This comment by Mary Sunshine to a rather sensationalized article by Anna Greer effectively illustrates why many women (and men) have given up on calling themselves feminist.

Well, yeah - but 99% of the other web-users are anti-feminist, either actively or passively. 99% of all women now would far rather be called bitches, sluts or hos than feminists. Extreme? Well, that’s what I get from my awareness that 99% of all females are of the “I’m a feminist BUT …” or “I’m not a feminist BUT …” or just plain old “I’m not a feminist” persuasion. And I’m not even counting all the women who say “I’m a FEMINIST !!! ” and then proceed to cheer wildly in favour of rape, porn, sadomasochism, etc.etc.

On one hand she laments that many women don't want to be called feminist and in the next breath denounces women who call themselves feminist but don't have the exact same views as her. While some people may resiliently stick to their guns and insist they are feminist and that no single ideology has a monopoly on the term, others will simply say "Oh, okay. I guess I'm not a feminist". I've known quite a few people who fall into the latter category. People who might otherwise have identified as feminists, now entirely estranged from the movement.

Poll #989414
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Due to it's graphic content, should sales of the Bible to those under 18 be banned or restricted?

More than 2,300 Hong Kong residents have lodged complaints about indecent and sexually explicit material in the Bible in a bizarre campaign to restrict sales of the Christian holy book. Hong Kong's publications watchdog has received an avalanche of complaints about tales of incest, rape, cannibalism and violence in the Bible since the website truthbible.net began urging people to file complaints. ... Now the website says it may raise the issue with Hong Kong's public ombudsman on the grounds that the "abnormal sex and violence" described in the Bible is at odds with the moral standards of people in the former British colony. If the campaign succeeds, the Bible could technically have its sales restricted in Hong Kong in the same way that pornographic magazines must be sold in sealed packages and to only those over age 18. The motive for the campaign is unclear. full article

I obviously don't believe the Bible should be censored, but it will be interesting to see how this plays out. At the very least it might be a lesson to the pro-censorship faction of Christians that their own words and logic can be used against them.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer and legislative leaders Thursday announced agreement on a bill that allows for convicted sex offenders to be confined after they complete their prison sentences -- a measure that could affect hundreds of inmates and cost the state more than $80 million a year to carry out, officials said. The still-to-be-introduced legislation -- which must be approved by both houses and signed by the governor -- will create a new system by which mental-health experts would decide at the end of a sexual predator's sentence if an offender is fit to return to the community or should be held in a psychiatric center. full article

What better place to house violent sex offender than with heavily drugged mentally ill folk who are undoubtedly aware that no pays attention anything they say. Wouldn't a better plan be to actually keep violent sex offenders in prison? They claim these sex offenders are a risk to the public, but apparently putting at risk mental patients (who've often committed no crime) is not a concern because "crazies" aren't people.

Under this new law, in New York you will be drugged and locked up with a mass of outgoing convicted sex offenders if you say the wrong thing to a therapist or psychiatrist. The safest option if you live in the State of New York: never under any circumstance say anything to a therapist or psychiatrist.

A 50-year-old woman filed a federal lawsuit against Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center yesterday, saying she was forcibly undressed by five male security guards there last year after she refused a nurse's order to take off her clothes. The incident, which hospital officials have defended as necessary to make sure the woman was not hiding drugs or weapons, triggered flashbacks to childhood sexual abuse, according to the woman, Cassandra Sampson. She alleged in the suit that her civil rights were violated under the Americans with Disabilities Act, because hospital officials made no effort to protect her from psychological damage. Sampson said she went to the hospital for treatment of a severe migraine headache, but was moved to a psychiatric unit when she admitted struggling with self-destructive impulses. She said she pleaded to be allowed to keep at least her pants on before the strip search, but the nurse refused. ``Go ahead and rape me; everybody else has," Sampson said she cried out as the guards unbuckled her pants and removed them. ``They left me there with my underwear showing and my johnny up to my chest . . . I was crying, and [the nurse] said, `That's what you get for not listening to me.' " In a letter to Sampson, hospital officials said they were sorry she had such a terrible experience, but stood by their strict policy of searching psychiatric patients for their own benefit. ... A spokeswoman at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester said the hospital never asks psychiatric patients to undress on arrival. If they suspect the patient may be dangerous, security guards perform a clothed pat-down search. Dr. Maggie Bennington-Davis led a successful effort to stop strip searches of psychiatric patients at Salem Hospital in Oregon in 2003. ``We can't be hauling people in here and be doing more harm to them," she said. ``It's very clear that a strip search retraumatizes them." ... Sampson hadn't intended to go to Beth Israel's emergency room on March 25, 2005, according to the lawsuit. But it was a weekend, and her primary care physician said the ER would be the best place to get help for severe migraine headaches that had persisted for three days. However, as soon as Sampson told a nurse that she took psychiatric medications and that she had been battling impulses to hurt herself that week, the nurse said she would need a psychiatric evaluation. Nurse Heather A. Richter then told Sampson that she would need to completely undress, according to the lawsuit. full article

This is absolutely disgusting. How in the world could Beth Israel's staff think it was in any way appropriate to have 5 male security guards rip off a woman's clothing? This story not only illustrates the dangers of being admitted into psych hospital for victims of sexual assault or abuse, it also illustrates the dangers of telling the wrong person about your feelings and thoughts. Note that Sampson only had thoughts of self harm, not suicide. Her life was NOT at risk. Psych wards are at most about safety nowadays. She did not need the babysitting of a hospital and she definitely did not need to be further traumatized. It was only a panicky nurse that caused her to end up there, this did not need to happen at all.

