I've never used a diary for personal use and I've never written here at Kos. I love to read it, but I usually keep my opinion to myself, at least publicly. I expect no one to read this, but the upside of that is that I can really write this like a personal diary.
I don't have anything riveting to inform anyone about anyway. What I have is such a dreadfully heavy sorrow that I felt compelled to unload it somehow. So if you do run across this, I'll warn you now that I'm not going to reveal another underhanded stunt by another right-wing low life. (Not that I mind doing that.)
What happened to me today is the old proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. Its name is Bill Cosby and I believe the count of his rape victim accusers is at about 15 now. Victims, including Janice Dickinson, have tried to speak to this previously, but were not believed or, in the case of Dickinson, threatened with legal action.
The problem here is that I'm 52 years old with a grown daughter. And I can't believe that I honestly could say to younger generations that, at times, my generation was more progressive than theirs.. Sure, there was sexism, but there was hope. My high school friends and I thought we were pretty hip. We read Cosmo, but we also read another magazine called Ms. Magazine; a magazine about sexism founded by Gloria Steinem. My favorite section was called something like "A Thump on the Head To...." and it would show a famous face along with one of their loser anti-women quotes.
We weren't interested in militant feminism, we just wanted equality. We wanted a future; a wide-open field with all the same possibilities as men. We still played with our make up and hair and laughed and were silly. We genuinely liked boys. And we saw the progress being made and believed it could only get better.
We never thought there would be a rape case in 2012 in Steubenville, Ohio, that would be covered up by the school coach and the superintendent. We never thought guys would carry a female like an animal by her wrists and ankles and peed on. We never even dreamed that an assault would be filmed, bragged about, and shared by a "rape crew." What silly, innocent girls we were then. We still believed men could be heroes.
We never thought someone would actually coin a phrase like "legitimate rape." Seriously, what the hell does that mean?
Also in 2012: the case of 14-year-old Daisy, found by her mother confused, crying, and freezing in her front yard. She had been invited to a party the night before by older, popular students and athletes who encouraged her to drink alcohol. Her mother took her to a doctor who declared that she had had sex. But Daisy remembered repeatedly refusing it. After reporting the incident, the family was threatened, Daisy's mother lost her job, and their house was burned to the ground. One of the attackers was the grandson of a prominent Missouri senator; he was found guilty of the lesser charge of child endangerment.
I guess I'll stop with the Ray Rice case (another athlete, groan). After punching Janay Rice out, the NFL did not discover nor disclose the elevator video--TMZ did. When he dragged her out of the elevator, men walk around her; only a woman stopped to help.
According to Richard Mourdock, God has plans for us to be raped and have unwanted pregnancies. I guess we should take all rape laws off the books? Let's let all the rapists and sex offenders out of jail, because we can't go against God's plan! Maybe they should be given their own ministries. Or maybe Mary Pride is right; our bodies really aren't our own. They belong to men, politicians, rapists, God and babies.
Mon Nov 24, 2014 at 9:13 AM PT: The title of this diary was changed to a quote from, "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer," in response to helpful commentary about my use of the word, "geezer" in the original title. Also, I feel this title is more in line with the theme of the diary in which females are discouraged to speak out about sexual or domestic assault. Thanks to all of you. And thanks to Joss Whedon for many hours of fun.