How Not to Victimize Rape Victims a Second Time

Charging a rape victim thousands of dollars for the rape kit that the police need is one of the most vile things you can do (and even claiming the rape victims should pay is offensive beyond words). I know that many of those who enforce these policies and make these claims hate women, and some probably even believe a rape victim probably did something to "deserve it," so I will try to explain this as simply as I can, so your tiny little brains can understand it.

When somebody is raped, it is the state's failure to protect its citizens; it is not the victim's failure to protect themselves. If you can't protect your own citizens, you certainly should not make them foot the bill for your failures.

You wouldn't think this is so hard to understand, and that maybe a little empathy might be present here, but I guess that's asking too much.

Angie Zapata

I've been meaning to blog about this for a while, and I haven't been able to find the words. But after reading Emily's post at Questioning Transphobia, I have to say something.

Angie Zapata was a transgender woman killed by a man after he discovered that she was transgender. His trial just started, and the defense is attempting to, in essence, say that he deserves to be let off because she "tricked" him.

Emily writes:

Quite obviously, this clears the way for the inevitable “trans panic” defense, a form of victim blaming that only appears to have legal credibility when applied to trans people. So yes, I realise it is the defense’s job to cast doubt onto every piece of evidence that the prosecution raises, and even to attack the credibility of the victim and any material witnesses. But this is not doing that. It does not raise the question of whether Angie was of good character or not–it suggests from the start that she never could have been. This is pandering to the worst in cissexist biases, and painting transness of itself as deserving of death.

This is hate speech legitimating hate violence, pure and simple.

I agree, and I don't have much to add to her post. I wrote about this before at my blog, and there are links to the original posts about the murder here.

I wish I had anything coherent to say, but the torture memos have already fucked me up this week, so the only thing I can say is what kind of a world do we live in where it's OK to kill someone because she "tricked" you? Where that makes you a "victim"?

Violence Against Women in Iraq

Sure glad to see the Surge is working. I'm even more glad we invaded Iraq in the first place. It sure is a better place now.