There is a difference between suggesting people take steps to keep themselves safe and blaming the victim.

There is a difference between the way things are and the way things should be.

There is a difference between people who say "you wore slutty clothing, so it's your fault you got raped" and people who say "keep an eye on your drink".

There is a difference between vigilance and paranoia.

There is a difference between the belief that people who rape are unlikely to willingly stop doing it and the belief that women are responsible for rape.

It is the criminals responsibility not to be criminals. People should not be telling us that we need a police force, airport security, or anti-virus software. What they need to be doing is telling the criminals this:

If you're walking by an unlocked car, don't steal it.
If someone leaves their front door unlocked, don't rob them.
If someone leaves their notebook computer unattended, don't steal it.
If someone has an nice watch, don't rob them.
If someone is stopped at a red light, don't carjack them.
If you are on a airplane, don't blow it up.
If you are riding the subway, don't blow it up.
If you are riding the bus, don't blow it up.
If you write computer programs, don't write a virus.
If you've hacked into a system, don't delete any files.
If you work for a bank, don't steal people's account numbers.
If you are near a school, don't sell drugs to kids.
If you are in the mob, don't kill people.
If you are a serial killer, don't kill people.
If someone annoys you, don't beat the crap out of them
If your partner dumps you, don't murder them and their family before you kill yourself.
If you are the head of a large corporation, don't raid your employees pension fund.
If someone looks like an easy mark, don't defraud them.
If you can't afford your next fix, don't mug someone in an alley.
If you are driving, don't speed.
If you make money, don't evade taxes.
If you are a criminal, don't break the law.

Once this meme gets sufficiently passed around LiveJournal, we will have no more crime.

To everyone of every gender:

• Do not leave your drinks unattended while out. Furthermore, do not leave any belongings you do not want stolen and/or tampered with unattended while out.


• Lock your door, especially if you live alone.


• Minimize the amount of time you spend alone outdoors in isolated locations in and around populated areas. If you must be in such an environment, be as aware as possible of your surroundings. Trust your instincts and stay alert.


• Be aware of the openings and closing of businesses in any area you frequent. Knowing what places are both safe and open can save your life.


• If at all possible, only do alcohol and other intoxicating drugs around people you know and trust. If you feel at all sketchy about the setting, do not get completely wasted.


• If you can, keep someone (friend, family, or partner) informed of your plans and location.


• Develop a plan or strategy to deal with any disaster that has a foreseeable reasonable possibility of befalling you. This means planning what to do if you are attacked, mugged, your house catches on fire, you lose your job and cannot pay your rent/mortgage, you have a medical emergency, etc. Even if the plan or strategy you come up with is not ideal, having a less than ideal plan in hand is better than having none at all.

Pass it on.

I've really got to learn to stay away from triggery debates in livejournal communities, at least for the time being. It can cause a cascade of mental issues.

I just proactively banned all members of the following communities from my journal and all communities that I run:

( list of communities, some names contain offensive slurs )

I also went ahead and added all the new members of rapists_unite to the banning fun.

I just used mail merge to proactively ban all members of rapists_unite from this journal and all the communities that I maintain. I may do this with other nasty gatherings of assholes I come across as well.

Dear LiveJournal user neitherday, Thank you for your report. We will require that the icon be set as non-default, and that the inappropriate image be removed from the userinfo. Please note that both of these images are allowable on LiveJournal; they are inappropriate only in certain locations, such as the userinfo page, or set as a default icon. Regards, Ruth LiveJournal Abuse Team

At least this is something. Not much, but something. I have no more energy to devote to this issue.

A response. Someone actually read what I said, and responded!

Although we cannot, for confidentiality reasons, explain in detail any case involving the "antirape" community, it is not permissible for a community to serve as a place to promote, incite, or organize illegal activities. We are aware that many users find the "rapists_unite" community to be crass, tasteless, inappropriate, and, most certainly, expressing an utter disregard for the rights of others, the community does not to our knowledge promote, incite, or organize illegal activities. Stating that one wishes to be a rapist or wishes to rape someone, however, is not comparable to the promotion, incitement, or organization of such an act.

Apparently a community that states it is for rapists and that glorifies rape and belittles victims doesn't incite rape. Interesting. Without knowing the details of the abuse correspondences about antirape, it seems impossible to effectively dispute their judgment on either issue. A new angle is needed.

