Folks, this is a problem. Sady Doyle from Tiger Beatdown - along with many other people who are also speaking up - is actually getting threatened, harassed and possibly stalked for having the audacity to call beloved "progressive" filmmaker Michael Moore on his rape apologism.
I say "progressive" in quotes, because y'know what? It's actually NOT progressive to dismiss and attempt to discredit women's claims of rape. It's not progressive to publish the victims' names. It's not progressive to use a fucking Holocaust denier as one of your sources, for pete's sake.
As many, many other people have said, it is ENTIRELY possible to hold both thoughts: that Julian Assange is being targeted by governments for his important work AND that any rape allegations should be taken seriously. Much like one can hold that Roman Polanski has made some great films AND he's a child rapist. People are complicated. They can be awesome and talented in some ways and incredibly fucked up in others. This is not rocket science.
Kate Harding has some really good things to say:
"Technically, he hasn’t come down on one side or the other here. But when you say “don’t believe the official story” and call the allegations “strange” and link to an article that casts a great deal of suspicion on the alleged victims–and where the primary sources are “people in contact with his entourage at the time,” his defense lawyers, and a Daily fucking Mail article that’s also based on anonymous sources–and p.s., you live in a culture where victims are routinely called liars and sexual assault allegations are routinely downplayed–you’re sending a message." -http://kateharding.info/2010/12/18/why-im-on-board-with-mooreandme/
And here are some Tiger Beatdown posts from Sady Doyle about this:
"And you’re the face of the Left. You have the platform, you have the power, you have the cash and the fame and the name and face recognition: You claim to speak for us. And when you speak, you don’t stand against rape."http://tigerbeatdown.com/2010/12/15/mooreandme-on-dude-progressives-rape-apologism-and-the-little-guy/
"“Because they want it to disappear,” I said. “That’s what they’re counting on. It’s been four days, they’re counting on the fact that the Internet has a short attention span and a bad memory, they’re counting on the fact that the trolls are going to scare us or make us feel so terrible that we can’t keep going, they’re counting on the fact that they can just let everybody harass us until we can’t keep going just for the sake of our own emotional and physical health, and they can just not respond, they can just have a nice weekend, while we keep fighting until we’ve been threatened and called whores and been scared for our safety or the safety of others enough, and then we’ll disappear and they can keep pretending that this isn’t happening, they can just keep pretending that it never happened.”
“AND THAT’S EXACTLY WHY WOMEN DROP RAPE CHARGES TOO,” I said. I remember this part very clearly because I was, in fact, yelling."http://tigerbeatdown.com/2010/12/18/mooreandme-four-days-outside-the-tower-im-scared-im-tired-im-crying-and-i-wont-stop/
They all have links to original sources - I just do not have the time or energy to post them all here. But I will post links to local and national orgs working on the problem of sexual violence. Get involved, donate if you can. At minimum, educate yourself and speak up.
Twitter campaign: @MMFlint, #mooreandme
Safe Place - Olympia
Northwest Network - Seattle
CARA - Seattle
INCITE! - National
(In light of news that RAINN partners with orgs that discriminate against trans folk, I do not recommend donating to them.)
Want a comic that elegantly and hilariously breaks down sexism on the internets? http://www.gabbysplayhouse.com/?p=1444
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