“We don’t know all the facts about the alleged Duke lacrosse rape, but …”
That’s more or less how most commentators have introduced their remarks on the case that has reduced the Durham, N.C., community to prayers, tears and recriminations.
Let me interpret the code for you: Men are bad.
I see. So when someone says, “We don’t know all the facts, but…” what they’re actually saying is, “Men are bad.” Gotcha. Should come as a surprise to all the people who are pulling out that line to defend the Duke lacrosse players.
Even though we don’t know what happened, we’re not going to let the absence of facts interfere with our indictment of a team, a coach, a school, but more to the point – of boys.
Ah, those boys. How old are those crazy kids again?
About the only thing to emerge with any clarity since a black exotic dancer claimed that three white lacrosse players raped her last month is our willingness to believe the worst about males.
You mean how when someone says they’re a victim of a crime, we usually believe them? Like how when someone says, “My house got robbed” we don’t immediately respond, “Now wait a minute here… I’ll bet this sleazy character is trying to commit insurance fraud!”
Doesn’t mean that everyone who says they’re a victim actually is. But more than 95% of the time, they aren’t lying.
As for our willingness to believe the worst about men, it ain’t feminists who are making gender-essentialist arguments about rape (Men are naturally brutal beasts! They couldn’t help it! They just lacked chivalry to control their baser urges!). Oh, and pointing out that 99% of rapes are committed by men isn’t “believing the worst” about them. It’s recognizing that this is an epidemic. It’s one that most men don’t take part in, but it’s still not worth ignoring.
That belief is all the more rewarding if the males happen to be white, as well as athletes, and especially if they’re perceived to be privileged. If there’s one thing we can’t bear in this country, it’s spoiled white boys who think the world owes them a good time.
…which is why we elected one of them to lead us.
Whatever transpires in the days and months ahead, what’s most stunning isn’t the revelation that a group of young men, lubricated by testosterone and brew, might become sexually aroused by a woman displaying her wares, but that we assume without evidence that they acted on their basest instincts.
The idea that males can’t control themselves and that females can’t be blamed – ever for anything – has been taking shape in the culture for the past several decades and now is firmly embedded in the zeitgeist. Reaction to Duke’s sad chapter is but the inevitable full flowering of the anti-male seeds planted a generation ago.
Again, who has been saying this? Hint: Not feminists.
I think Ms. Parker needs to look at her pals at Townhall and in the conservative movement if she’s looking to answer that question.
The idea that males can’t control themselves, and are victims of women displaying their wares, is one that Ms. Parker and her ilk seem to hold onto as a defense everytime a ‘nice boy’ is accused of rape.
When she writes: “a group of young men, lubricated by testosterone and brew, might become sexually aroused by a woman displaying her wares” she conveniently forgets that these men scheduled their own arousal.
They accuse of us of attacking the ‘boys’ without evidence and then defend them without evidence. How typical is that? They really never even listen to themselves, do they?
So shorter Ms. Parker:
Those innocent boys hired a stripper and plied themselves with alochol and the woman showed but to do what she was paid for and the ‘boys’ got out of hand and should we be surprised; filthy slut.
Even shorter Ms. Parker:
If there wasn’t trouble for out boys to get into they wouldn’t get into trouble.
(godgivemestrengthjesusweeps)
Ms. Parker wrote in her last paragraph.
Isn’t it interesting how often those who attack alleged victims can’t resist adding BUT after issuing their requisite and pat opposition to rape.
Rape is so often an “our word versus theirs” sort of crime. Without witnesses to testify, people outside the case are often forced to adopt stances which reflect their own biases. I don’t really think anyone is immune to it.
Me? I’m still waiting for the facts to come out, sure. But I believe that, in the meantime, this young woman’s claims DO need to be taken seriously. Anyone who sees fit to blame her based on her occupation or history is ultimately just another heartless, self-righteous waste of humanity’s time.
Sure. As long as this is tempered with the fact that those accused of crimes in America are “innocent until PROVEN GUILTY.” It seems many on the left (especially those who can’t helo but see the case through either “All white men are racist” or “All white men are sexist” lenses) have taken no time in assuming that the lacrosse players are guilty.
You know, it doesn’t have to be either/or. It can be both/and. As in, we can BOTH believe that the woman is telling the truth about having been raped AND recognize that whoever is accused (remember, no one has yet been charged) is innocent until proven guilty.
Of course, this ain’t a court.
zuzu,
Just for the record, I never said, nor even implied, that it was an either/or sort of issue. In fact, I would’ve guessed that the “As long as this is tempered with . . . ” language suggested exactly the opposite.
And you’re right. This isn’t a court. But much of the evidence has been made public . . . and most, if not all, of it seems to point against the woman’s claims (see, for instance, the most recent posts on the issue over at TalkLeft.com). So as reasonable observers, I’d still say that we have an obligation (to reason, that is) to presume innocence on the part of the young men until the prosecution can come up with something much more substantial than merely the allegation of someone with a record of felonies.
