Oh, I'm so sorry, for you and everyone else in this thread. I was just talking on a Gawker thread about feeling like when you've suffered a big loss, every loss and grief, even over an animal or an actor you don't know, kind of brings the seeds of your loss back to you.

I lost my father at 54. He had his first heart attack at 35. It's just so sudden. Stress is a bitch.

I was expecting my Dad to have one due to deteriorating eating habits...then he died in an accident. Sudden death is so hard on the surviving family....

Yes. I lost my father at age 56. It hurts to hear things like this.

Me too. He was 46. I also think of him every time something like this happens. Sorry for your loss.

Just noticed it says "void" over what is likely someone's name too. Ha! Humorous indeed.

The implication - I'm fairly sure - is that a rape would be the most awful possible introduction to intercourse.

I think it's possible to hold both views. But it's one of those things where it takes a lot of tact and nuance to express them both (see also: race and crime; privacy and security; Islam and terrorism). Serena's comments to Rolling Stone (if taken at face value; this wouldn't be the first instance of quotes being…

I still don't understand that part of the message.

I think I see what you're saying. But I'd clarify it this way:

This, god damn you.

The poor girl in question did a stupid thing - she got drunk, just like we all did either as teenagers or later. What those boys did was not stupid, it was criminal, harmful and degrading on many levels, and it is the mention of the Boys doing something stupid which grinds my gears.

Of course her getting drunk was relevant to her getting raped. How could it not be? She certainly didn't deserve to be raped, and the fact that the rape happened is not her fault. However, if she weren't drunk, it likely would not have happened.

Also the whole part of the "maybe she wasn't a virgin." Very problematic. I do not think teenagers should be getting drunk but more importantly, I do not think teenagers should be committing rape. To make an analogy, b\c I love analogies, I think everyone should wear a seatbelt. But if someone who isn't wearing a…

It's not a mystery to anyone that drinking to the point of blacking out is bad for your health. That is a separate issue. The issue with Serena's original comments is that she's suggesting that this sweet, possibly virginal girl should have known better than to get drunk because dude's always be rapin' drunk girls DUH.

I agree. There is nothing okay about what those boys did and they deserve far harsher punishment than they got.

I thought the Steubenville victim was drugged. Against her will. Am I misunderstanding this?

Look. I am from the deep South. I have pretty racist family members. And some of them are even old and "stuck in their ways." But for the love of Christ, none of them would say, "Yes, of course" in response to being asked if they used that horrible word. Not one of them.
What the actual fuck is Paula Deen smoking? Is…

No, but depositions are key to your defense when you are being sued. There is a difference between saying, "of course, I use the n-word!" and "I am ashamed to admit that I did make poor choices of words occasionally in an attempt to make jokes that I now understand were offensive and inappropriate."

This explains the title of Paula's new Food Network show "Krazy Klan Kooking"