Stand Together

TRIGGER WARNING: RAPE CULTURE

“Well, you just feel like you’re being raped somehow. Raped…It feels like a kind of weird — just weird, man.” — Johnny Depp tells Vanity Fair how much he hates photoshoots.

Dear Johnny,

Big fan over here. Your incredible acting skills and magnetic sex appeal made me fall in love with every single one of your characters–even that lovable, dirty scoundrel Captain Jack Sparrow. So kudos to you!

But, no. Being photographed is not like being raped. At all. I have not been professionally photographed or raped before, but I feel pretty sure about this one. As a general rule, you should just steer clear of rape metaphors. Comparing things that are not rape–such as taxes or health care reformor, um, being photographed–to rape trivializes a crime that is too-often ignored and is just pretty insensitive to the many people who have experienced the unique awfulness of actual rape.

Besides the obvious fact that being photographed is not, actually, a violent crime against your body, this is not even an accurate rape metaphor. Rape is about the lack of consent. If you don’t want to be in a photoshoot, you don’t have to. You’re thehighest-paid actor in Hollywood these days, Johnny! You could forgo the millions of dollars you get paid to do them and just stick to the quick snaps with adoring fans. Yes, many of those fans, like me, will miss the chance to pour over your sexy spreads, but we don’t want you to do something that feels so intrusive to you! Truly.

See, what I think you mean is that being photographed feels like you’re being objectified. Which, of course, you are. And I can see how that might feel “kind of weird” for you, because men aren’t objectified in our culture all that much–at least not to the extent that women are. Except for beautiful, famous movie stars, such as yourself. So I get it. I’ve heard that you’re a very private guy, so it must be totally strange to know that millions of people think you are the sexiest man alive.

I’m not famous, so I have no idea what it’s like to be objectified by millions of strangers. But being objectified by strangers? Definitely. I don’t think I know a woman who hasn’t experienced that–it kinda just comes with the territory. (In this way, it is rather similar to the fear of being raped actually.) The difference is that I don’t make millions off of my objectification; I just continue on with my day. That’s not to say that your feelings aren’t valid. They are! And I would love to discuss the differences and similarities between the ways we’ve both felt objectified over coffee sometime. That sounds like an interesting convo.

But let’s get this straight first: being objectified is not the same as being raped. So let’s just stick to that. Cool?

kthxbai!
Maya

Update: Johnny has issued a very nice apology

: “I am truly sorry for offending anyone in any way. I never meant to. It was a poor choice of words on my part in an effort to explain a feeling. I understand there is no comparison and I am very regretful. In an effort to correct my lack of judgment, please accept my heartfelt apology.”

In response to a string of at least 10 unsolved sexual assaults in Brooklyn, New York police are reportedly stopping women on the street who are wearing clothing they say is revealing and advising them to cover up if they don’t want to be raped. The Wall Street Journal reports on the disturbing message police officers are allegedly spreading:

Lauren, a South Slope resident, was walking home three blocks from the gym on Monday when she was stopped. The 25-year-old, who did not want her last name to be used, was wearing shorts and a T-shirt when she claims a police officer asked if she would stop and talk to him. He also stopped two other women wearing dresses. […]

“He pointed at my outfit and said, ‘Don’t you think your shorts are a little short?‘” she recalled. “He pointed at their dresses and said they were showing a lot of skin.”

He said that such clothing could make the suspect think he had “easy access,” said Lauren. She said the officer explained that “you’re exactly the kind of girl this guy is targeting.”

The New York City Police Department did not deny that officers were stopping women to talk to them about their clothing, but reasoned, “They are simply pointing out that as part of the pattern involving one or more men that the assailant(s) have targeted women wearing skirts.” But however well-intentioned, focusing on women’s choices — rather than the attackers’ — is just another way of blaming potential victims. It’s wrong to suggest that women are responsible for the actions of the attacker, or can somehow control whether they are targeted or raped.

