Rihanna

[changeyourstars8]

ficangel has one of the best posts I've seen about the whole mess and the slew of "OMG she soooo had it coming!!" bullshit that's sprung up around it.

It doesn't matter if you do your very damnedest to not be her, to be quiet, to be good, to not make a fuss, to be thin, to be chaste, to be a good mother, to keep a clean house, to not break a single one of the eggshells that you walk on every single day. It doesn't matter; it's not about you. If he's going to hit you (if he's already hit you), he's going to do it no matter what you do.

Most of you on my flist have been around long enough to know my general opinion on matters such as this. For those of you who are new--

I do not tolerate victim-blaming. EVER. If you read up on this story or others like it and your first instinct is to scoff about how she must've provoked him and he never would've done it if she hadn't been a slut/too mouthy/such a bitch; if your response is to say, "Well, I'm not trying to blame the victim, but" or if you think, "Well, she must be exaggerating"; if you believe Team Chris icons are cute and shirts saying "Rihanna deserved it" are funny . . . then kindly remove yourself from my flist. Thank you. ((I sincerely hope this didn't need to be said, but once in a while people surprise me.))

Comments

[ficangel.livejournal.com]

Oh, fuck, the "well, if she hadn't worn that" excuse. I've seen men wearing clothing that just makes me want to nibble on them. (And there's probably a post about the different ways in which women and men objectify each other, because sometimes I wonder.) I managed to restrain myself, because, gosh, I am not a sexual predator. Didn't even break a sweat doing it. Likewise, I have a dress that I have to constantly be careful in and wear thick leggings under, because it's made of sweater material that, yes, has a tendency to leap up. No one has ever made an untoward gesture towards me while I wore it. The last time that I was sexually harassed in public? Tank top, jeans, leather jacket, and not a speck of makeup on my face.

[allthelivesofme.livejournal.com]

*nods* I remember I wrote an essay a while back talking about how if it's actually the clothing that matters, I never would've gotten harassed when I was wearing my husband's bulky coat, hair soaking wet, no makeup. It's not the clothes, it's the chance to intimidate and power-trip; the assholes just use the "But look how she was dressed! I couldn't help myself!" excuse because they know that way. too. many. other people will go, "Well, she was kinda dressed like a slut, wasn't she?"