It was just after 2 a.m. on a pitch-black Friday morning when Bernadette Greene-Placentiaās life changed. The Democratic candidate for Congressional District 8 strolled across a parking lot to repair a damaged campaign sign. It was a routine sheād followed all summer. This time, she only made it a few yards.
An attacker smashed her over the head. She blacked out. She woke up to find a strange man on top of her.
Greene-Placentia struggled to open her eyes. She felt a sharp pain below her waist. The attacker was pulling his penis out of her.
She heard him mumble something like, ā-ic bitch, not a very good fuck,ā which her mind filled in as āDemocratic bitch,ā she recalled. She wasnāt sure that was exactly what he said.
One leg was out of her jean capris. She wore brand-new tennis shoes and a campaign t-shirt. Another man came over. Greene-Placentia felt his weight nudging her left leg further apart. She began swinging her foot at him. āNot even worth it,ā she heard the man say as he moved away. He wore black boots and had small feet, she recalled.
The two men left Greene-Placentia face down in the parking lot. The hatch of her silver Jeep Grand Cherokee was still open. The car was still running. She heard music.
She doesnāt remember pulling up her pants or picking herself off the asphalt parking lot. She doesnāt remember closing her Jeepās hatch and putting her foot on the gas. She doesnāt remember pulling her car into the driveway and collapsing into her bed.
āItās just these little tiny flashes of things that I do remember,ā Greene-Placentia said in an interview with Phoenix New Times. āAs much as I donāt want to remember, Iāve tried very, very hard to remember more stuff. But thatās where Iām at.ā
What the fucking shitā¦ This makes me gag! God fucking damnit, I hate menā¦ and Iām saying that as a man!
Republican women are some of the most vocal rape deniers. Itās not about hating genders, itās about the people that promote a culture where these behaviors flourish.
Itās still men doing most of the rape and sexual assault, which is what P1nkman was referring with their outrage.
I hate this game we all have to play - avoiding saying which gender it is that perpetrates rape and sexual assault the most.
Itās men. Men do it the most. Not all men rape, but overwhelmingly itās men who rape others - women, children, and other men.
Understood.
āmenā is not a fixable problem.
Republican culture is
This is not just in Republican culture.
Feel like you are just trying to be prickly. Itās certainly a big part of it in the US and thatās what the post is about.
You pick what you want to work on, but this is where I will focus.
Iām not trying to be prickly about rape, I am prickly about rape.
This extends far beyond just Republican culture and it does no one any good to pretend like being a Democrat or progressive means one is immune from supporting rape culture.
So I think something thatās important to note is that most people arenāt talking about trying to āfixā men - itās more about the systemic failings that allow anyone to think abusing women is okay. Those failings exist throughout society, and they need to stop.
So many women have faced rape and abuse throughout their lives and frankly, being a bit āpricklyā about it is a measured response to that horror.
As someone who suffered more because of denial and gaslighting, gfy
Donāt fully agree. While rapist are so commonly men (to the point of it being functionally ubiquitous), not all men are rapists or sexual assaulters. The rates of men who are is also not uniform globally (just compare Uttar Pradesh toā¦ basically anywhere). And while correlation isnāt causation, it still heavily implies that there is a cultural element that can be curbed (i.e. Rape Culture).
While I donāt have the hard answers to fix the problem, I donāt really accept the easy āit canāt be doneā answers here either. We can change the culture, and that has to start by not hand waving away key statistics like ārapists are predominantly men.ā
How is male behavior not a fixable problem? Stop making excuses
Rape is not male behavior. Itās rape. Saying thatās itās part of the behavior of men is the excuse.
Men are the overwhelming majority of rapists. Itās a fallacy to think this is strictly a Republican issue.