eve11 | (no subject) (Reply)

I'm actually somewhat glad I have a hockey game on Thursday night, because I will have an excuse not to watch the Steelers/Ravens game and listen to a bunch of uncomfortable talking heads talk about Ray Rice. Amazing what the difference between saying and seeing is. Amazing. Everyone knows what happened in that elevator. What must have happened to that woman. But if you don't have video evidence of what that kind of violence really means, you can listen to all of the "benefit of the doubt", "she assaulted him", "both are culpable" bullshit, let it worm its way under your skin, let it build a veil of denial and whatever the ef the opposite of empathy is. Football bigwigs are reeling today, and it is not because of surprise. It is because they were finally forced to watch what actions they were equivocating, debating, downplaying and protecting. Before Rice was summarily dumped by the Ravens this morning, one of our local radio personalities was so tone deaf and clueless about the complete institutionalization of violence against women and misogyny in the macho-macho sports world he inhabits that he posted a Hey Women's groups, where are you, you need to speak up! article basically using this disgusting incident as a way to shame Ravens fans...and particularly female Ravens fans.

Wrong. Wrong wrong wrong, so wrong. No sir, you do not get to escape the shaming of this culture that you inhabit by throwing it back in womens' faces and telling us it's our problem. Not even by benevolently mansplaining to us that we have power! It doesn't fucking work that way. Women's groups have fucking been speaking for a long fucking time. You haven't been listening. You pander to a constituency who still find fart jokes funny and happen to think that gender equality means "hit anyone back" instead of "don't hit anyone," you who make a living riling people up with meaningless "controversial opinions," do not give this the same treatment.

You, sir, read this. It was even written by a man so maybe you'll hear it. Maybe you'll listen.

ETA: from