“To get into the best society nowadays, one has either to feed people, amuse people, or shock people” -Oscar Wilde

Allecto, who has moved from LiveJournal to WordPress, wrote a post called “A Rapist’s View of the World: Joss Whedon and Firefly.” She (as if the title doesn’t explain it) essentially finds Firefly to be a total misogynist piece of crap. I realize this post (and her subsequent posts) is old, but I’m in a rage-y mood today and have a few things to say about this shit.

She starts out by saying

“I find much of Joss Whedon’s work to be heavily influenced by pornography, and pornographic humour.”

Well, frankly, I find much of your work to be lacking in things called “evidence” and “facts” and “sanity.” But read on.

This is how I know there is no chance to reason with her.

“So in the very second scene of the very first episode, an episode written and directed by the great feminist Joss, a white man tells a black woman to ‘shut up’ for no apparent reason. And she does shut up. And she continues to call him sir. And takes his orders, even when they are dumb orders, for the rest of the series.”

He’s the captain of the ship, of course she calls him sir. And of course she takes his orders. HE’S THE FUCKING CAPTAIN. Apparently, fictionalized stories can’t explore plot lines in which a woman is ever subordinate to a man. Yes, that would be insane.

The author reveals why she really hates this show later in the post.

“Let me just say now that I have never personally known of a healthy relationship between a white man and a woman of colour….I grew up watching my great aunts, my aunty and my mother all treated like shit by their white husbands, the men they loved. So you will forgive me for believing that the character, Wash, is a rapist and an abuser, particularly considering that he treats Zoe like an object and possession.”

No, I won’t forgive you. You’re letting your personal, anecdotal evidence (however terrible it may be) pass judgment. By that logic, any man that’s ever dealt with a woman who is psychotic should be allowed to hate all women. Good plan.

I’m not arguing that “Firefly” or any of Joss Whedon’s works are fantastic examples of female empowerment. I do find it rather irritating that this author is choosing to lambaste a television show and its creator as “misogynist”, when that television show’s most powerful character is a woman (River). Or has a woman in a male dominated profession (Kaylee) who is a fucking mechanical genius and demonstrates it by humiliating the former (male) mechanic and getting him fired.

Of course, you’d have to watch all of it to know that, not just cherry pick things you can take out of context.

“Wherever you come near the human race there’s layers and layers of nonsense.” -Thorton Wilder

I know I’m super-late to the drama-Bahamas on this one, but I still feel the need to stick my two cents in.

Brit wrote a piece about being assaulted in a nightclub and someone named Taylor felt the need to write an entire piece in response. Taylor tells Britni to “take personal responsibility for [her] own actions.” According to Taylor, “…if [her] body is being groped, used, assaulted, grabbed, handled or otherwise touched without [her] permission as often as [she says], it would seem that [she is] doing something to provoke it.”

The background to this story is that Brit was dancing with a guy at a club who developed an erection. She became uncomfortable with this and walked away. After that, the guy “came up behind me and full on tried to penetrate me under my dress.”

The title of Taylor’s post is “So Yeah, It’s Your Body. But Are You Sending The Wrong Message?” I infer from that that Taylor thinks that Brit was “sending the wrong message” to this guy and that the guy’s actions were in response to this message.

Let’s rewind back to the night. Britni is dancing with a guy. He develops an erection. She leaves. Taylor, in the comments of the post, says “If one truly wants to avoid certain things, they take the necessary steps to keep them from happening.”

What steps? Are you suggesting that this wouldn’t have happened if Brit have pushed the guy away and said “Get the fuck off me!” ? Perhaps. Or maybe the guy would have shot her. Who knows?

Instead, for whatever reason, Brit avoids confrontation and walks away. Now, you seem to be saying that the guy had some indication Brit was still interested; that this guy’s behavior was justified by something that Brit did. I tend to assume that if someone just walks away from me, they aren’t interested, but perhaps you see the world differently. What rights are you implying Brit granted him by dancing with him and then walking away? Because he has touched her once, he’s allowed to touch her again? Because they danced before, it’s reasonable for him to assume that he can wrap his arms around her? And where do these conferred rights end? He’s only allowed to touch her in the club that night? What about the next night? Or the street in front of the club? Or the diner a few blocks away?

Taylor goes on to say that “No woman deserves to be treated like a whore, however is she happens to be wearing the uniform…” What’s the whore uniform, Taylor? Women get raped in Saudi Arabia, where they are required to where an abaya. Do you considered them to be “wearing the uniform?”

What you’re saying is that if I wear a short skirt out, I deserve to be treated differently than if I’m wearing guy’s cargo shorts. I shouldn’t be treated with the same level of human respect and decency because I’ve chosen to wear something that reveals some thigh or cleavage or, hell, ankle?

It is people like you, Taylor, who make the world a more difficult place for both men and women to live in. You’re leaving us with rules that are vague and wide open to interpretation. You’re suggesting humans, to properly interact, have an understanding of each other’s behavior that would require mind-reading abilities. How the fuck is Brit, or I, or any other person on the face of this planet supposed to know how any said individual will react to our behavior?

AAG wrote what, I think, is the best response to all this victim-bashing.

“People who don’t want themselves or their loved ones to be assaulted feel great comfort in handing out those tips because they give the illusion of control. “You should never have gone to his house!” they say, or “You should have said ‘NO’ more firmly,” but what they really mean is that they hope that those strategies will work for them if they should be so unfortunate as to be assaulted.”

And I think she’s right. I don’t think Taylor thinks Brit “deserved” what she got. I think he, and many others, want to believe that if they do XY and Z, they (or their sisters, mothers, girlfriends, etc.) won’t get assaulted.

You can play Monday morning quarterback all you want, but the only blame to be laid when ANYONE is assaulted is at the feet of the perpetrator.