Excellent. Add the fact that 31 states allow the rapist to have visitation rights. It is indeed about the abuse of control.
Once a woman loses her ability to control her own body all chances at economic parity evaporate. Even Genghis Khan recognized the strength in sharing the reins with women; his daughters and wives. He married his daughters into clans and set them up to rule above their husbands, as well as lead the military so that they always had his back. A well known secret to his success.
Wow. That’s very, very hard to read. As it should be. It’s a strange experience, cheering for a piece that nauseates you. And I can’t imagine the courage it took to write it, and then to publish it under his name.
I wish I could share it on places like FB, but trigger warnings aren’t enough for that, and I know too many survivors of rape and sexual assault. Nonetheless: Totally. On. Point. Thanks, CG, for the link.
I respect the hell out of John Scalzi. His fiction is fun, but if anything I’m even more of a fan of his blog, Whatever. He skips around, in turns silly and serious, and every once in a while he winds up and smacks his readers right between the eyes.
Yes, it certainly is. It was the first of his Whatever pieces to smack me between the eyes. My family was never really poor when I was growing up, but we were close enough that I recognized some of his examples.
If I remember correctly, “Being Poor” was eventually reprinted in some newspapers. That won’t happen with “A Fan Letter …”, more’s the pity.
Being poor is stealing meat from the store, frying it up before your mom gets home and then telling her she doesn’t have make dinner tonight because you’re not hungry anyway.
from Scalzi’s 2005 piece, is one of the stories in Scott Brown’s 2011 “memoir.” The writer added many details to it such as the name of the store, that it was steaks and hamburgers, the clothes he wore to hide the meat, the sizzle when he fried it up, and washing the plate and frying pan before mom got home. Instead of “not hungry anyway,” Scott would say that he was full.
I’ve read him before from links to various posts of his but I could never remember to go back, or remember his name even. SO I’ve added his blog to my RSS reader. Good stuff.
I knew immediately what you were linking to, because I read it last night. That’s the nastiest and best bit of satire that I have read in a long time. Respect his trigger warning, but highly recommended.
Whew! Awesome piece, and it addresses the very important issues of control: what the rapist demands for himself and what the Conservatives refuse to give women.
It is hard to read, because no one wants to acknowledge the mindset of a rapist who is, as Obama has said, is a criminal. No one wants to imagine what a serial killer thinks, either. But until people do imagine what rape is really about and how devastating it is for the victims, the rapists will continue to keep their control.
And the people who need to read and comprehend this article won’t.
Totally fitting. Oil wells are machines for pumping oil. Women are machines for pumping babies. It doesn’t matter to the oligarchy who drills the holes, as long as the planet and the bodies remain theirs. That’s why pious folks like Todd Akin assume that women, like all machines, must have an off-switch when product quality is threatened by unforeseen events, and that damage and replacement is just business as usual.
Nice to see you post on the front page, CabinGirl. You should do it more often.
The linked post is indeed thought provoking, to put it mildly. And the comments over there are as well.
This one really got me thinking. All this discussion of exceptions for rape, incest, whatever, really are pointless because of the processes that would have to be somehow worked through within the limited time frame of a pregnancy. So it’s foolish to even entertain this discussion of exceptions.
As supporters of a woman’s right to choose, we really need to find effective counter-arguments to shut down this weaselly line of argument before it gets any traction and return the discussion to whose right it should be to make decisions about continuing or aborting an unwanted pregnancy of any sort. Carving out exceptions may sound reasonable to alot of people who expect each side to concede something in political negotiations, but this is ridiculous.
This brave, powerful, beautifully written post by Cat Mihos might also be relevant here: http://neverwear.tumblr.com/ This one’s triggery as all hell too.
Sorry to say but women and treasury will always be the grand prizes in the big game, and asking permission is for losers.
It would be fitting after this year-long exposure to these assholes that the inadvertent revelation of their brutal disregard for folks not in the club leaves a lasting mark.
Excellent. Add the fact that 31 states allow the rapist to have visitation rights. It is indeed about the abuse of control.
Once a woman loses her ability to control her own body all chances at economic parity evaporate. Even Genghis Khan recognized the strength in sharing the reins with women; his daughters and wives. He married his daughters into clans and set them up to rule above their husbands, as well as lead the military so that they always had his back. A well known secret to his success.
