Me Too

Kick Against the Pricks

Which begs the question of what could constitute "toxic feminity". I'd put showing off long legs in the office in that category, inasmuch as it ruffles the female workforce and distracts the male one. Yet you can't really ban any and all coqueterie, male or female. That would be absurd and undoable, so it's once again a question of degree, a continuum of practices without any obvious cutt-off point, and thus more a matter of common sense -- in the 'Fresco sense' of the word: context-specific agreement between actors about what's appropriate -- than something one could rule by explicit dress or behavioral codes.

The article you linked to had a para stating a point which I tried to make earlier on: that human sexuality is fundamentally animal, and hence inherently "weird", that is to say: wild, restive, not at ease with normative social rules. She says it much better than I could:

I found myself in substantial agreement with the article and also felt that she'd raised some points I have tried to make previously in this discussion. Our culturally-assigned gender roles leave us stuck in a pathetic and archaic kabuki dance of stereotype and caricature.

It's fair to say that our sexual lives cannot be entirely proper, or we wouldn't enjoy them so much.

I'm currently reading 17th century Japanese novellas about love and sex, called Five Women Who Loved Love, by Saikaku. In all five novels, the lovers are consumed with a form of illicit love, for one reason or another, and all of them, women included, end up suffering capital punishment for what they did, this being medieval Japan. Yet none of the characters seems to think that death is too high a price to pay for a couple of passionate nights...

People are ready to do very crazy things in order to get laid. The sex drive is hard to control socially. Yet it should be controlled -- we can't go around ******* everybody we like -- but I for one am quite ready to forgive sexual crimes and misdemeanors as long as they don't imply violence.

No women participating in the thread any longer.

Don't let the alt-right hijack #MeToo for their agenda
Rebecca Solnit - The Guardian - Sun. 10 December 2017
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/dont-let-alt-right-coopt-metoo-agenda


No clear solution proposed in the article, but at least one person agrees with me that some of the scandals appear politically orchestrated.

One must never underestimate the mesmerizing effect of sports on little-boy judges and for-**** fathers.

I really think what his father said wrapped the entire thing up in a bow that made the whole thing make sense. The fact that he didn't consider the girl in his statement at all. Only focused on his son having to undergo a punishment for a crime. We should have locked up both the father and son. And the crime the father committed? Being a douche.

Well the dad is definitely a dirt bag, but he also supports depraved indifference and considers rape 'a little action'.

‘Feminism’ is Merriam-Webster’s word of the year, thanks in part to Kellyanne Conway

By Kristine Phillips December 12 at 12:53 PM, WaPo

This is the year when a sea of pink dominated the streets of several American cities, the year when #MeToo became a symbolic driving force against sexual misconduct by men, and when a group of women — “The Silence Breakers” — graced the cover of Time as the voices that launched that movement.

These events, says Merriam-Webster, are the reasons 2017 was a big year for feminism — at least literally.

The online dictionary has dubbed “feminism” its word of the year, meaning it is the most-searched word on Merriam-Webster’s website. Lookups for the definition of feminism increased by 70 percent over last year. There were also several major spikes that coincide with major news events, said Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster’s editor at large.

[...] the first such spike happened in January, when thousands of women packed the streets of several cities in the United States and beyond in a massive act of defiance against a newly inaugurated president. Discussions on what the word meant to attendees and organizers of the Women’s March, and whether the protest was a show of feminism, fueled the spike, he said.

Searches for the word spiked again the following month, when Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Trump, distanced herself from the term.

“It’s difficult for me to call myself a feminist in the classic sense because it seems to be very anti-male and it certainly is very pro-abortion, and I’m neither anti-male or pro-abortion. So, there’s an individual feminism, if you will, that you make your own choices…. I look at myself as a product of my choices, not a victim of my circumstances,” Conway said during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference at National Harbor in Maryland last February.

Conway praised Trump for hiring women and encouraged women to run for president. She also decried the “presumptive negativity” about women in positions of power. [...]

Merriam-Webster said the storm of revelations in the latter half of 2017 and the emergence of #MeToo, a hashtag that countless of women used on social media to say that they have been victims of some form of sexual misconduct or harassment, resulted in a steady increase in searches for what feminism is. [...]

Movies also played a role.

Merriam-Webster said curiosity about the definition of feminism spiked following the release of “Wonder Woman,” headlined by Jewish actress Gal Gadot and created by the first womanto direct a big-budget superhero movie, and the Hulu series “The Handmaid’s Tale,” based on a novel about a dystopian and totalitarian society where women are stripped of their rights and forced into sexual servitude.

The definition of feminism has evolved since it was first entered in the English dictionary by Noah Webster in 1841. Once defined as simply “the qualities of females,” feminism is now “the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes” and “organized activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests,” according to Merriam-Webster.

Another word that became popular this year is “complicit,” which ranks No. 2 in Merriam-Webster’s top 10 list and was recently declared word of the year by dictionary.com. [...]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2017/12/12/feminism-is-merriam-websters-word-of-the-year-thanks-in-part-to-kellyanne-conway/

That's the point I was getting at, I just didn't want to type out his words. It is clear why the son was inclined to take advantage of a girl behind a dumpster. There is nothing human in that statement. It lacks empathy for another person. The father should have been locked up for being a terrible parent. He is indirectly responsible. Sort of like the get a way driver in a bank robbery. He is an accessory to the crime.

