(Responding from this blog, because this is the one Iâm on the most, and where itâs easier for me to monitor discussions.)
Before we get started, I want people to understand who Lisa Bloom is (taken from Wikipedia):
Bloom received significant media attention after Harvey Weinstein was accused of serial sexual harassment and assault. According to an October 2017 article in The New York Times, Bloom acknowledged advising Weinstein on power dynamics and harassment, calling him âan old dinosaur learning new waysâ and asserting that âhe denies many of the accusations as patently falseâ.[28] Bloomâs advising role, which she had held since late 2016,[20] was pilloried in the media for its dissonance with Bloomâs prior representation of sexual assault victims, with some calling her book adaptation deal with The Weinstein Company, signed during Weinsteinâs tenure as co-chairman, a conflict of interest.[29][30]
On October 7, 2017, two days after the initial reports and amid mounting criticism, Bloom stepped down from the team advising Weinstein after reported friction with members of The Weinstein Companyâs board. Bloom, according to emails purportedly obtained by The New York Times, had proposed promulgating âphotos of several of the accusers in very friendly poses with Harvey after his alleged misconductâ.[31] Bloom denied plotting to undermine the accusers;[32] however, The Daily Beast later reported that Bloom had offered journalist Ronan Farrow opposition research on one of Weinsteinâs accusers, Rose McGowan, during his reporting on Weinstein.[20] Farrow further claimed that Bloom served as Weinsteinâs operative and would report any information she gleaned about his investigation back to Weinstein. âLisa, you swore, as an attorney and a friend, that you wouldnât tell his people,â Farrow told Bloom. âRonan,â Bloom replied. âI am his people.â[33]
The 2019 book by New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey contains Bloomâs own 2016 memo outlining the ways she would proactively assist Weinstein in undermining and discrediting his accusers, and the subsequent billing documents for services rendered in 2017, that enumerate further such efforts undertaken on his behalf. Bloomâs assistance to Weinstein included âcounter-opsâ tactics such as planting articles online that portray his accusers to the public as untrustworthy or âungluedâ women, and enticing his victims to sign non-disclosure agreements that would silence them.[34][35]
Shortly after resigning from Weinsteinâs team, Bloom allegedly fell victim to âemail pranksterâ James Linton masquerading as Weinstein. Bloom wrote an email in reply to the prankster that â[t]he new round of far more serious allegations were [sic] not made known to meâ, specifically calling out Weinsteinâs alleged sexual assault.[36]Variety later reported that Bloom âwas only aware of accusations of verbal remarks, behaviors, and temper tantrumsâ when she began advising Weinstein, and was unaware of more serious allegations of rape and sexual assault.[37] Bloom later apologized[38] for her role advising Weinstein and called it âa colossal mistakeâ.[39]
Bloom also represented former Amazon Studios president[40]Roy Price amid sexual harassment allegations, but said her representation of Price concluded before Priceâs accuser Isa Hackett âwent publicâ.[41]The Daily Beast reported that Bloom, while representing Price, had attempted to discredit Kim Masters, The Hollywood Reporterâs Editor-at-Large, to media outlets considering publishing Mastersâ report on the allegations against Price. Bloom had allegedly accused Masters of a conflict of interest for badgering Price to advertise on her KCRW show, a charge Masters denied.[20]
Bloom did call her representation of Weinstein a mistake, and if thatâs a genuine change, I give her credit for that. But letâs not pretend that her actions were defensible. Maybe we can find better representatives of womenâs rights, than someone who represented Harvey Weinstein. Maybe, among the plethora or proper womenâs activists out there, we donât need to scrape the bottom of the barrel and include Lisa Bloom (and people like her) as main speakers in our discussions on womenâs rights.
Comparing someone saying they donât want to hear from Democrats, to someone saying they want you to prove your virginity, is kind of problematic. And frankly, itâs kind of insulting to women/girls who DO actually have to undergo those types of tests or procedures. Youâre comparing sexual assault (because that is what a virginity test can be, in theory) to someone saying they donât want to hear from Democrats. Itâs fine to disagree with OPâs statement, but the comparison youâre using is troubling.
