“ Eve Ensler, I really want to be with you here. I am over years and years of talking about and being exhausted by rape too. But I gotta say: 1) there is no such thing as a global sisterhood of assault survivors. Things like colonialism and internalized oppression (racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, etc) make it impossible for people to connect, relate, and ally one another. 2) Sexual assault is a gendered crime, but women are not the only survivors. Focusing only on female survivors erases the experiences of trans and gender non conforming and male survivors of violence. 3) Rape is not the same across the world. I’m not sure you can compare rape as a tactic of war and rape in every developing country to the Herman Cain or Penn State scandals. That diminishes the nuanced ways different histories, cultures, policies, economies, etc construct varying forms of rape cultures. Let’s speak for ourselves and our communities, not for all women of the world. Let’s interrogate oppression without alienating those who don’t identify as women. Let’s work to end rape culture by understanding how every individual, ourselves included, participates in these cultures as well.
My sister (!) responding to this Eve Ensler piece. (via iamdrtiller)
(via fuckyeahfeminists)
3 months ago