Kentucky state representative "Pope" Dan Johnson has committed suicide, days after a report surfaced alleging he assaulted a teenage girl in 2013.

When I read the article I mistakenly read the word "fatally" as "finally".

Not sure why that occurred. But I do think it is telling that he committed suicide. If you are really innocent, would you kill yourself over accusations? Is there no way to prove your innocents anymore? Or was he actually guilty and didn't want to face the music?

Besides all that, isn't suicide against the rules in Christianity? I also think the churches sign is another example of a delusional outlook on society. "Satan accuses.." So does this mean any time a person accuses you of something, they are the evil one? Not the person who is being accused? I would say that statement alone is the evil one.

I don't like that his family has to suffer over this. I don't like that he did not face the charges and refute them or take his medicine.

A 28-year-old woman has accused a former TV reporter, regarded as one of the journalists closest to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, of raping her two years ago.
The woman, who only gave her first name as Shiori, alleged in a news conference on Monday that Noriyuki Yamaguchi, a former Washington bureau chief of Tokyo Broadcasting System Television, raped her at a Tokyo hotel on April 4, 2015, when she lost consciousness after having dinner and drinks with Yamaguchi.



It is extremely rare in Japan for a woman to go before TV cameras and openly talk about the experience of being raped. She gave the news conference at the Tokyo District Court alongside a lawyer.
“I have come to believe I should tell the public how terrible rape is, and how big an impact it can have on your life,” a tearful Shiori said.
She said she met Yamaguchi after he offered to help her find a job as a journalist, according to a document handed out at the news conference. It was the first time for them to meet one-on-one, she said.
Yamaguchi, who has boasted about his strong friendship with Abe, is known as one of just a few journalists who can make direct phone calls to the prime minister. He has recently published two books detailing inside stories from Abe’s Cabinet.
Yamaguchi had often been invited as a political commentator on TV news programs, but he stopped appearing in public after the Shukan Shincho weekly first reported the rape allegations earlier this month.
Later Monday on his Facebook page, Yamaguchi responded to the news conference, claiming he has “never done anything illegal.” Police already investigated the allegation for more than one year and eventually decided not to charge him, Yamaguchi wrote.
But during the news conference, Shiori said she filed on Monday a request that the Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution review the case, seeking the indictment of Yamaguchi.
According to Shiori, in 2015 investigators obtained an arrest warrant for Yamaguchi on suspicion of “quasi-rape” after examining footage from a security camera at the hotel and the testimony of the taxi driver who brought the two to the hotel. Under Japanese law, quasi-rape refers to having sex with a woman by taking advantage of her unconsciousness or other conditions.
Police officers were ready to arrest Yamaguchi at Narita airport on June 8, 2015, but they ended up letting him walk “because of an instruction” from higher-ranking police officials, Shiori quoted a police officer as saying.
At inquest committees, 11 citizens review cases and decide whether or not to urge prosecutors to indict a suspect. To make a recommendation, eight or more members must vote in agreement.
Prosecutors can reject the recommendation from the committee once, but if the committee makes the same recommendation a second time, a suspect is automatically indicted and taken to trial.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/05/30/national/crime-legal/former-tbs-reporter-close-abe-ties-accused-rape/#.WkcdlExFw74

Catherine Deneuve getting into trouble on "social media" for drawing a distinction between rape and unwanted proposals... Oh well, thank you Catherine for helping the rest of us keep a sane mind, and let the angry twits make whatever noise they make...

The same happened to Matt Damon a few weeks ago.

Speaking of whom, I saw Behind the Candelabra yesterday night on TV, with its amazing and courageous acting feats by Matt Damon and Michael Douglas... Wow!

There was another case of this, in Wales. Really messy. Welsh Cabinet Minister Carl Sargeant was sacked over allegations of sexual harassment and suspended from the Labour party. His family claimed that he was never told what exactly he'd been accused of. Four days later, he committed suicide.

After his suicide, national and local politicians lined up to eulogize him as a kind person and good politician, and many decried the process in which he'd been sacked. But the First Minister (kind of a PM) insisted he'd had no choice but to sack him once he received the allegations. Meanwhile, the investigation into Sargeant's alleged misbehaviour was suspended after his death.

Complicating things further were allegations by former Cabinet ministers/advisers of years of "toxic" bullying within the Cabinet, which was said to have long affected Sergeant's mental health, and an investigation into that was started instead. Also an investigation into claims that the allegations against Sargeant were leaked to a journalist and other politicians before he was told himself. And who's been selected as the Labour candidate to succeed Sargeant in the Welsh parliament? His son.

The whole thing sounded like a clusterfuck. Meanwhile, the accusations are now understood to have involved three women, but they seem forgotten in the whole story. I guess their allegations will never be investigated -- and if they were true, they won't find justice.

If nothing else, judging on this look-back at the filming of Kramer vs Kramer, Dustin Hoffman was a manipulative, conceited, abusive ass in decidedly sexist-seeming ways:

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/03/meryl-streep-kramer-vs-kramer-oscar

Wow. This is a story about a man who just took his own life. Just wow.