Also implying thereâs a âpunishmentâ in OPâs statement is farfetched. Obviously, when OP says people arenât âallowedâ to talk about rape culture (etc.), they donât mean literally. No one is going to haul someoneâs ass to jail for speaking out of turn. OP is voicing frustration at a particular political group and theyâre saying theyâre not interested in hearing what those people have to say. Thatâs not a âpunishmentâ. There is no real concrete consequence, apart from people having to face criticisms if they say something stupid, or just being ignored. Thatâs not âpunishmentâ. Itâs justâŚpeople choosing not to listen to opinions they donât like. Which is whatâŚeveryone does. And I get that it frustrates people; I get told on a regular basis to shut up. But thatâs not a punishment, per se.
Iâm not going to speak for OP, but I can tell you why *I* reblogged the post. This post isnât about not understanding why people would vote for Biden. (I think we all understand why someone would do that. Believe me, we are bombarded, hourly, about all the reasons someone is voting for Biden. We hear you.) Itâs about whether or not itâs appropriate or productive to have rape apologists in discussions about sexual violence.Â
Personally, I donât have a problem with people voting for Biden, so long as they [a] arenât rape apologists who attempt to smear Tara, and who [b] actively and publicly take a stand against rape, no matter who is doing the raping. (Iâve been publicly saying this forever, and Iâve been consistently saying it.) But also, as a person who runs a moderately popular news blog, who gets hundreds of notes a day, I have yet to run into a single Biden voter who falls into that category. And if I did run into one, thatâs like a fraction of a percentage of people who I interact with. Thatâs not a number thatâs going to drastically change or alter my overall experiences on this site.
Obviously, people who vote with Biden, but acknowledge heâs a rapist, do exist. Lisa Bloom is a real person (but also from glancing at her tweets, sheâs not really critical of Biden at all, she never talks about the allegation, she isnât actively calling for him to suspend his campaign and allow literally any other candidate to step up to the plate, so sheâs not someone I choose to politically ally with; but thatâs my metric, people are free to elevate whatever voices they want to; I donât think Iâd be a fan of Bloomâs politics in general, so Iâm not going to validate her opinions over the opinions of people who are routinely silenced and/or killed by the very politics she appears to support; people can call that a âpurity testâ, but every single motherfucking person tends to elevate the voices they agree with, and ignore the voices they donât; interesting how itâs only leftists who are criticized for doing this). But sheâs an exception to a rule. At least, she is for me. Maybe you have different experiences. Thatâs fine and understandable, but I canât substitute your experiences for my own.
I havenât personally (on this social media platform) met a Biden voter who ISNâT a rape apologist, who doesnât attempt to smear Tara, who will actually engage in good faith discussions. (Iâm not saying they donât exist. Who I encounter isnât representative of the wider population. But what I post on this site, is aimed at people I encounter on this site, unless otherwise stated.) So no, on this social media platform, I have no problem making the broad generalization that Democrats have had absolutely nothing productive to bring to these discussions.
Even Bernie Sanders (who isnât a Democrat, but he works his ass off for the party) kind of proves my point. I think we can all agree that Sanders isnât some misogynist. But the fact that heâs completely silent on this rape allegation speaks volumes. I get that heâs in a politically difficult situation. But women (and men) are put in personally difficult and violent situations every goddamn day, which is perpetuated by the rape culture we live in, which is further perpetuated by peopleâs selective attention when it comes to rape allegations. Which is why itâs important to speak out WHENEVER you see this shit happening. This became personal for me; it was within the last few months that I had to deal with my first instance of sexual harassment (it was nowhere near as bad as what Tara, and so many others, had to deal with, which is why I donât tend to talk about it, but it was scary and made me feel unsafe and afraid to go work; and I was in a relatively GOOD situation, where my boss and coworkers were supportive; and the weird thing is, I donât even know if the guy who was doing the harassment KNEW what he was doing was harassment, so there were all these feelings of guilt involved because I donât want to get someone in trouble who means well).
His response (or lack thereof) is incredibly painful, for me. And heâs been silent for so long now that at this point, If he were to talk about how sexual violence was a big problem in our country, Iâd probably kind of scoff at him. âLike really, bro? You never fucking talked about Bidenâs rape allegation, and now you want to talk about sexual violence? Are you kidding me? Maybe take a seat and let people who HAVE been consistent on these issues lead the conversation.â
And look, Sandersâ response, of silence, is kind of the best response I can hope for, coming from a Democrat (most are just saying they believe Biden; words cannot express the hatred I hold for those people). The amount of misogynistic hatred and abuse I have had to endure ever since Tara became a national story, because I have the audacity to talk about it, is terrible. I can deal with it, but it doesnât mean I want to. It doesnât mean I welcome it. My personal comfort on my personal blog overrides whatever theoretical right people have to talk about whatever the fuck they want in whatever insulting and deeply misogynistic way they want.
