I'm not going to stop being angry about Brett K and here is why:

[Coventina]

1. My mother (now dead) was a rape survivor.

2. My sister is a rape survivor.

3. I was ALMOST raped on two separate occasions.

4. My best friend has been raped more than once.


IN ALL BUT ONE OF THESE CASES IT WAS BY PEOPLE WE TRUSTED!

If you think you don't know any rape victims it is only because women have not yet trusted you with their stories. The rapists are your fathers, brothers, and sons.

Do not tell me it is not MY (fill-in-the-blank). It most likely is, because RAPE HAS BEEN NORMALIZED. Please wrap your head around that. It is not a guy jumping out of the shadows (most of the time). It is "guys just being guys."

Don't tell me to put "pragmatism before emotion." We are half the human race and we are not going to sit silently by while rapists get rewarded and women have to grin and put up with it.

I will NOT vote for ANYONE who promotes rape culture. Never. Not for any reason.

On edit: corrected for clarity. I am angry and typed some stuff out wrong.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. I hear you, my dear Coventina and I agree with you, always.

[Coventina]

2. My dear CaliforniaPeggy...

Thank you.

[DemocracyMouse]

14. Thank you, and may I suggest...

...that any time Kavanaugh is referenced formally in the media, we refer to him as:

"Supreme Court Justice and alleged serial sexual abuser, Brett Kavanaugh."

(Until there is a proper investigation and all the people who came forward are interviewed and Kavanaugh takes a lie detector test).

[niyad]

21. that works for me. I have been calling him a sexual predator, NOT alleged, because I am thinking

of the written proof --the commentaries in his yearbooks.

[DemocracyMouse]

28. So true. He was manifestly abusive in that yearbook. Journalists could also confidently call him a..

dangerous alcoholic

[lostnfound]

3. I had a friend raped at knifepoint by three men after she kindly stppped to help someone on the road

She survived but I don’t know how. To top it off, they stole her irreplaceable diaries.

[Coventina]

7. .

for her

[volstork]

4. Wish I could rec 1000x

"We are half the human race and we are not going to sit silently by while rapists get rewarded and women have to grin and put up with it."

I'm so sick of this shit, and of how clueless men who are NOT rapists or violent are about rape culture.

[Coventina]

8. Agreed. It is time for "good" men to live up to their qualifier. n/t

[SammyWinstonJack]

5. Nor should you.

[llmart]

6. I would like to add two things.

Not just rape, but attempted rape also. Tie that sucker around Brett's neck every chance we get.

Also, I believe women are more than half the human race in the U.S.

[Coventina]

9. True. Attempting rape is a rapist who didn't succeed THAT PARTICULAR TIME.

They are still a rapist.

[OhNo-Really]

17. In Caifornia, it is still rape by definition. He could have smoothered Christine!

[Haggis for Breakfast]

48. The fact that he PUT HIS HAND OVER HER MOUTH

to muffle her screams, tells me everything I need to know about him.

Then AND now.

[PJMcK]

10. I hear you

Thanks for speaking truth, Coventina.

There's far too much sexual denial in our perverted society.

[wasupaloopa]

11. The rapists are not my father, not my brothers, not me and I have no sons.

Stop broad brushing all men!

Rape is a terrible thing to have happen to you but all men and most men are not rapists!

No one has told me they have been raped. I may know someone who has been raped but they have not told me about it.

[Coventina]

12. I'll stop broad brushing men when they stop raping and enabling rapists. n/t

[Tumbulu]

13. Agree!

[hughee99]

23. Well said! I am considering refusing to vote for ANY man until

Men stop raping and enabling rapists.

[wasupaloopa]

25. Well no one will pay attention to you unless

you speak facts.

[wasupaloopa]

34. You know damn well all men are not rapists

Being truthful is not dramatic

[Coventina]

46. Actually, I don't damn well know that.

Everything life experience has taught me is that men I never would have imagined being a rapist will attempt rape if they think they can get away with it.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

49. And we ALL know that rape is under-reported.

So take what we think - one woman in three - and roll that around for a while.

[Tumbulu]

15. Lucky you, and guess what

since at least one in three women has been raped, you may not be the sort of person people feel comfortable confiding in.

[wasupaloopa]

26. I have had very many relationships in my

72 years.

I am still Facebook friends with my first girl friend and my ex wife. Both are friends with my current wife.

And the majority of them were women picking me not the other way around. That includes my wife of 42 years.

I doubt you would be truthful since you are happy making false assumptions.

How do you expect people to take you seriously when you do that. You don’t know people.

You hurt the cause.

[LanternWaste]

19. While women are raped, you yet rail on about your own oppression as a man.

And this I think, is precisely why the concern is ongoing.

As a male, I can only wish I read broad-brushing into the OP as you did. It would be damned convenient... both ethically and mentally.

But I'm compelled to read the underlying sentiment behind it, rather than maintain some imagined slight against my gender my own bias forces me to perceive.

[wasupaloopa]

30. Well that's you.

[Pacifist Patriot]

22. That you read this as broad brushing all men speaks volumes.

I gather there is a reason no woman has confided in you. What a tone deaf response this was. Shame on you.

[wasupaloopa]

31. That is popular on DU. You make

assumptions about people because they don't join in on the group think.

It is a stupid bullying thing to do.

Shame on you

[Pacifist Patriot]

37. Pointing out your response was off base and tone deaf is bullying?

Your interpretation was wrong and reaction insensitive. If the truth bothers you, perhaps you should contemplate why.

[wasupaloopa]

39. No to everything you just posted

There are a lot of these kind of OP’s on DU.

Most times it conserns racism.

Real victims (I am not discounting the victimhood of the OP) post very overly dramatic words and then everyone joins in the praise of the OP and poster.

All the while the OP in not very factual but it is not meant to be.

It is more for the good vibes the posters get by joining in what I call a group think.

Now if someone like me doesn’t go along with the good vibes thing we are pointed out to be the very ogher the OP is about.

That makes that person pointing out a bully because they are trying to shame the person like me into conforming which we will never do because we don’t run with the herd.

Take time to try and understand what I am saying.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

42. Interesting choice of words--

“Real victims (I am not discounting the victimhood of the OP) post very overly dramatic words and then everyone joins in the praise of the OP and poster.”

REAL victims?
Overly dramatic?
Everyone praises them?

Do you even hear yourself? You sound like you’re overly concerned with getting attention by complaining that everyone is paying attention to someone who’s not you.

[wasupaloopa]

51. Well aren't we very dramatic in calling me dramatic!

[BlancheSplanchnik]

52. I'll just leave that right there. Let folks step around it.

[Coventina]

47. You think I did not mean to be factual?!?!?

I meant every word I said.

Every word is true, I am not lying about my family's experiences with rape.

I am not spewing emotion to get {{{hugs}}}. I am expressing my fury that rapists are STILL REWARDED for their behavior.

[wasupaloopa]

50. It is not true that all men are rapists and

since you refuse to say that you are untruthful.

You are telling half the story. True many women and girls are raped by men. Not true all men are rapists or potential rapists.

The vast majority of us hate rape as much as you do. We have mothers wives, sisters and daughters who we love and never want them to be hurt. We would never hurt the mothers, wives, sisters and daughters of others.

Until you acknowledge that you are untruthful

[Coventina]

54. If men hate rape so much, why hasn't rape culture been eradicated?

Why are 1 in 3 women being raped, if so few men are rapists?

It's not the same five guys running around the country!

Until you acknowledge that YOU are untruthful!

[raccoon]

27. Chances are very very good that you know somebody who has been raped even though they haven't told

You about it.

[wasupaloopa]

32. I agree

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

35. There's absolutely no way you can know that for a fact.

But, the OP was speaking in general factual terms. Men who rape *are* fathers, sons, and brothers. Try to imagine how it feels to be a woman who has been raped and knows many other women who have also been raped, assaulted, or preyed upon. Try to understand how much more they've been hurt by men than you have by someone stating those facts. Try to have some compassion.

Also, know that I won't be reading any reply from you, because it's pretty clear your own sense of victimhood supersedes any sense of compassion you might be capable of.

[Pacifist Patriot]

38. Ridiculous victimization

Calling him out on it is bullying, so I think you hit the nail on the head with that one.

[demigoddess]

41. they are not going to tell you about it. Women don't tell that to most men

maybe husbands, but not others. Almost every woman I have talked to since junior high school, has told me their story. So many that I do not enjoy making new friends. I became a loner. I have my own couple of stories. Once as a toddler and later as a married woman, with a medical professional. He didn't succeed because I protected myself by reading his MO. almost all men have a hard time believing this. They think it is only with sluts, not your sisters, mothers, daughters, nieces. BUT IT IS!!! You just don't like to see it.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

16. Thank you for writing. Learn the power & effectiveness of dispassionate anger.

Without the emotions it is more effective. You can be just as angry and more determined. Easier said than done, but at the least it leads to fewer typos!

Carry on. You are fighting the good fight. Sisters persist and lead the brothers.

[Cigar11]

18. I really do hope you take this the right way ...

A) Its a miracle that you or someone you care about is still alive to tell the story.

B) With that many First & Secondhand contacts with Rape ... I'd invest in a firearm, and rely less on continued Luck.


Until several years ago, I was the type of Progressive Liberal who would never think of owning a Gun. Today; I never leave the house with my Legal CCW. For me, it all started when I witnessed, not (1) one, but (2) two Unarmed Human Beings publicly executed in broad daylight, by Law enforcement officers.

We live in a different World now, and no about of Voting is going to change a mindset that believes they are above the LAW. When I need a second opinion, I will make sure it's backed-up with a 147 grain 9mm impact.

[Coventina]

45. So your solution to the rape problem is for women to shoot their attackers?

So, according to the attacks listed in my OP:

1. My mother would have killed her college boyfriend. At a party.
2. My sister would have killed her friend. At a party.
3. I would have killed a co-worker. At a party. (The other attack was by a stranger, but I was in high school at the time and very unlikely to have had a firearm on me on my bike as I was coming home from school).
4. My friend would have killed multiple friends / boyfriends.

Maybe a better solution is that men stop raping their girlfriends, friends, and co-workers?

[niyad]

20. k and r,. words are completely inadequate, but know that you are not standing, nor angry, alone.

[pecosbob]

24. I'm still freaking angry over the Iran hostage arms deal and the illegal war in Nicaragua

Don't get over it...just never forget.

[LBM20]

29. No one is saying to stop being angry. Just take the anger to the voting booth. And bring friends.

[Turin_C3PO]

36. I hope people here

aren’t telling you to be quiet. The time for silence is over and righteous anger will put us over the top this November.

[Lonestarblue]

40. We need to punish rape appropriately.

Rape is too often treated as a disagreement over sex instead of a violent invasion of a woman’s body. Police departments put rape kits on the shelf, where they sit for decades. Male judges side with the rapist and give them a slap on the wrist (see Brock Turner sentence for being found guilty of rape). Parents excuse their “good boys” for bad behavior by saying it’s just teenagers experimenting with sex and it’s just as much the female’s fault.

I would like to see mandatory classes early in high school about the damaging impact of rape, as well as explicit discussion of “no means no,” and information on how and why young women should report sexual assault and rape. And also discussion of penalties for anyone committing rape— and this includes young men attempting to rape boys. Then penalties need to be enforced. If found guilty of rape, mandatory sentence depending on age. No ability for judges to let a rapist off. A second guilty verdict of rape would result in significant prison time—again mandatory and out of judge’s discretion. There is noth8ng wrong with the maximum sentences already on the books for rape—they just need to be enforced and police need to investigate every case reported. Rape just is not taken seriously in our justice system and that needs to change.

[Scurrilous]

43. K&R

[Initech]

44. The best revenge though? Getting even.

We can make the drunk rapist frat boy bully club irrelevant if we VOTE THEM OUT. And do so in numbers that are too large to manipulate! They must be defeated at all costs!

[Nitram]

53. My wife is a rape victim, and a victim of severe workplace sexual harassment.

Both took place in Tokyo, Japan, where she grew up.