That is, unless your own pretheoretical politico-philosophical commitments make it so you just can’t help but point fingers at white men.
I am a white man, and I don’t have any problem saying I believe the girl’s story. Don’t even talk about innocent until proven guilty. Outside of a courtroom, all americans are free to believe whatever they want and to state that opinion. This is not an attack on “white men”. This is disgust with racism and rape and those who cover it up.
Its a dark day for America, they say
When a black stripper can call for a jury
and a policeman will listen to her too
When our boys was just having some fun
letting off steam, helping out strippers
The way our boys often do
This isn’t surprising: detectives now think dancer was slipped a date rape drug (boys having more fun, I guess)
http://blog.lordsutch.com/archives/3382
Voting age, I presume. Driving age, surely. And, although I doubt it’s occurred to any of them … enlisting age.
jobsanger,
I never said that people were NOT free to believe whatever they want. I only implied that, judging by the mounting evidence that the stripper’s story is, in fact, QUITE false, those who choose to believe her story will have to do so on the basis of some pretty significant (and unsubstantiated) assumptions. But, again, you’re free to make that decision . . . liberals often do.
(I should pause here to mention again the discussion over at TalkLeft.com . . . just about the only liberals I’ve found on the blogosphere willing to actually allow the FACTS of the case to inform their BELIEFS about the case.)
Well it’s no wonder you believe the testimony of a known criminal . . . you simply ASSUME the accused are guilty on the basis of . . . well, apparently nothing.
Facts? We don’t need no stinkin’ facts! Let those white, racist bigots fry!
Oh how thouest project thy habits upon thine enemies! Assumptions Galore should be the title of the party from which you harken.
Lemme see:
Welfare makes women lazy and want to have more children.
Access to birth control makes teenagers sex crazed.
Women have abortions as a convenient birth control method.
Women are solely responsible for: pregnancy, prostitution, rape, serial killers, bad economies, male rage and violence against women, dysfunctional grown men, homosexual men, the spread of STD’s, men’s sexual appetite, men’s lack of sexual appetite, bad public schools, lowered university standards, the oppression of christianity, the oppression of the oppression of women.
And then there’s those darkies, getting all uppity and they EVEN are allowed on the police force and allowed to go out at night without a pass! I remember the days when a boy could have his fun and weren’t nobody the wiser because the darkies knew their place.
Lawdy, what are we going to do? Looks like Duke will have to make some kind of regulation to keep those strippers off the campus, I mean the way they come onto the nubile young sportsman, begging to dance for tips! And my stars! They just wanted to help her out and all and now look what’s happened!
Oh my oh my, Jessup, go git me another Mint Julep, the early spring heat is just sweltering me here on the veranda and making my head all swirly with the thought of those awful trashy womin coming and polluting my poor boys!
Because she is a defense attorney, I’m not too impressed with Jeralyn’s analysis of the events. She’s identifying with the position of the defense attorneys in the case, making mountains out of relatively inconsequential details, and has declared that the case is now over and solved and done — the “boys” are innocent. In the meantime, it benefits her to say these things — it gets her onto television to make commentary with other talking heads, which isn’t just good for the ego, but fills her pocketbook quite nicely.
In other words, consider the source.
Since we are talking all about statistics and groups and assumptions and what not, let me direct your attention the parallel thread here.
Scroll to posts 80 and higher.
I hope they will open some eyes, but since so many are so entrinched in their dogmas, I have my doubts. Vive la difference!
Then see tigtog’s comment demolishing those statistics.
Viva Zapata!
g&r:
Correction, most or all of the spin by defense attorneys and the false allegation theorists point against the woman’s claim. Much of that spin is contradictory, however. You either haven’t read or don’t believe anything that doesn’t support your position that this is all a feminist conspiracy against men like you.
You are no more unbiased than anyone else here, only you’re trying make yourself out as someone who is only seeking objective truth and justice.
Cut the crap, g&r.
having lived in durham, nc as a kid and again as an adult, i can attest to the extreme racial tension there, especially between the dukies and the locals. additionally, i had a friend who taught english at duke for awhile — she’d come home at night exasperated by the latest mind-bogglingly ridiculous instances of racism or homophobia exploding among the elite, white, men she was supposed to be teaching. all anecdotal evidence, i know. but from the perspective of people who have lived in that town and know the atmosphere, my friends and i have chatted about it and none of us were the least bit surprised to hear what had happened.
Hardly the harlot some have been depicting:
Here is the link that didn’t show up in the first post:
http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/429338.html
take a look here for an update on the case:
http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-724585.html
zuzu, then see tigtog not demolish anything, focus on one point which does nothing to alter the pattern present in the data here.
