This is a Woman

I interrupt your Weekly Awesome with a Weekly Terrible. Like. I really don’t want to do this. I’ve spent all week following this and it’s taken so much energy and just broken my heart over and over again. It makes me strongly consider leaving the planet altogether. Sometimes I just lose all hope in humanity. But I’m doing this anyway. Because it needs to be said. It needs to be said over and over and over. Until people listen. Until people demand change. I’m doing this in support of the victim, Jane Doe. I’m doing this in support of all the other girls who’ve had to live through this. I’m doing this in support of any future victims (GOD FORBID).

I’m going to try to organize these links in a semi-chronological order that is also one that ends on a positive note. Because I need to believe humanity will get better.

~First I came across this article from The Raw Story about how CNN had done an entire story after the verdict was announced Sunday. They went on an on about how terrible it was to watch these boys’ lives fall apart, but not one of them said anything about the victim.
~Twitter was up in arms, calling the CNN reporters rape apologists.
~This article from Cosmo (huh) goes into a little more detail and makes some very good points as well.
~And then it starts to get darker. Turns out the judge warned the boys and their peers, essentially, to cover it up better next time. I mean. Maybe the judge could have said something more along the lines of, “Hey, kids! Don’t rape!” You think?
~This is an article that came across my desk more recently, and I am just done. I just can’t finish reading it. But it looks to be powerful. Steubenville: This is rape culture’s Abu Ghraib moment.
~But then. This. Fox News aired her name. Like. The ONLY reason I am still on this Earth right now is because of gravity.
~This article from Feministing is…. Just grab the Kleenex.
~This one is a mixed bag. On the one hand, two girls were harassing and threatening the victim, which makes me more stabby than I already am. On the other hand, they were arrested for it, and this quote, “Let me be clear, threatening a teenage rape victim will not be tolerated. If anyone makes a threat verbally or via the internet, we will take it seriously, we will find you, and we will arrest you,” gives me a little bit of hope back. Someone out there is watching out for her, protecting her. Not everyone is bad.
~Henry Rollins has some ideas on how to change the world so that rape culture becomes a thing of the past.
~How else can we change this? By teaching boys not to rape, teaching them how to help, teaching them to be kind.
~And when we see something horrible happening to someone, we must step in. No matter how hard it is. No matter what they threaten us with. The woman whose blog started this whole thing has been through so much. She’s been sued, she’s lost her best friend. She doesn’t regret it one bit. We need that kind of bravery because as long as we live in a rape culture, those of us who want to end it are dangerously in the minority.
~And this one. This one made me decide to go ahead and stay on the planet for a little longer. There are good, brave, loving people out there. And I do believe we can win in the end. It will be a hard fucking fight, but we can do it.

What can you do? Pigtail Pals has a good list of things you can do to help on their Facebook page. Sign the petitions, write some letters. Let’s end rape culture. Now.

Need something to lower your blood pressure for awhile? This kitten will help.