jordan Zecht (Maryville Missouri) (FB: https://www.facebook.com/jordan.zech?fref=ts) Links: http://www.change.org/petitions/missouri-attorney-general-investigate-robert-rice-sheriff-darrin-white-and-evidence-used http://prewww.newspressnow.com/localnews/30751211/detail.html http://www.nwmissourinews.com/news/article_8fbe8764-4232-11e1-b64a-0019bb30f31a.html Rex Barnett: http://www.house.mo.gov/billtracking/spec01/member01/mem004.htm

A person in the forum posted a correction to the above.

The Zech’s father is not the owner of a bank, but a night stock worker of a local grocery store as well as the supervisor of Information Systems department at a local factory. He took the job at a grocery store because of financial problems. Bankruptcy was in a paper from the previous year.  The video was stored on an iPhone. Can not say if the kid still has the phone, but probably still has the data somewhere. 

UPDATE: There is now an IndieGogo fundraising campaign to raise money for Daisy Coleman. 

Hey guys I know I already blogged about this a lot last night but if you could just bear with me a second—

As you can see, a campaign in retaliation to the voters who rallied behind Rose Muniam has resulted in Adam’s numbers shooting up overnight. He’s pretty much constantly been gaining.

Apparently, someone did the math on this and it looks like his votes have been going up by almost exactly 200 every few minutes. As they pointed out, smells like a bot. Some guy is sitting there using a bot to cheat at this contest because he just couldn’t handle a bunch of people trying to support letting a harassed woman have an opportunity to become an astronaut.

I’m making my own post about this because I think a lot of people voted for Rose for a bit and then stopped because she was so far in the lead that it seemed she would win, and perhaps seeing it again in some tags might help.

I know I already said this, but this isn’t just about the contestants any more. This is about some people who are literally doing this to try to put women back in their place. This is about how, if Rose loses, there will be people who say, “serves those feminazis right for trying to cheat. women don’t belong in a space program.”

I know I don’t have a ton of followers or anything that would make a big difference in this, but as of right now, Adam’s going to overtake Rose in a few hours, and the injustice of this really bothers me. If it bothers you too, please consider signal boosting this, complaining about bot tactics to AXE, or voting for Rose. Anything you can do to help.

I’m sure most of you have seen the original post about this. In short, 

Rose entered and endured training/testing to become a finalist in this contest. If she wins, she’ll be flown from Malaysia to Florida to go to space camp.

Sexist jerks said awful things about her in the comments and told people to vote against her.

Tumblr is fighting back.

The problem? Rose is in danger of losing. The competition doesn’t end for another 3 days, and one of the guys is catching up. PLEASE CONTINUE TO PASS AROUND INFO ABOUT THIS, AND VOTE EVERY HOUR, as much as you can! She needs to stay in the lead. Signal boost, y’all.

If you cross-post your Tumblr posts to Twitter as well, please use the hashtag #Rose4Space to help raise awareness! Thanks for all the support!

Astronaut hunt turns into sexist nightmare for female finalist

A competition on Facebook by a male grooming brand to send a Malaysian to a space camp in Florida, USA to train to be an astronaut turned ugly when the only female finalist was “trolled”, drawing sexist comments from netizens.

Post-graduate student Roshini Muniam, who is one of the top five finalists of Axe deodorant’s Apollo Space Race competition, was discriminated against online due to her gender.

A comment posted by Syed Wazien on Roshini’s profile, featured in Axe’s Facebook page, expressed surprise over a woman’s desire to go to space.

“What – a woman?! No way, hose!!!” he said.

Geeky Fredward wrote that Roshini should not compete and must make way for her male counterparts to win the competition.

“Banyak lagi competition untuk female only kat luar tu lady.. (there are many other competitions for females out there, lady) don’t ruin what’s intended or most considered to be men only chance?”

Another commentator, Dimitriy Mirovsky, was more insulting, saying that women should be prohibited from the competition as they menstruate.

“pompuan REJEK…… lelaki sahaje….. kang tampon ang pecah kat langit tu abis rosak space craft tu….. kah kah kah……” (Women should be rejected… it is only for males… if your tampon burst while you are in space, the entire spacecraft will be spoilt… kah kah kah…)

This is reminiscent of an incident in the Malaysian parliament in 2007 when controversial Barisan Nasional MP Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin, in a heated exchange in the Dewan Rakyat with opposition MPs over a leaky roof in Parliament House, said: “Mana ada bocor? Batu Gajah pun bocor tiap-tiap bulan juga. (Where is the leak? The Batu Gajah MP also leaks every month.)”.

