Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

suspended in her jar

Home
Catholic
how dare those emotional, sissified women distract us with their hysterics over sexual assault

how dare those emotional, sissified women distract us with their hysterics over sexual assault

Last updated on: October 20, 2016 at 11:36 pm by Rebecca Bratten Weiss

how dare those emotional, sissified women distract us with their hysterics over sexual assault 2016-10-20T23:36:28-04:00 Rebecca Bratten Weiss

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Quite a few women have accused Trump of sexual assault. According to his statement in the debate last night, they must just be seeking attention:

I believe, Chris, she got these people to step forward. If it wasn’t, they get their ten minutes of fame, but they were all totally — it was all fiction. It was lies and it was fiction.

I dislike the term “rape culture” because there is nothing cultured about rape – but, talk like Trump’s is exactly why victims of sexual assault are afraid to speak up; this mentality is very convenient for any institutions or organizations seeking to cover up assault to save their reputations, too. And, unfortunately, this mentality is extremely common.

I recently made the point that ordinary decent men don’t go around bragging about groping women. But a lot of guys, unfortunately, are revealing themselves to be exactly the kind of “normal man” Trump’s defenders have in mind. “It’s just locker room talk,” we’ve heard, ad nauseam. Or this is “the way men talk when they actually have testosterone.” Men tell us to chill out and lighten up. I’ve even had men attack me verbally for daring to call sexual assault what it is, and for daring to think it a big deal.

The message is generally: toughen up , women. Stop being so emotional! Defend yourselves, or stop complaining.

I don’t suppose it occurs to them that one way we defend ourselves is by political action, by raising awareness on social media, and by keeping sexual predators out of positions of power? To my mind, this is a more logical approach than waiting to be assaulted, and then seeing how far my second amendment rights can take me. I’m a Christian as well as a feminist, after all, and I don’t want to a) harm anyone; b) encourage cultures that enable sin.

Oops, I forgot. I’m not capable of being logical! After all, we women are just emotional, hyper-sensitive whiners. Michael Voris, macho-man extraordinaire, over at Church Militant, is here to tell me just how sissified and emotional we are.

Women voters care more about Trump being mean and bullying than they do about Hillary being a criminal. It seems like her being a pathological liar should elicit at least the same emotional response from women as Trump’s alleged actions.

But no. The culture has become so sissified and feminized and emotion-driven that the only thing that matters, even more than truth, is your feelings.

Do you get this? Sexual assault is just being “mean and bullying.” Objecting to it is just being “sissified.” We really ought to control our feelings more, when men come up and grope us. Let’s see that feminine genius for submission, ladies!

And then this bit:

The great sissification, feminization that has overtaken the Church and the nation as a whole is shortly going to come back and bite us very hard. The whole culture, the national culture and the Church culture, is severely out of balance. All that is authentically masculine is rejected out of hand, and all that is feminine is celebrated and glorifie (sic), even when it is evil.

I’m not sure Voris has any idea of “feminine” that isn’t co-extensive with “evil,” to hear him rant. I’m also not sure he gets out much, since last I saw the masculinity politics of militarism and dominance are very much in evidence in pop culture and public policy.

I’d like to point out to Voris et al that this thing we’re supposed to put up with, this thing to which we’re hysterically over-reacting, is something that women face every single day – from the fear of date-rape, to sexual manipulation at work, to marital rape and abuse, to being harassed on the street, to being unable to enjoy a night out without some asshole ruining it, to being jumped by a stranger, and so on. Take a look at some stats on the topic. One in five women will be raped in her lifetime. 63% of sexual assaults are never reported to the police. You don’t even know how many women you’re talking to, when you make casual jokes about assault, are silent victims themselves. Women suffer sexual violence and in many cases go on with their lives, hiding the pain away, trying to channel it into safer courses, maybe only telling a few friends.

Yet in male discourse, the prospect of being raped is held up as the worst possible thing that could happen to one, the ultimate punishment for the vilest offenders. “Wait til he gets what’s coming to him in prison,” people say. Being overpowered by someone bigger and stronger, by someone you find revolting – having ones genitals grabbed, violated, used: the ultimate terror for violent criminals facing prison. And something women are supposed to just deal with, I suppose, as part of the natural order of things. Well, we are dealing with it. We’re fighting it, opposing it – even though, as it turns out, some men would rather we just shut up and let them enjoy their little fantasies that this is all perfectly normal.

I am reminded of Germaine Greer: “Women have very little idea of how much men hate them.”

Well, we’re beginning to be aware of how much some men do.

Tell me again that we’re sissified?

Previous Post

October 20, 2016

should you fear a clinton presidency because of the supreme court?

Next Post

October 27, 2016 intersectional feminism and the new prolife movement

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion anti-semitism art Atwood Betrothed church clergy abuse coronavirus culture economics education environmentalism ethics faith family feminism gardening gun violence immigration Judaism literature MaddAddam New Pro Life Movement news pandemic personalism poem politics politics blue Pope Francis racism religion salvation sexuality social justice spirituality Station eleven Stephen King The Stand Trump Uncategorized war World Health Organization

Select a Month March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What city is considered the holiest in Christianity?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Jerusalem Bethlehem Nazareth Rome

Support this
Column