If that type of gatekeeping offends you, then I donât know what to say. These are my personal blogs. While I do my best to embrace free speech (to the annoyance of many on the left, who thinks more government censorship is a good thing), the 1st amendment doesnât reign supreme on my tumblrs. I can ignore and discredit whoever I want. I can tell them theyâre not welcome on MY spaces. (Even so, I still rarely block people. I usually put up with it, which is more pro-free speech than 95% of people on this site. But I guess thatâs not good enough for people.) I want to be able to have discussions about sexual violence without people attempting to derail the conversation. And sadly, when dealing with Democrats, itâs been impossible. And thatâs worth noting.
Discussion IS a good thing. But Democrats are actively trying to smother any discussion of this topic, which is why I hate their presence on my posts. Their presence on my posts does the OPPOSITE of fostering discussion. I wish that werenât the case.
People can have whatever standards they want on their blog, but for me, if youâre not talking about Bidenâs allegation in a critical way, then I donât want to hear from you (on this topic).
So yeah, I generally agree, discussion is good. But I also think that youâre mistaken in your belief that what I (or leftists) am dealing with is people who want to have discussions. They donât.Â
When they insist on their right to talk about rape, what they are insisting on is their right to smear victims of rape. Or to shame other people into voting for a rapist. Or to lie about a rapistâs record. Or to tell people to never say anything bad about their rapist.
These people donât actually care about rape. They just want the right to shit all over people who do.
Just saying. There are a lot of people on this site who blog about womenâs rights, but are eerily silent when it comes to the Biden allegations. At best, they might make some singular post saying, âYeah, it sucks that Bidenâs a rapist,â but then never really talk about it again. (At worst, they straight up smear Tara.) Yet they talked about Kavanaugh nonstop. My issues arenât that yâall are voting for Biden. My issue is your silence. Yâall canât conveniently excuse yourself from discussions about Taraâs rape, and then insist on your right to be included in discussions about rape later on, when you decide it wonât harm your political candidate. Social justice isnât a game. Itâs not done when itâs âconvenientâ for you. Talks about rape are ALWAYS inconvenient, for the victims. So yeah, rape apologists or deniers or ignorers can kindly shut the fuck up. Let other people who take this shit seriously speak for victims and lead the movement.
You present your argument as though weâre trying to shut-up people who want to talk about social justice. But I donât think you understand: these people DONâT want to talk about social justice. And frankly, that kind of applies to Lisa Bloom too. I donât know her personally. I donât follow her. But yeah, she sure as hell doesnât represent my version of social justice, even though sheâs one of the âgoodâ Biden voters. Sheâs political opposition to me. Iâm not going to tear her apart for it (Iâve got bigger fish to fry), but Iâm also not going to pretend I want to hear from her or that her opinion holds any value. Sheâs a rich white woman who doesnât support M4A (she wants âaffordableâ healthcare, or âaccessâ to healthcare, which we all know is bullshit), which IS a womanâs issue. She supposedly represents women who have been sexually assaulted or harassed by powerful men (her record on that isâŚquestionable, but whatever, thatâs what her claim to fame is), yet I donât see her volunteering to represent Tara, if Tara wants / needs representation in the future. Her regretful tweet about believing Tara and voting for Biden is nice, but also could be virtue signalling, when taken in complete context with her other actions. For some, that will be enough. But for others, it wonât. And donât think itâs a purity test, any more than literally every single other person has purity tests (no one listens to 100% of people; we all have people we choose to ignore because we deem their opinions as useless). Only they donât call them âpurity testsâ, they call them âstandardsâ.
Iâm just really tired hearing about how people are soooo upset at the way progressives are critical of Democrats, but are silent when it comes to the way the Democrats have smeared Tara Reade.
*This doesnât excuse the behavior of the GOP and right wingers, who are also hypocritical and have a far worse record on womenâs issues. Theyâre worse than the Democrats in every way. But also, not every single post needs to be about how theyâre worse. So Iâm not going to focus on them here.
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