I almost didn’t post this on FB, because it is BRUTAL. But then i saw you did, and so I followed your lead.
That essay is infuriating. I was getting angrier and angrier as I read it.
Wow. That’s very, very hard to read. As it should be. It’s a strange experience, cheering for a piece that nauseates you. And I can’t imagine the courage it took to write it, and then to publish it under his name.
I wish I could share it on places like FB, but trigger warnings aren’t enough for that, and I know too many survivors of rape and sexual assault. Nonetheless: Totally. On. Point. Thanks, CG, for the link.
I respect the hell out of John Scalzi. His fiction is fun, but if anything I’m even more of a fan of his blog, Whatever. He skips around, in turns silly and serious, and every once in a while he winds up and smacks his readers right between the eyes.
The post about being poor is one of his masterpieces: http://whatever.scalzi.com/2005/09/03/being-poor/
Yes, it certainly is. It was the first of his Whatever pieces to smack me between the eyes. My family was never really poor when I was growing up, but we were close enough that I recognized some of his examples.
If I remember correctly, “Being Poor” was eventually reprinted in some newspapers. That won’t happen with “A Fan Letter …”, more’s the pity.
Interesting that this:
from Scalzi’s 2005 piece, is one of the stories in Scott Brown’s 2011 “memoir.” The writer added many details to it such as the name of the store, that it was steaks and hamburgers, the clothes he wore to hide the meat, the sizzle when he fried it up, and washing the plate and frying pan before mom got home. Instead of “not hungry anyway,” Scott would say that he was full.
I’ve read him before from links to various posts of his but I could never remember to go back, or remember his name even. SO I’ve added his blog to my RSS reader. Good stuff.
Getting closer to a version of “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
A nightmare scenario of forced surrogacy — a nation of white “snowflake babies.”
I knew immediately what you were linking to, because I read it last night. That’s the nastiest and best bit of satire that I have read in a long time. Respect his trigger warning, but highly recommended.
That goes for the comments, too.
It must be tough on the GOP, getting the sex-offender registration list mixed up with their voter registration list.
But it does cut down on paperwork, so that’s all good.
Whew! Awesome piece, and it addresses the very important issues of control: what the rapist demands for himself and what the Conservatives refuse to give women.
It is hard to read, because no one wants to acknowledge the mindset of a rapist who is, as Obama has said, is a criminal. No one wants to imagine what a serial killer thinks, either. But until people do imagine what rape is really about and how devastating it is for the victims, the rapists will continue to keep their control.
And the people who need to read and comprehend this article won’t.
Chevron ponies up $2.5 million to elect more GOP rape apologists. Sort of fitting that to further its environmental rape activities, it has no objection to whatever the GOP would do to women.
Totally fitting. Oil wells are machines for pumping oil. Women are machines for pumping babies. It doesn’t matter to the oligarchy who drills the holes, as long as the planet and the bodies remain theirs. That’s why pious folks like Todd Akin assume that women, like all machines, must have an off-switch when product quality is threatened by unforeseen events, and that damage and replacement is just business as usual.
Nice to see you post on the front page, CabinGirl. You should do it more often.
The linked post is indeed thought provoking, to put it mildly. And the comments over there are as well.
This one really got me thinking. All this discussion of exceptions for rape, incest, whatever, really are pointless because of the processes that would have to be somehow worked through within the limited time frame of a pregnancy. So it’s foolish to even entertain this discussion of exceptions.
As supporters of a woman’s right to choose, we really need to find effective counter-arguments to shut down this weaselly line of argument before it gets any traction and return the discussion to whose right it should be to make decisions about continuing or aborting an unwanted pregnancy of any sort. Carving out exceptions may sound reasonable to alot of people who expect each side to concede something in political negotiations, but this is ridiculous.
Well, that’s fuel for many future threads.
This brave, powerful, beautifully written post by Cat Mihos might also be relevant here: http://neverwear.tumblr.com/ This one’s triggery as all hell too.
Sorry to say but women and treasury will always be the grand prizes in the big game, and asking permission is for losers.
It would be fitting after this year-long exposure to these assholes that the inadvertent revelation of their brutal disregard for folks not in the club leaves a lasting mark.
Politicians in those 31 states (a supermajority!) have a lot to answer for.