March 1, 2011
"The reporters on the Guardian disappointed me. They failed my masculinity test. They behaved like gossiping schoolgirls."

—

Julian Assange, in a phone conversation with the editor of UK magazine Private Eye.

Now, in fairness, I don’t know anything about Private Eye, including whether it’s remotely credible. The name of the magazine certainly sounds tabloidy. I guess I could do “research” on this, but no.

So, assuming that this phone call is being faithfully reported, why are folks highlighting the antisemitism in the phone call (Assange proposed and then abandoned the theory that several Jewish Guardian journalists were conspiring to malign him) while ignoring gems like the above? I’ll confess that I’m happy to see Assange flirting with public antisemitism, because that is the kind of shit that gets people upset with you. Not like, you know, being sexist. Loudly. While you are a defendant in a rape case.

Maybe the idea is that the antisemitism is something new. Is that the idea? That we are all on the same page about him being a terrible misogynist? Maybe we are. Are we? Somebody tell me if everyone agrees that Julian Assange is a terrible misogynist. Because if we don’t all agree about that yet, I’d like to keep hammering at that point.

9:45am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/Z9_IVy3LfP_W
(Notes: 1)
  
Filed under: Dear Julian Assange sexism antisemitism 
February 12, 2011
"Sexual encounters have their ebbs and flows. What may be unwanted one minute can with further empathy become desired."

—

-Geoffrey Robertson, attorney for alleged rapist Julian Assange, quoted in today’s New York Times.

I know the Assange case is old news, but I found this quotation really interesting. (Interesting : disturbing :: potato : potahto.) In particular, I was captivated by the phrase “with further empathy.”

With further empathy a woman will recognize how fervently a man wishes to put his penis inside her own personal body. With further empathy she will enthusiastically comply with his wish. With further empathy she will transform into kindness and self-sacrifice incarnate, a Patient Griselda of sexual healing.

It’s almost admirably brazen to suggest that the people lacking empathy were Mr. Assange’s victims, Ms. A and Ms. W, and not Mr. Assange himself. Then again, I suppose the phrase could go both ways: “what may be unwanted one minute (refraining from penetrating an unwilling person) can with further empathy become desired.” When I interpret the statement like that, I find myself agreeing wholeheartedly. Every would-be rapist should pause, have some empathy for the human being who has not consented to a sexual act, and choose not to rape.

—

Further reading (seriously, these two links are so good; please read them):
Jaclyn Friedman: Consent Is Not A Lightswitch
Thomas MacAulay Millar: Meet the Predators

12:42pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/Z9_IVy32ACkk
(Notes: 6)
  
Filed under: dear rape julian assange jaclyn friedman yes means yes 
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