Batu Gajah MP Fong Po Kuan and other women MPs were outraged by his comments and he was eventually forced to apologise.

Plucky Roshini, 27, has hit back at the trolls.

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. I am all out to win this competition because I want to inspire ordinary people to have extraordinary dreams & goals,” she posted on the page.

The contestants underwent a series of challenges which tested their mental strength and endurance. The pictures of the top five were posted online. Visitors to the page then could vote for their choice.

Some netizens have also come out in her defence, with Rajakumari Rajagopal pointing out that the competition was open to all Malaysians and that she qualified on merit.

“She was the only Malaysian woman who had made her way to the semi-finals and now to the finals. She needs your help and everyone’s help to make her dream come true. Why can’t she have a dream? Why can’t she be given an equal right to participate? Why can’t she be the final person to represent Malaysia. Malaysia Boleh! 1 Malaysia! Hidup Malaysia!”

Rafizal Rahman said Roshini should not be praised and not criticised, pointing out there was already a lot of female astronauts in the world.

The competition closes next Tuesday and the winner will be announced on September 24.

The winner will represent Malaysia in Florida and compete against other nations’ candidates for an opportunity to go to space.

Only 22 people will be selected for the Florida experience.

I’ve cast my vote, what are you waiting for? Let’s send her to space!

Suicide Girls forces their models and photographers into shitty, unfair contracts that make it so that they aren’t allowed to work for any other organization

SG does not offer any form of compensation to models who do not reach a certain level of popularity

SG is highly transphobic and does not allow trans*women to model for them

Also: 

Kink.com both allows and encourages many problematic actions, such as abuse of models and on-set drug use

Kink.com does not offer any form of compensation to models who are injured during filming

Kink.com pays their live models wages much lower than any other live cam site and anyone who tries to lobby for higher pay is fired without warning

you are most likely jacking off to someone being raped or coerced into doing shit they do NOT want to do

this is not my opinion it is a statistical FACT

your desire to ejaculate fuels rape and cruelty and exploitation you fucking shits

you do not need porn

you are not entitled to sexual gratification

Why does the ‘A’ in ‘LGBTQA’ stand for asexual, and not ally? What asexual human being is legitimately bullied, outcasted, and ostracized to the point that they need a safe space among others? Asexuality is just the lack of a sex drive, or a really low one. Why would anyone be bullied for that?

For instance, if you pass ENDA without gender protections, then clever employers will no longer fire a homosexual man because he’s homosexual, they’ll fire him because they can point to a behavior which is effeminate. “No,” they’ll say, “It’s not that he’s homosexual! Heaven forbid! We would never discriminate! It’s just that he’s effeminate, and that doesn’t look good to our customers.”

Likewise, if you protect gender expression but not sexual orientation, you’ll get fired because you’re homosexual, rather than because you’re, say, butch.

Lovelace was hard to watch. It was hard to be reminded that there was a time when women couldn’t legally testify against their husbands. It was hard to watch a woman trying to escape from an abusive man, but have nowhere to go. It was hard to watch yet another woman’s trust and love for a man be repaid with hatred and violence. But it felt refreshing to see Hollywood deal with the sex industry in a way that didn’t make light of, glorify, or sexualize women’s experiences in it. John Stoltenberg wrote: “cinematic justice has never been so bittersweet.”

Deep Throat holds a significant place in pop culture, pinpointing the beginnings of porn culture. It was seen as fun, sexy entertainment then and is seen more as kitsch today — continuing to be, more often, the butt of a joke rather than a reminder of the brutal reality that is misogyny.

Today the project of mainstreaming pornography that began back in the 70s is complete. Hipster culture loves vintage porn. We’ve brought it back via burlesque and pin-ups, as well as in fashion photography. Our larger cultural attitude towards porn is that it’s an ordinary part of life. Objectification is something fun we do at parties, porn is decorative — something we put up on walls or play in the background at parties. It’s something that brave, open-minded, sexually liberal women do. Feminism had something going there for a while in a solid critique of pornography during the 80s (galvanized, in part, by the publication of Linda’s memoir, Ordeal). But we lost the plot on that one, handing porn over to liberals, capitalists, and pop culture.

