I read this in the hidden comments and just about lost it:
Why would adult women put themselves in a position to have this rape happen to them and why would they wait so long to say anything public and legal about it? I just don’t understand. Maybe it’s just because I’m old and in my younger days adult women (and youngsters) reported such crimes immediately (or so it seemed).
It is maddening and heartbreaking to see variations of this over and over on this presumably progressive Democratic blog. Trolls are gonna troll, but too many people who have been around for a while are saying it too.
I’m going to leave aside “put themselves in a position to have this rape happen to them” for a second.
It is utterly stunning how many are not aware that if you are female, literally everywhere you go is putting yourself in a position to have rape happen to you, including staying at home.
As for whether women reported such crimes immediately in his younger days...
...no, they didn’t.
I don’t even need to know how old this commenter is. In fact, the older he is, the more likely women did not report such crimes immediately.
Also, the older he is, the more likely the youngsters didn’t report such crimes at all.
Anyone who has some vague fantasy memory of a past where it “seemed” like women and girls reported rape publicly and legally immediately is completely out of touch with reality.
If anything, older women felt even more pressure to hide, more shame, more certainty they would not be believed. They had even more pressure from patriarchal “boys will be boys” cultural systems in place since the dawn of time, that they assumed would last forever.
The latest accuser, Julie Swetnick, looks younger than a lot of women her age. Paradoxically, that makes it easy for Republicons to minimize her and attack her. Women can't win the age and appearance game. If she’s young and attractive, she gets blamed. Young girls are berated for not telling their parents. Older women are joked about and laughed at: Ruth Bader Ginsburg being groped by Abraham Lincoln. As if RBG wasn’t beautiful when she was younger. As if “beautiful” is the standard that determines whether women are targeted for attack or not!!!
Julie Swetnick waited 36 years, and she mostly came of age during a feminist era when women were able to speak up and speak out. There are women older than Ms. Swetnick who have carried similar emotional burdens for generations.
So if you have family and friends making these statements and asking these questions, who have no idea how prevalent this is, and how many women have been silenced, and how many have silenced themselves, and can’t imagine anyone keeping this kind of secret, here are some testimonies you can send to them from women who waited a lot longer than 36 years to say anything.
Some women keep silent a VERY long time.
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