Some random thoughts on wikileaks/Julian Assange/ sexual assault allegations
- People are weird, people are complex, black and white models fall over. Good people do bad things, bad people do good things, there is no reason to think that hackers who make cool systems aren’t also rapists, or jerks or anything else.
- You know, I got into a fight about this over at a health science blog, because I suggested their their might be unintended consequences of vaccination, which and let me repeat this long and loud does not mean I am anti vax or saying that vaccination is bad, I am saying that some things are complex - [link]
- Seriously, quit the hero worshipping, this is the new Roman Polanski isn’t it, except there is still reasonable doubt, and Julian hasn’t left the country after conviction.
- This might be a CIA conspiracy, it might not be. If I was the CIA I would have put my plant in a gym and had her take a couple of punches to get some good photos for the press, rather that produce the more standard but less believed rape narrative.
- Wikileaks is more than one person, no really.Dear god people, we are meant to be geeks, tell me you didn’t believe that they would set up wikileaks with a single point of failure? Because I hope we are not that stupid.
- I’ve lost a lot of respect for someone I really liked over this and that upsets me a whole lot. It sucks to hear a guy who describes himself as feminist disbelieving a woman on the basis that she might be a radical feminist.
- Myths about how rape victims behave hurts all rape victims, you can’t single these two women out, write a whole lot of bullish about how they aren’t trustworthy because they didn’t act hurt enough straight away and pretend it won’t affect every person who was in a relationship with their rapist, or went into denial, or acted like everything was ok to keep their job, or their social group, or some semblance of their life together. Or any of the other socially inbuilt ways that we tell people not to report rape
“It is states and companies that are attacking Wikileaks and Julian Assange, not two women. It is perfectly possible to criticise the actions of prosecuters, interpol, judges and government’s without invoking rape myths.
Believing the women, or at least not disbelieving the women, does not mean that you have to stop criticising the way the (in)justice system operates or decide that that wikileaks is a bad project.**
The rape myths are unnecessary, and damaging. By repeating rape myths, you give them power. Doing so doesn’t just hurt the women involved, but strengthens rape culture, and makes it harder for many, many, many other rape survivors.
Stop it.”
- Exactly [link: alas a blog]
- I am really glad I was already sick of Naomi Wolf, and had lost all my respect for her, before this, or I would probably be even more pissed off.
Admittedly, I don't have as much experience being a feminist as Wolf has, but when I see a swarm of people with exactly zero direct access to the facts of a rape case loudly insisting that the accusation has no merit, I usually start to wonder about their credibility. And their sources.
Wolf links to exactly one, an article in British tabloid the Daily Mail. Kate Harding @ salon
This post by the way, has strong comment moderation, if you post bullshit I will mock or delete or both, my space, my rules.
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