Okay truth time: this is the reason that it has taken me so long to get back to the blog. Infuriating, absurd shit like this is the reason that I was so reluctant to get back in the game of calling people out on their shit.

Can you imagine if the NYPD were going up to rich men on Wall Street and saying, “Excuse me sir, aren’t you FLAUNTING your wealth with that suit? We’ve got a lot of unsolved muggings, why don’t you throw on some sweatpants for christ’s sweet sake”. No, I bet you can’t imagine it, because it’s fucking absurd. Just like this is fucking absurd. Having women wear burlap sacks and only go out in daylight isn’t a real solution to reducing rape. Employing a police force that is competent enough to solve sexual assault cases instead of victim blame is a real solution to reducing rape. If the NYPD isn’t up for it, there are plenty of people in this economy who would be happy to take their place. 

justjasper:

goddessofdorkdom:

christinathena:

TW: Rape

[Image description: An image of Jesus with text on the side reading “A Unplanned Sexual Event is all part of His Plan for you.

I. At immediate conception name your new baby
II. Believe that this blessing has a purpose for you.
III. Repent for having non-spousal relations.
IV. Accept your responsibility with an open heart.
V. Praise Him for this blessing in your life”

End description] 

lucypaw:

[Trigger Warning: Discussion of Rape]

thefremen:

hiohmegan:

This is an actual ad from a Christian church down south.  They are advocating to replace the word “rape” with “unwanted sexual experience”  or U.S.E to decrease people terminating pregnancies due to rape.  This is real, this is not a joke.

File under “additional reasons why I am an atheist”. 

‘Repent for having non-spousal relations.’?  For having been raped?  This is why I despise people like this.

WTF?!  ”Unplanned Sexual Event”?  ”Blessing”?!  ”Repent” for … being raped?  ”Part of His Plan for you”?  So, God wanted you to get raped?  This is disgusting.

 I am so beyond disgusted right now. I was raised Catholic(not anymore) and when I was raped if I had become pregnant I knew I couldn’t have an abortion. I also couldn’t let anyone know what happened. I was only left with one option suicide. Thank God I wasn’t pregnant though.

Nice world we live in where even churches play into rape culture.

This is completely gross, but not an uncommon standpoint from religious dogma.

God hates Papyrus.

cydne-should-be-sleeping:

faunslabyrinth:

emilysavill:

stfuhypocrisy:

[TW FOR RAPE AND VICTIM-BLAMING]

yesmladytron:

It was a couple of weeks after she reported being attacked in the early hours of a cold January morning in 2009 that Layla Ibrahim, then 21, noticed a change in the attitude of the police. Yes, the police had documented the injuries to the back of her head and breasts, the black eye, the bleeding from her vagina. They had listened closely as she described the two strangers who attacked her, how the main perpetrator had worn a Nike hoodie, how she thought she had temporarily lost consciousness after being knocked to the ground, how she had felt a “thud” in her vagina but had no clear recollection of what had happened.

The police had seemed sympathetic as she explained how she tried to fend off her attackers with a pair of blunt scissors, and how the second assailant grabbed hold of them and started cutting her hair. Layla told them how eventually she had made her way home, running and bawling, almost feral with fear. The case quickly became high profile, as the local newspaper reported that the police had set up an incident room staffed by 30-40 officers and described it as “one of the city’s biggest manhunts”.

But a couple of weeks later it was as if the police were investigating an entirely different case, one in which the suspect was Layla herself.

This is just awful beyond words…

I am in tears after reading this. I want to go to her and just hold her hand and tell her that she didn’t do anything wrong and that those 13 months she served were beyond complete utter shit and I am DISGUSTED with the way she was treated and that I live in a world in which people can be treated this way.

Reblogging because a few of you are posting a story that claims she maid it up to punish a friend. Read this. My thoughts are with her.

…If you need me, I’ll be in the angry dome.

[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Professor Farnsworth from the show “Futurama” pacing angrily back and forth in a glass dome. END IMAGE DESCRIPTION.]