I presume you’ve all been following the Doonesbury story line this past week? If not, you can start here, with Sgt. Melissa giving a career day presentation to her former school:
Yeah, she’s tearing heads off now. With facts.
The two old guys at the end look familiar…or at least their behavior is. Quick, let’s silence the unpleasant truth!
Don’t be those guys.
No, don’t pull the fire alarm, just insert a piece in the student newspaper insinuating she’s a lesbian, or hates men, or both. Oh, and make sure to tell everyone that sexual assault is the victim’s fault, that they shouldn’t have got drunk, or shouldn’t have been alone someplace where someone could get at them. There is entirely too much rape going on in the military, and way too much victim blaming. There’s way too little reporting, and way too little punishment of the guilty. /Rant
Damn uppity bitch dissing our military! She should be shot for disrupting military requirting//Satire warning!!!!
It’s been a while since I’ve read Doonesbury regularly, but I think she’s insulated herself from that accusation by coming out just after DADT was repealed. It may have been her coworker though.
FYI – these are “flashback” strips that are running while Trudeau is working on another project. I think they were first published last year.
@3 If I read the strip correctly, Melissa is straight. Her buddy, Roz, is gay — see the August 13th strip.
My personal guess, is that the two old guys are uncomfortable (they should be). Melissa is someone they know personally.
Notice, though, that nobody actually stops Melissa.
I do not follow Doonesbury, so I wouldn’t have known. But I do know that the accusation “you hate men/you’re a lesbian” is frequently thrown at women who speak out about sexual assault.
Yes, but but WERE YOU THERE and ARE YOU GOD?!?!?
Hat tip to Pteryxx for that one, by the way, in case you were unfortunate enough to miss where Pteryxx said it.
The bar for someone calling a woman engaging in anything vaguely feminist “A man hating lesbian!” is pretty damn low in many circles.
And you call yourself SKEPTICS™??? What about all those Holy Sacred Reputations? No, no, no. You can’t say a rape happened unless a rapist has been convicted in a court of law. Since this blog doubles as a court in its spare time, feel free to present me with the Immaculate Evidence:
1. I want details. 19 000 sexual assaults? It could be all just waking up the next morning regretting having sex. Or it could be all those women were drunk, which is the same thing as saying “do what you want with my body, I’m busy getting sloshed”. Plus, how do we know if that’s even a problem? If that’s the normal rate of sexual assaults we can safely ignore it.
2. I want names. Of all those men who supposedly committed “sexual assault”. Fear of reprison? repris–?….oh hey you’re breaking up.
3. I want names. Of all those alleged “victims”. I mean how do I know you aren’t making them up to get revenge. Long form birth certificates too.
4. I want histories. For the accused, I want a list of their achievements, decorations, medals, general paeans. For the complainants (if there are actually any) I want to see a list of their sexual exploits and drinking habits. If they’re prudes or lesbians, it’s clear that they wanted it and just felt regret later. If they’re sluts, it’s clear they wanted it and just have some kind of personal vendetta.
5. I want forensics. You know… DNA, bloody sheets, weapons, GSR. I want video. I want photos of bruises to show she struggled at all. I want BAC levels. If she was drinking whatever happened is her responsibility. If he was drinking, whatever happened isn’t his responsibility.
6. I want witnesses. Four male witnesses to corroborate her testimony–I mean hearsay. And not “feminist” mangina witnesses either.
7. I want to see police reports, because no one is ever a victim of a crime and doesn’t report it right away.
Once you’ve provided all of that, and I’ve come to my own personal conclusion over whether those 19 000 “sexual assaults” legitimately took place, I’ll let you know my judgement. Until then, I bet those guys’ll sue you and Trudeau and all the commenters here (if they’re not all sockpuppets of PZ) into the ground for slander and make your lives a misery.
[/snark; incl. deliberate erasing of male victims]
@2
I understand that you were aiming for satire, but I imagine this sort of language strikes far too close to home for many. I’ve personally heard phrases like that numerous times while in active duty (both “uppity bitch” and suggesting people should be shot). Could you please be a bit more considerate in the future?
@2: Unfortunately, Poe’s Law is in full force. Satire just doesn’t work in this environment because no matter how “over the top” you try to go, it sounds like a common troll instead of an exaggeration of one.
while we debate what to do and how to cope with this problem in our military and take incremental steps trying not to upset the status quo the Australian army chief makes a statement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSR19QL8ZvI
uncle frogy
For a little more corroboration on this subject read this (trigger warning ->) link until you read what the (female) veteran has to say about rape at work.
Let’s not forget that for years lesbian baiting occurred all the time in the military which was simply put out for the male or he’ll accuse of being a lesbian if you don’t.
I served 4 years in three USN ships as a Corpsman. Served with many OfficerNurses and Waves. Never experienced any negative events. It all boils down to the quality of management. This, BTW, applies to all organizations. Look at management. Always look at management.
I assumed the guys in the last frame, and specifically their reference to pulling the fire alarm, was a reference to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvYyGTmcP80
@unclefrogy
That video is rather old; but still, thank you for linking it. Sometimes my faith in humanity wavers, and that cheers me up every time :)