Conveniently enough, glamourcide just provided that new angle: the recently updated community profile of rapists_unite. That new profile might do them in. Considering very recent precedents set, I think the update may be enough to get them suspended. I really don't see how abuse can't act now, although I won't be too surprised if they still don't.

Taking this new angle, I have submitted a new report.

The profile of rapists_unite has recently been updated. The new icon for rapists_unite depicts a woman being threatened with a gun. A picture in the profile depicts someone bound and the wording on the graphic image makes it clear they are about to be raped.

Surprise, surprise. I got the form response that everyone else who mentioned rapists_unite has gotten. This is starting to feel like déjà vu.

Dear LiveJournal user neitherday, While we understand and appreciate the frustration you feel, please allow us to briefly explain our position in this matter. In order for us to take any action against this community, the content would need to be instructional material clearly designed to facilitate the promotion of illegal activities. While the material is distasteful, we cannot take any action. The content falls within the realm of material protected by free speech. LiveJournal attempts to preserve as much free speech as possible for its users, as long as that speech does not cross the line into invading another's privacy, violating local or federal law, or directly inciting violence or hatred against any specific, identifiable group regardless of whether that group is explicitly named in our Terms of Service. The content of the community in question does not meet that criteria at this time. We do appreciate your concern in this matter and we apologize that we are unable to assist you further. Please do feel free to contact us should you have any additional questions or concerns. Regards, LiveJournal Abuse Team

My reply was simple and to the point.

You didn't address what I said at all. Please read it this time. I wanted to know exactly why users in antirape were told that they cannot even imply that they would like to take revenge on their rapists, but uses in rapists_unite can out right say they'd like to rape people.

I submitted the following question to LiveJournal abuse. I wonder how they will answer.

I would like to know exactly why users in antirape were told that they cannot even imply that they would like to take revenge on their rapists, but uses in rapists_unite can out right say they'd like to rape people.

I anticipate that they will not actually read it, and instead simply send me a form response. I felt I did have to say something to them however.

Why is hate speech a problem in online forums? Why do I get upset about it? Why do I not tolerate it in any of the online forums I run? Because hate speech and attacks on specific individuals and on specific groups are often and regularly used to systematically exclude certain populations from the discussion. I guess people could just "suck it up", some people do, for a while at least. Most people of the selected groups however realize that participating in the forum is not worth the mental abuse and stress of the constant attacks. Even in the cases where a user stays for a while, the constant attacks, often lauded by others in the forum, eliminates any respect and impact the target's words may receive. They are effectively silenced. While many of these forums claim to be open, by allowing this sort of activity they are in fact not. They are closed forums that allow in prey occasionally.

I have noticed that only traditionally oppressed groups are expected to "suck it up" in these supposedly "open forums". Try saying anything negative about, for example, straight people, and you will instantly get a barrage of "reverse discrimination", "just as bad as any other form of prejudice" or "not all straight people are like that" from the very same people who are constantly telling you to "suck it up". They can dish it out, but they can't take it.

The people who frequent these "open forums" complain wildly about any forum that doesn't allow them to air their hate. They claim their free speech is violated because they cannot evict by harassment any groups they do not like. The very same people who state "if you don't like it, start your own forum" are the ones who will complain that your forum doesn't also exclude you. They will go to great lengths to try to harass the forums, making many have to moderate posts and screen people who want to join the forum. These actions alone result in a diminishing of both membership and post volume, further dampening the voices of those who need the forum.

On the rare occasion I venture into some of the notorious "open forums" here on LiveJournal, I use one of two "fake" accounts. In these "open forums" I cannot give any details about my life experience. Nor do I feel comfortable even being there, but at least I can say something when I feel it is very necessary. Essentially, as long as I am completely closeted about being bisexual, a female feminst, transgendered, mentally ill, and a rape victim I can participate in the community without being constantly bullied until I leave, because it's "open to everyone".

I thought pro-ana communities like 0_thinspiration were bad enough. But at least those communities only advocate members harming themselves. Apparently now LiveJournal abuse sees no problems with pro-rape communities. I am pissed off beyond, well beyond. I can't believe that that community is allowed on LiveJournal. The LiveJournal abuse team (and maybe SixApart itself) must bear a portion of the responsibility for any violence that is perpetrated as a result of, under the advise of, or encouraged by that community.

Where is Hothead when you need her?

from not_you
Teeth where it matters

i want to do acid
acid has always been great therapy for me
it was my therapy before i was brave enough to seek out psych professionals
sure, i freak out a little bit sometimes
have wicked bad trauma flashbacks or get caught in nasty loops
i get really switchy and lose time
but as a good friend of mine stated, acid is for freaking out sometimes
it's okay to freak out
it's actually helpful
i really want some again
i've learned so much on my trips
but i haven't been able to get it in years
it's been far too long since i visited tripland
i want to go back there
soon