Feminism has come a long way and so has porn culture. No longer relegated to dark theatres, no longer a subculture or something that’s purely masturbatory — it’s a look.

We’ve all seen enough American Apparel ads to know that grainy, soft core porn style that’s supposed to remind us of the good old days before breast implants and hairless crotches, as though it’s more ethical to objectify women with real breasts. We don’t see it as sexism, we see it as a throwback. Or art. Or irony. Or something.

But hair or no hair, real or fake breasts, the only thing that’s really changed since the 70s, when Deep Throat came out, is that porn has successfully woven it’s way into our everyday lives. It’s our fashion, our entertainment, our celebrity culture, it’s in the bars and at the parties we go to. That the foundation for our current reality was built, in part, on the abuse and exploitation of this one woman, Linda Lovelace, is not insignificant.

Linda Lovelace was called the poster girl for the sexual revolution, if that tells you anything about the sexual revolution… Women really got screwed on that one (pun acknowledged). Informed of our liberation, we became free to become the public, rather than just private, sexual playthings of men. What was different now that we were “liberated” was that we had to like it. We had to be turned on by our own objectification and enjoy whatever male culture deemed sexy. Our own “liberation” was used against us, to shame us into subordination — albeit with smiles on our faces, moaning and groaning in feigned ecstasy.

Most media outlets covered the film with an appropriate level disgust for and critique of the reality of Deep Throat, the popularization of which turned out to be, essentially, a celebration of abuse and exploitation. “This is the Linda that the world didn’t see and who, even as her body became a public spectacle, nursed her wounds in private,” reads a review in The New York Times. How often do male fantasies come at the expense of women’s lives?

In The Week, Monika Bartyzel argues that Lovelace failed to capture the extent of the abuse inflicted on Linda, saying that the directors “frame Chuck and Linda as some pair of doomed, star-crossed lovers by ending on the note that Chuck died exactly three months after Linda on July 22, 2002.” Bartyzel points out that Chuck began abusing Linda and prostituting her even before they were married, though the film shows the abuse beginning on their wedding night when he rapes her. As grim and as upsetting as it was to watch the film, the reality was actually much worse.

Stoltenberg points this out as well, saying:

The movie makers left out the worst of what was done to Linda, which was abominable and included forced bestiality. Had they not, I have no doubt, Lovelace would have been not only unreleasable but unwatchable.

Even the most tepid version of reality is almost unbearable.

Gloria Steinem, who befriended and supported Linda when she came out about the abuse and wrote the article, “The Real Linda Lovelace,” for Ms. Magazine in 1980, said something similar after attending a screening of the film — that Linda’s life with Traynor and in porn was much more violent than Lovelace let on.

Yet liberals and even some feminists are unsatisfied with that truth. Desperately clinging to the “empowerment” narrative sold to them first by the porn-makers themselves, back in the 70s, and again by third wave feminism today, they continue the victim-blaming that began so many decades ago, questioning Linda’s credibility and asking why she returned to the industry years later. (Newsflash: she needed the money.) They say, over and over again, that Linda eventually rejected the anti-porn movement years later, as though that somehow compares to or negates the abuse and exploitation she experienced in the industry.

In a rather convoluted review at Art Forum, writer Sarah Nicole Prickett accuses the film of painting Linda as a victim (well, I’m afraid she was), calling it “pro-family, anti-porn-industry propaganda.” Angry at the lack of nuance and the perpetuation of simplistic tropes, Prickett sees the film as, “at surface, a morality play” which falls back on the “happy hooker/sad hooker dualism.”

Prickett’s main source of frustration seems to be that the filmmakers painted Linda as a “good girl.”

In 1972, Linda found millions of Americans willing to think any woman would believe that her clitoris was in her throat, and in 1980 she entered a world ready to accept that a woman regretted, without complexity, every sex act she’d ever committed. But this year—what gives? Must a heroine still be proven innocent?

A piece in The Atlantic reminds us that things are oh so different in today’s porn industry — full of fairy dust and ponies. Whatever you do, make Linda’s story the exception, not the rule, the writer warns us.

