***Profanity Alert--I'm pissed****
I'm certain by now that most of you have heard about the Taylor Swift groping trial that is going on in Denver. (If not, you can brush up here .) But, if you are like me you probably didn't know anything about it until last week, even though the incident in question happened 4 years ago. And how did I learn about it? Oddly enough, it was through my local classic rock radio station on the way to the gym one morning. The morning show DJ's were on, doing their thing, and one of them brought up that the trial would be starting. Now, these guys go by Mark and NeanderPaul and I am not sure which one was talking, but he prefaced the "news" with a statement about how they don't play Taylor's music, but that this was a big deal because she is so famous, etc., He then gave an overview of the incident, firing of the DJ, lawsuit, countersuit, etc.
There must have been a look on the other DJ's face while he was doing all this talking, but since it's radio I don't really know. When he finished he said to the other guy something like "What do you think about this?"
And that's when it happened.....
The asshole actually said--
"Well, I'm just trying to think...does Taylor Swift even have a grabbable ass? I mean, is it an ass anyone would grab?"
Before I go any further, please allow me to say FUCK YOU to both Mark and NeanderPaul.
Fuck you to which ever one of you said it
and
Fuck you to the other one, who just laughed along and did nothing to correct it.
You want to know why women get so angry over these things? You want to know why it seems like the feminists are up in arms over rape culture all the time? Here you go. This is a perfect example.
Some assholes on the radio in Phoenix have decided that there is no problem with going ahead and determining the merit of Taylor Swift's complaint that she was sexually assaulted by passing judgement on the look of her ass. And let me be clear...the tone of his voice indicated that he felt some doubt about the worthiness of her ass.
There are so many things wrong with this that it's almost impossible to address.
Do men only assault and rape super sexy women? Women, who by these losers standards, are much more attractive than Taylor Swift? If that were the case then we would be in good shape since she was named Maxim's #1 of the Hot 100 of 2015. Surely, if she's not sexy enough to be assaulted than the rest of us are safe too. No other woman in the world will ever be groped again. Of course, that isn't how it works, is it? And yet they felt no compunction about sitting in their little broadcast booth and spewing that kind of garbage to everyone who was listening. Every man, every teenager, every kid in his parents car.
The implication was clear......you should only believe a woman's claims if you look her over physically and find her attractive enough to be assaulted. Otherwise, she's probably lying. It's the same shit you hear constantly in various forms. It is a close cousin to things like-
"What was she wearing?"
"Was she drunk?"
"How many men has she had sex with before?"
"Was she nice to you?"
So let me help out Mark, NeanderPaul and anyone and everyone else who thinks like they do, with some actual facts from the National Sexual Violence Resource Center and Rape Response Services Online.
* 1 in 5 women will be the victim of rape in their lifetimes
* Nearly 1 in 2 women will be the victim of a sexual assault in their lifetimes
* 17.7 million women in the United States have been victims or rape or attempted rape in
their lifetimes.
* In 8 out of 10 cases of rape the victim knew the person who assaulted them
* 91% of the victims of rape and sexual assault are women.
* More than 90% of sexual assault victims on college campuses do not report their assault
* 63% of sexual assaults are not reported
* The prevalence of false reporting is between 2% - 10%
Read those last 2 again.
And all those women? The ones in college who don't report it? The 1 in 2 sexually assaulted in their lifetime? They are the wives, daughters, sisters and mothers of people like Mark and NeanderPaul.
And some of them were in their 40's and 50's, not just their 20's. Some of them were overweight. Some were not wearing make-up and didn't have their hair done. Some of them were not what would be considered "traditionally attractive," let alone super sexy.
And yet....they were assaulted anyway. To imply anything else is irresponsible, disrespectful and very, very, wrong.
So it bears repeating-
Fuck you Neanderpaul
Fuck you Mark
Fuck you KSLX
FUCK YOU
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHere is what was *actually* said re: Ms. Swift:
ReplyDeleteI think you'll find that you have our position on the matter a bit confused. We couldn't be more outraged by this jerk's behavior. And find Ms. Swift's grace and courage under a horrible situation to be nothing short of celebrated. Enjoy listening, and again. Thank you to whomever made us aware of this blog. We hate nothing more than to be misinterpreted.
Sincerely,
Neanderpaul
Mark & Neanderpaul
KSLX-FM
Paul,
DeleteWhile I appreciate your comment, there are several readily apparent issues with it. First off, when you say this is what was *actually* said, you are implying that I am somehow totally wrong about what was said. The morning show segment you linked to was from this morning, as evidenced by Mark say "she was on the stand yesterday." I clearly state that the segment I am referencing took place last week. Now, I'll admit that I don't know the exact day, but I assure you it was NOT today. You are referencing 2 completely different broadcasts on 2 completely different days in an attempt to try and produce "evidence" that I did not hear what I heard. Also, the fact that you took this creep to task today for what he did and cheered on Taylor Swift DOES NOT IN ANY WAY negate the fact the first comment out of your mouth on a prior broadcast was to question the "grabability" of Taylor Swift's ass. I did not misinterpret what you said, I did not misunderstand what you said. If you do not want to be known as a person who says those kind of things, THEN DON'T SAY THEM.
With all due respect, my point is this; you took a benign statement, and equated it with an endorsemnt of rape culture. Was there a comment related to Taylor Swift's rear end, made days ago? Perhaps. I'll grant you that we have objectified women on occasion in the name of humor. We've also made it clear that we're doing so.
ReplyDeleteTo take an admittedly juvenile recognition of the fact that Taylor Swift is skinny, and try to paint us as somehow victim shaming, is simply inaccurate. You've presented statements, and attributed a mindset to us, that simply does not, has not, and will not ever exist. None of your suppositions were ever expressed. We never blamed her in any way for the actions of her assailant. We *may* have commented on the perceived allure of her posterior at some point. You've chosen to,subjectively connect that with a myriad of false assumptions, accusations, and endorsement of the event in question. I think it's quite clear, based on the presented audio, how we feel about the situation at hand. I will not deny, or attempt to refute whatever comment *may* have been made about Taylor Swift's ass. I don't think that statement is any more offensive than the idea that you'd cite Maxim magazine as a legitimate supporting document to your opinion in the contrary.
You're mad at a comment that was, in no way, what you claim it to be. We can provide multiple examples of our position on the matter. But...it won't make a difference. You'll remain mad. Taylor Swift is an intelligent, talented, successful woman. She's also skinny. We may have acknowledged that. We *at no time* advocated, endorsed, or justified the actions of the sub-human who assaulted her. To imply anything to the contrary, in your own words, is just wrong. However, rather than attack your character, and demean you as you have us, I'll thank you for reading, respect your right to disagree with our point-of-view, and wish you all the best. I thank you for reading, and hope you enjoy your weekend. Perhaps, when your anger subsides, you'll reconsider your aggression toward us. If not, that's fine too. We know what kind of people we are. We know what we stand for. And it's nowhere near what you purport it to be.
Best,
Neanderpaul
Mark & Neanderpaul
Whether you mean to send a message or not is irrelevant because when you mock a woman's body in a conversation about her sexual assault in an attempt to generate laughs, the message is sent, like it or not. And if the day ever comes when I do not find that completely offensive and I am not angered by that, it will be a sad day indeed.
Delete