Rape is the only crime on the books for which arguing that the temptation to commit it was too clear and obvious to resist is treated as a defence. For every other crime, we call that a confession.
I’ve gotten more angry asks about this post than I have actual reblogs.
imagine hearing “well if he didn’t want to be shot, he should have worn a bulletproof vest” on a trial
The thing is, though, it is said, in the case of racial minorities and vulnerable people. How often has a black person been shot just for driving/walking/ringing the cops for help/wearing a hoodie/playing in a park? How often do people say they should have behaved differently, as though their actions were a logical precursor to their murder?
How often do Jewish people, Sikhs and Muslims get blamed for being ‘too’ who they are in public? Especially women wearing a headscarf or men wearing a turban? How many are told, ‘well, what did you expect?’ when they try to report a hate crime?
How many queer people are blamed for their own murders and assaults simply for existing in public spaces? How many are told that if they just made an effort to be normal, they’d have been safe? How many were assaulted when they were actually passing, but were outed as queer and found themselves trapped and abused by people who felt angry at being ‘tricked’?
How many disabled people have been murdered just for not being normal? How many autistic children and adults are killed by their caregivers annually, or subjected to torturous therapies to try to cure them? How many interviews, articles, memoirs and documentaries justify this cruelty in the name of normalisation and blame the disabled person for the impact of their disability on their families?
People have always blamed victims. Yes, it happens to victims of rape and sexual assault, and always has done, and is disgustingly regularly reported as justification for what happened. But it happens to others too. Also, please remember that the rates of rape and sexual assault of people of colour, queer people and disabled people are far higher than the general population, and that it is far harder for these victims to access the justice system, compensation and health/support services.
From Susan Matasovska’s “What Lesbians Do…” series: “What Lesbians Do In Bed” as featured in “The Crazy Jig: Gay and Lesbian Writing from Scotland 2” 🌹🏳️🌈
“The ex-detective from Connecticut who boasted that he could pick out the “cruising” fairies on Manhattan’s Riverside Drive with 90 percent accuracy–not a challenging task, given the blatant style of the area–convinced his superiors that an undercover operation was the only way to secure evidence that would stand up in court. Accordingly, he quietly enlisted a staff of Navy investigators “in the capacity of detectives” who would circulate among the suspected population of perverts at the YMCA or elsewhere, strike up friendships, and take careful note of all that transpired. He wanted no one over thirty, he said, on the well-known assumption that homosexuals never bothered with men that old. His ideal volunteer was in his late teens or early twenties, handsome, none too intellectually inclined (to judge by their later testimony in court), and willing to put himself in awkward situations for the good of the service. He found an ample number to take on the assignment, more than a dozen at first, and sought assurances that his men, if forced to break the law–that is, go the limit to complete their mission–would not themselves be subject to prosecution.
The specific duties the recruits were charged with fell into three areas: to gather information about “cocaine joints” and the sale of liquor; to gather information “pertaining to cocksuckers and rectum receivers” and any network of “said fairies”; and to gather information about prostitutes in the area. In reality, once their project hit its stride, Arnold’s band of investigators showed no interest to speak of in the “fallen women” of Newport and only minimal concern with the illegal drug traffic. What went on behind closed doors at the YMCA or in the romantic shadows of Cliff Walk was another matter. In their pursuit of the “cocksuckers” Arnold had charged them to find–and in the fairly staggering amount of oral sex they enjoyed in the line of duty–this group of young men was all but tireless. In fact, their assiduous performance was to become by the end of the summer a profound humiliation to the Department of the Navy and its leadership.“
– The Other Side of Silence, by John Loughery; Chapter One, 1: A Scandal in Newport
The Dollop did an episode on this and it’s equal parts terrifying, hysterical and insane
That reminds me of this:
In the early 1980s, the Naval Investigative Service was investigating homosexuality in the Chicago area. Agents discovered that gay men sometimes referred to themselves as “friends of Dorothy.” Unaware of the historical meaning of the term, the NIS believed that there actually was a woman named Dorothy at the center of a massive ring of homosexual military personnel, so they launched an enormous and futile hunt for the elusive “Dorothy,” hoping to find her and convince her to reveal the names of gay service members.
knitting in the dark 