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
Whatās dangerous about those areas?
People? People have the propensity to be dangerous.
Why is it dangerous for this woman to fix campaign signs at night?
Who is the cause of the danger?
Shitty people. Idk what part of that answer is wrong or insensitive.
Itās obviously what attacked her, not a bear or a squirrel or anything.
Right. The danger is in the men seeking to rape a woman, not in the woman living her life.
The danger isnāt what women do. Itās what men do to us.
When did I disagree with that?
Knowing there are shitty men out there do you plan on putting yourself into danger intentionally to prove a point? What are you arguing? You canāt fix everyone.
We can put the blame where it belongs - on the men who rape and not on the woman trying to run a campaign.
When you only focus on what victims should do to avoid being raped, youāre putting the focus on the wrong people. We can and should punish rapists.
Over 90% of rape and sexual assault perpetrators never see the inside of a courtroom.
Yes and of those 90% what do you suggest we do to put them into a court system and get justice?
Investigate and arrest them what the fuck?
Do you not realize how cops treat crimes like rape and sexual assault? About the huge backlog of rape kits that are left untested in this country?