There has been a lot of heat about Mark Foley and his predation upon the 10th graders who were in the de facto custody of the U.S. Congress as Pages living in the Page dormitories, attending the Page School, eating the Page food and, apparently, supplying a grandfather-aged Chairman and Founder of the Missing and Exploited Children Caucus with his designated allotment of Page flesh. But beyond sexual predation and the massive Republican coverup (this is not a Congressional coverup, but a massive Republican coverup) and our understandible sense of Shittenfreude as we watch the Shittensturm rain down upon the American Taliban, we should ask ourselves: what do we do with our righteous anger?
Nobody here needs a lecture about stepping up for the Democrats, least of all from the likes of me. But beyond party and beyond politics, what can we do?
Here are a few ideas.
1) Support your local sexual assault resource center. The Iraq war is taking a lot of money that might otherwise go towards social programs. Your local county/city-level sexual assault resource center is probably hurting for money. It is not a high-profile issue; unlike supporting a development project that can get campaign donations from developers, say, sexual assault and abuse can happen to anyone and their effects strike the poor - i.e. the least able to afford private support - most severely. So find out from RAINN (Rape Abuse Incenst National Network) who your local sexual assault resource center is. Odds are, they can use that coin jar in your living room or kitchen that you never empty - even if the money just buys crayons for a survivor's younger sister to play with during an onsite counselling session, it means a lot. Take the coin jar, dump it into the bank account of your local crisis center.
2) If you are a survivor yourself and you have not gotten help, please stop reading this diary and check out the link above so you can get connected with the resources you need.
3) If you believe in standing up for survivors, tell people that this issue matters. Tell your co-workers, your doctor, your stylist, your fraternity brother. Consider getting "gear" and tchotckes from sexual assault resource centers. Why? Because people won't find a reason to talk about this stuff. How do we know this? Look at the Republicans, they ran for 5 years from this and it's going to cost their corrupt asses both Houses of Congress (one hopes.) In a less corrupt vein, people don't want to talk about this but they may feel more like confiding in you about their friend, sister, somebody they know from church, etc. Even if they just see your coffee mug, they may call the number on the mug, probably without telling you they did. Buy a coffee mug. I have written on this topic before; in my previous diary, I noted that my own obtuseness probably kept me from being a resource to a close family member. Had I had a coffee mug with a sexual assault resource center around, my family member might - might - have made a call on her own.
4) It is a good idea to write elected officials, including Republicans, on this issue. Not every Republican is bad; many of us Kossacks were not "born Democratic." Local government officials are often the best, they have fewer calls per week but often have a large influence over whether a local agency can stay open. Just hearing that a constituent cares once or twice can be enough. We have local government cable in Baltimore County, and we can see literally how responsive government works. Most public officials want to be a hero and this is a painless (for them), essentially non-controversial issue on which they can be a hero.
5) Get knowledgable. If you don't know about sexual assault, abuse, harassment, you can get knowledge. The local resource centers can help supply you. You are not a bad person for not knowing about this issue, any more than you are a bad person for not knowing about other major issues, but getting knowledge is important.
6) Volunteer. The local agencies often need people to provide both hotline support and back-end support. I am not a hotline support person, the issue hits too close to home so I won't do so. But back-end support - people to plan the fundraisers, people to write solicitation letters for donations, etc. - anyone with a heart and a little time can help. Sometimes volunteers go to local schools to make presentations on these issues; people who might not want to do hotline work might be OK to do this.
7) Get radicalized. If if you are not a radical, get radicalized on this issue. Myself - I am a male, Euro-American married dada of two. I drive a Corolla and own a lawn mower. What do I like: football, beer, Mexican food. Short term goal: fix the closet doors, not attend a Rage against the Machine or Black Flag concert. How do I make my living? I edit bond contracts for a law firm that represents banks. Am I a radical? No. But on this issue, probably yes.
When you get radicalized, you start imagining a world where sexual predation is very rare, maybe non existent. You start to make your small corner better. Your "creepmeter" improves drastically. You start reading people like Majikthise and you want your young sons to know people like her as a teacher or an aunt. You watch less television because the sexual exploitation of children on TV makes you a little sick. You are not surprised, although still truly sickened, by the founder and chair of the House Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus IMing pages to ask them for detailed information about the size of their genitals. You cannot unfry an egg; you cannot unradicalize on this issue, in my opinion.
Yes, get pissed and stay furious. But if you really want to put the big hurt on people like Foley and their enablers, do some of the things above. Thanks.