Somehow, no matter how many tales of abuse and exploitation we hear, no matter what we actually see in the world around us, we are loathe to point the finger at the perpetrator.

The liberals are angry, no doubt. But not at the gang rapes or the beatings inflicted. Rather they’re mad that Linda wasn’t the “sexual revolutionary” society wanted her to be. Mad that she wasn’t the “happy hooker” or the “carefree if drug-addicted superfreak” that would be so much more palatable (and more titillating) on screen.

We’ve learned to look for nuance at the expense of truth. Grey areas and character flaws don’t alter reality to the point where we can’t say that which is glaringly obvious. We remain so uncomfortable with the victimization of women that we look away — pointing towards Andrea Dworkin and vilifying Catharine MacKinnon, women who supported Linda and fought tirelessly against male violence. Whether or not Linda remained a staunch anti-porn campaigner for life doesn’t change her history in porn and her experiences at the hands of abusive men in her life.

Astronaut hunt turns into sexist nightmare for female finalist

A competition on Facebook by a male grooming brand to send a Malaysian to a space camp in Florida, USA to train to be an astronaut turned ugly when the only female finalist was “trolled”, drawing sexist comments from netizens.

Post-graduate student Roshini Muniam, who is one of the top five finalists of Axe deodorant’s Apollo Space Race competition, was discriminated against online due to her gender.

A comment posted by Syed Wazien on Roshini’s profile, featured in Axe’s Facebook page, expressed surprise over a woman’s desire to go to space.

“What – a woman?! No way, hose!!!” he said.

Geeky Fredward wrote that Roshini should not compete and must make way for her male counterparts to win the competition.

“Banyak lagi competition untuk female only kat luar tu lady.. (there are many other competitions for females out there, lady) don’t ruin what’s intended or most considered to be men only chance?”

Another commentator, Dimitriy Mirovsky, was more insulting, saying that women should be prohibited from the competition as they menstruate.

“pompuan REJEK…… lelaki sahaje….. kang tampon ang pecah kat langit tu abis rosak space craft tu….. kah kah kah……” (Women should be rejected… it is only for males… if your tampon burst while you are in space, the entire spacecraft will be spoilt… kah kah kah…)

This is reminiscent of an incident in the Malaysian parliament in 2007 when controversial Barisan Nasional MP Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin, in a heated exchange in the Dewan Rakyat with opposition MPs over a leaky roof in Parliament House, said: “Mana ada bocor? Batu Gajah pun bocor tiap-tiap bulan juga. (Where is the leak? The Batu Gajah MP also leaks every month.)”.

Batu Gajah MP Fong Po Kuan and other women MPs were outraged by his comments and he was eventually forced to apologise.

Plucky Roshini, 27, has hit back at the trolls.

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. I am all out to win this competition because I want to inspire ordinary people to have extraordinary dreams & goals,” she posted on the page.

The contestants underwent a series of challenges which tested their mental strength and endurance. The pictures of the top five were posted online. Visitors to the page then could vote for their choice.

Some netizens have also come out in her defence, with Rajakumari Rajagopal pointing out that the competition was open to all Malaysians and that she qualified on merit.

“She was the only Malaysian woman who had made her way to the semi-finals and now to the finals. She needs your help and everyone’s help to make her dream come true. Why can’t she have a dream? Why can’t she be given an equal right to participate? Why can’t she be the final person to represent Malaysia. Malaysia Boleh! 1 Malaysia! Hidup Malaysia!”

Rafizal Rahman said Roshini should not be praised and not criticised, pointing out there was already a lot of female astronauts in the world.

The competition closes next Tuesday and the winner will be announced on September 24.

The winner will represent Malaysia in Florida and compete against other nations’ candidates for an opportunity to go to space.

My 2 year old daughter has made accusations of significant abuse and I cannot afford a lawyer to protect her.

This follower has been supportive and loyal through many issues in her own life. She has always shown herself to be an exceptional human being and a great mother.

Her 2 and-a-half year old daughter recently told on her rapist. Now her mom needs to protect her from her molester.

bell hooks

This quote is never not relevant. Sexism maintains its threshold on all sides of the political spectrum.

(via eastafrodite)

“Radical” dudes are so full of shit.

Free Speech

*Writing from ‘Words Cannot Say it ’ by exited woman Rebecca Mott, please visit her blog to read in full: