A Fan Letter to Certain Conservative Politicians

[babylonsister]

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/10/25/a-fan-letter-to-certain-conservative-politicians/

A Fan Letter to Certain Conservative Politicians
October 25, 2012
By John Scalzi 511 Comments

WARNING: this post is going to be oh-so-very-triggery for victims of rape and sexual assault. I am not kidding.

Dear certain conservative politicians:

Hi! I’m a rapist. I’m one of those men who likes to force myself on women without their consent or desire and then batter them sexually. The details of how I do this are not particularly important at the moment — although I love when you try to make distinctions about “forcible rape” or “legitimate rape” because that gives me all sorts of wiggle room — but I will tell you one of the details about why I do it: I like to control women and, also and independently, I like to remind them how little control they have. There’s just something about making the point to a woman that her consent and her control of her own body is not relevant against the need for a man to possess that body and control it that just plain gets me off. A guy’s got needs, you know? And my need is for control. Sweet, sweet control.

So I want to take time out of my schedule to thank you for supporting my right to control a woman’s life, not just when I’m raping her, but for all the rest of her life as well.

Ah, I see by your surprised face that you at the very least claim to have no idea what I’m talking about. Well, here’s the thing. Every time you say “I oppose a woman’s right to abortion, even in cases of rape,” what you’re also saying is “I believe that a man who rapes a woman has more of a right to control a woman’s body and life than that woman does.”

snip//

As for the kid, well, oddly enough, most women I rape want nothing to do with me afterward, so it’s not like I will have to worry about child support or any other sort of responsibility… unless of course I decide that I haven’t taught that woman a big enough lesson about who’s really in control of her life. Did you know that 31 states in this country don’t keep rapists from seeking custody or visitation rights? How great is that? That’s just one more thing she has to worry about — me crawling out of the woodwork to remind her of what I did, and am continuing to do, to her life.

Look how much control you want to give me over that woman! I really can’t thank you enough for it. It warms my heart to know no matter how much I rape, or how many women I impregnate through my non-consensual sexual battery, you have my back, when it comes to reminding every woman I humiliate who is actually the boss of her. It’s me! It’s always been me! You’ll make sure it’ll always be me. You’ll see to that.

I am totally voting for you this election.

Yours,

Just Another Rapist.

P.S.: I love it when you say that you “stand for innocent life” when it comes to denying abortions in cases of rape! It implicitly suggests that the women I rape are in some way complicit in and guilty of the crimes I commit on top of, and inside of, their bodies! Which works out perfectly for me. Keep it up!

No, seriously, keep it up.

– JAR

[LiberalLoner]

1. People think they just don't understand their policies hurt women. I keep saying, they don't CARE.

They quite literally don't think of us as human. I know this because I grew up in a patriarchal family. The only people who mattered were the ones at the top of the heirarchy - the men.

To give an example: My father got arrested for domestic abuse because his stepdaughter turned him in. After witnessing her mother being beaten many times by my drunken father.

Was my father ashamed of his behavior and arrest? No way! He didn't do anything wrong, he was just trying to control his wife, that's all! He was completely shocked that anyone would arrest him, he figured for sure the authorities would be on HIS side!

His only emotion was to express how terrible a person he thought his stepdaughter was. The NERVE of that girl, turning him in! Telling on him and disobeying the patriarchy!

Like Andrew Vachhs (sp?) always says, there is NO Taboo against incest/rape in our society. The Taboo is against TALKING about it or trying to STOP it.

That is what the patriarchy is all about. Women as slaves. As property.

They don't care that women are harmed by these policies because why should they care if a cow or two dies? If a piece of property of some man dies from this or is harmed, well, then, maybe that man can fight for her, but otherwise, if the man doesn't care enough to fight for her and protect her, she doesn't matter.

I really GET this on a deep, visceral level.

It is a waste of time and effort to talk to these people about the harm to women. THEY. DO. NOT. CARE.

P.S. Until the 1950's rape was defined as a crime against property - the property of a father or a husband. No such thing as marital rape because the wife belonged to the husband, was his property. This is what the repukes want to take us back to. And might succeed in doing, too.

[We People]

3. Excellent points. The anti-abortion stance was adopted as a wedge issue - a tool to WIN.

We all know that winning means dominating with money and power. They want to dominate other people in somewhat the same way that a rapist does, and it's just a point along the scale of dominance, conquest, and control. The rapist just does it more directly instead of through policy.

For the past decade, it's become clear that the corporatist/fascist movement is being brought about by psychopaths within industry and politics. Just to add a little to what you wrote very well, they want to achieve total control because they cannot really live or co-exist with other people. To them, frail and vulnerable people are there to be used or abused and not worthy of respect. The masses who vote for politicians of this ilk believe they will benefit in exchange for their votes, but they'll be betrayed in the end. This dynamic was illustrated prophetically by the Lonesome Rhodes character in "A Face in The Crowd." He was a user with contempt for his common-folk fans and even for those in power who had become his peers.

For some, the "no exceptions" stance toward abortion may once have been ideological or religious to begin with, and used in wedge politics. But what you've astutely observed is that, for many who insist on including this stance, it has become one more tool for dominance, contempt, and control. Not as just a tool to win, but one of the goals of winning: POWER. Or it could be stated that the anti-abortion issue is not the means to an end, but a part of the actual end itself.

What do they want? FREEDOM to live in their own empires with unlimited power, while limiting the freedoms and diminishing the power of others whom they use and dominate in order to run their empires.

[lsewpershad]

2. Every republican need to read this.

[babylonsister]

4. Sadly, they could not care less. nt