Beyond Babedom

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Liar, Liar . . . Pants on fire

Okay; the chambermaid who accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn is a liar. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t rape her. And here’s the upshot: other rape victims – once again – face the “She made it up” crowd, who like to claim that these women asked for it, they wanted it, or it didn’t even happen. Yes, some women lie about being raped, but lots of us (yes, US) didn’t and haven’t and wouldn’t. Actually, most of us don’t even talk about it.

And that’s because we don’t get to choose who makes the news. No, not the poor working woman, attacked on her way home from her second job. Not the young girl raped by her stepfather. And not the naive 20 something, slipped the date rape drug. No, we get the woman (who may very well still be a victim) who seems to be not only an accomplished liar but also a possible money launderer and drug moll. Why? Because a) her attacker is famous and (I think) b) using her as the “model” victim just “proves” most rape claims are bogus.

I’d like – just for once – for women to be the ones who decide exactly who represents us. In everything.  Not Sarah Palin or Michelle Bachmann, whose inane comments end up reflecting on female politicians in general. Not that unqualified job candidate my (former) brother-in-law purposely promoted to a position above her abilities  – to prove women simply can’t cut it. Not Lindsay Lohan. Not Brittany Spears. Not Pamela Anderson.

In fact, how about a women-only nation-wide referendum where we pick our own spokespeople and give them the authority to speak for us, legislate for us, decide on the big issues for us.

Sort of like what men had in this country for about 150 years . . .

Which brings me to a related subject: voting. On About.com, an article about women’s suffrage gave some wonderful reasons why men shouldn’t be allowed to vote:

  • Because man’s place is in the army.
  • Because no really manly man wants to settle any question otherwise than by fighting about it.
  • Because if men should adopt peaceable methods women will no longer look up to them.
  • Because men will lose their charm if they step out of their natural sphere and interest themselves in other matters than feats of arms, uniforms, and drums.
  • Because men are too emotional to vote. Their conduct at baseball games and political conventions shows this, while their innate tendency to appeal to force renders them unfit for government.

Hmmm.

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This entry was posted on Friday, July 8th, 2011 at 1:19 PM and is filed under Social Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  1. Chris Munson says:

    Strauss-Kahn to Baseball is a bridge too far for my taste, but you make some good points regarding the stereotype of women who “cry rape”. One should acknowledge the progress made in the past 50 years in this regard, while mindful that much needs to be done before we either deny every report of sexual assault is flawed by the “hysterical” nature of the victim, or accept at face value every allegation made, simplemindedly repeating the mantra of, “Nobody would say such a thing if it hadn’t happened.” I tend to believe the sexual encounter between the Maid and the Banker was a “transactional” one which simply highlights the economic and class aspects of the encounter. as to the proposition that men ought not vote for the reasons you give consider the following:

    The man’s place in the army includes his exclusive “priviledge” of occupying the combat arms branches. He’s the one doing most of the dying, except for when a woman in uniform gets caught in the crossfire, and becomes….you guessed it…a “victim”. Something’s awry here.

    Some men, Jesus Christ comes to mind, proposed an alternative solution to the use of force. “Civilization” in general, and a great many women in particular, Catherine the Great of Russia comes to mind, ignored these alternative approaches to conflict resolution.

    The point in most of the clackety-clack my (Boomer) generation put out was that ALL people; Black, White, Women, Gay, Aisan, Hispanic, and on and on should enjoy the fruits of liberty and equality. The fact we left out the other side of the equasion, that Liberty goes hand in hand with personal responsibility is somethuing we leave to the next generation to wrestle with.

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