Your chosen icon at the top of the page, the little girl blissfully whirling the shotgun, is pretty telling about the type and level of thought that is presented by the sites dogmatic supporters. Brilliant!
…you know the argument is getting sad when all they have to criticize is the site’s icon.
oops again, zuzu this is the link to data not that up there.
Actually, Jill, more selective reading on your part. That’s is far from all that I’ve been criticizing here.
And forget those two links they didn’t get me back to the parallel threads. Try using this:
http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2006/04/13/well-gosh-officer-doesnt-being-just-passed-out-drunk-mean-that-you-cant-give-meaningful-consent-to-sex/
sarah, we get it. stop serial posting.
I don’t care about the black on white vs. white on black statistics, but there is a statistical point in this post that bears inspection. More than 95% of rape reporters are telling the truth? You do not know that to be true. It could be; it could well be, but you don’t know that it is. Why bother falsely quantifying it?
That said, I find your icon, and other site art fun. Whoever drew it did well by you.
Somebody heasn’t heard of irony.
Actually, the more I read from people who believe that feminists have tried, sentenced, and hung the Duke lacrosse players, the more I begin to believe that we’re talking to the families of, the significant others of, the friends of, or the players themselves. Don’t nobody get so worked up over a news story unless they have something invested in it.
That’s not fair. If these young men really didn’t rape their accuser, it is right for every one, directly interested or not, to get worked up over what’s been done to them. If they did rape her, then fuck them. But if not, to be called a rapist in the papers, all over network and local news, on cable, and near and far across the internets? There’s no worse libel/slander. Murder can at least be justifiable; rape never is. Genocide, I suppose, to be accused of genocide would be worse than to be called a rapist. That’s the only one I can think of, that is.
Oh, yes there is–being called an attention-seeking slut even after your rapists have been convicted. Having your anonymity blown. Being harassed and intimidated by supporters of your attackers.
But funny thing: I didn’t see a bunch of passionate impartiality fans over here screaming about any of that when it was posted about here.
I have to disagree with you, Lauren–I don’t think these posters have a personal stake in this; I think this is just what happens when you take a bunch of overgrown babies nursed on a bullshit “White Men Are Always the Real Victims” narrative for too many years, and wean ‘em from it cold turkey.
I didn’t notice the post, at the time; I’m not a regular. I am familiar with the case; I blogged about it during the first trial, with no less disgust (if I may presume) than Lauren shows. If commenting on each post here is required to establish bona fides, I guess I’ll have to give up that dream.
Attention-seeking slut vs. rapist is a judgement call; both are obviously awful. That’s most of my point though; it’s clearly awful to falsely accuse a man of rape. Unless it’s your pleasure to say falsely accusing a man of rape isn’t that big a deal. That it takes a “White Men Are Always the Real Victims” mentaility to think so? That’s not true, right? You don’t really think that?
It doesn’t have to be this way. The quickest way to increase the number of solid rape cases is to teach young women how to respond in the immediate aftermath of a rape, should one occur.
The rules are stacked in favor of the DEFENDENT so we should teach women practical tips, in case of rape, to make it easier to nail the bastard. If soldiers are not repeatedly drilled in the basics they will forget them in the stress/shock of combat. If women are not taught this stuff early and often they will forget it in the stress/shock of being raped.
Rape is under-reported because of shame and other inner factors. Men and Women HAVE to stress that there is NO shame in being raped and that this is NOT a good reason to fail to report. They should be coached that, while difficult, it is morally necessary to report a rape – STOP the bastard before he does it to another. I mean this – what is solidarity other than sacrifice for others. As a man I dont know the sacrifice of reporting a rape, but I have risked my life to save a friend’s – I did it because thats what being a friend means.
Young women should also be taught to avoid the kind of after-the fact behaviors that are typically used to impeach her case. Specifically, take away “plausible deniability”. I’m not going to rehash the old “dont go to a boys room alone” kind of crap because its been said a billion times. I’m talking about behavior AFTER the rape. I know that the act of rape can produce deep dissassociation, but TRY to force yourself to act on it right away. Getting dressed up and going out to a bar after a rape (a story that is not terribly uncommon) is GOING to make it harder to convince a jury “beyond a reasonable doubt” that you were raped. 1)Report it as soon as possible. Or at LEAST tell SOMEONE or write it down or SOMETHING. Get some immediate supporting evidence – the longer you wait to tell anyone the more the jury will be open to “maybe she made it up”.
2)Try to keep enough wits to salvage physical evidence. Even some spit on some cloth can help – if you have it on you when you go to the hospital and talk to the police. Long waits, however, increase the number of possible defense strategies. They may be able to explain away DNA recovered 2 days after the rape – it is harder to explain DNA obtained 2 hours after.