That’s a really interesting point of view—and thank you for sharing it. I’ve never been in a physically abusive relationship—but I have been raped and, sometimes, I DO think that if I could have squeezed 7 million dollars out of them—it wouldn’t have been justice—but it would have been some kind of punishment (and…

YES! I saw this same reasoning in a blog on Wonkette yesterday about how we should think about Juanita Broderick’s allegation that Bill Clinton raped her.

THANK YOU. And I was just looking at a study of college-aged men which showed a big whopping difference between responses (from the same men) to the questions “would you rape a woman?” and “would you force sex upon a woman?”

Thanks :). I really hope I didn’t seem too frustrated in my post. I see many, many, may people saying, “he might not have known. . . .” and I think it’s something that many reasonable people say/think (including myself).

Thank you so, so, so, so much for this. There are way too many commenters on here who are like, “Well it WAS 1999 and maybe he didn’t know. . . .” As a victim of a similar type of rape (in 2003! When nobody knew better than to take turns having sex with a passed out woman, apparently), I find this is offensive—mostly…

Yep. I think a lot of women go through similar experiences. We do a terrible job of teaching young men and women about handling sexual advances that they do not want, but may consent to b/c they’re not sure what to do otherwise.

I think this is a really good point. I hate the argument “he probably didn’t know what consent was,” b/c many, many, many people who commit sexual assaults claim to not have known about consent. And research shows that a fuck-ton of men in college still don’t know about consent. That being said, if a man claimed to…

But all this to say, I’d wager there a scores of men the same age as Parker who wouldn’t consider themselves rapists, but in reality they are.

I don’t understand why people have such a hard time understanding victims who accept settlements. It’s extremely difficult to get “guilty” verdicts in domestic violence cases (and sexual assault cases), or even for victims to be awarded large amounts of money in divorce cases when they provide substantial evidence of…

And now, despite the fact that the dive was legal, people are going to be dicks to her.

I completely agree that we need a grand overhaul of the prison system. That our prison system is based on punishment and does NOBODY any good. That being said, fair sentencing should STILL be applied. Right now, it seems like there is a acceptance that prison is a horrible horrible place, but instead of reforming the…

I agree w/ this. And will add to it: People have so internalized tropes about violence against women (both domestic violence + sexual violence), that they are incapable of believing “normal people” are capable of abusing their partners (or that otherwise sweet college boys are capable of rape). If it’s not Sleeping…

There’s a barely contained rage in how he is acting. It’s not just that he is reacting in anger to something (which all people do), but he’s being cruel and intimidating. I don’t know how people can’t see that when a man/woman is enraged and engaging in active intimidation tactics, it’s psychologically abusive (and…

I didn’t think there was anything wrong with your original comment! It seemed thoughtful, to me. . . . and you were bringing up a point that is important to consider—how we would feel about this kind of thing if age/experience were less of a factor.

Agree w/ others that his age, particularly given his traumatic background, puts this solidly into the “wrong” column. *If* we were talking about a 60 year old woman (of sound mind) and a 40 year old man (of sound mind) acting on sexual attraction, then, yes, it would be a different conversation. I don’t know if it…

It’s okay to judge—the mother, at least. The son is still a teenager and had a traumatic childhood.

Small woman here—both in terms of height and bone structure. I definitely got what she was saying (and appreciated her your statement). I’m not complaining about being small, but, objectively, people do tend to take you less seriously—and, if you get mad/upset/sensitive—it’s very easy for people to write you off.…

Here’s his thoughtful reasoning for voting against a UN Treaty on equal rights for individuals with disabilities:

But what about Life?! Marco Rubio cares about Life. And he understands the sanctity of Life a lot better than all of the families who are worried about having a child with severe brain abnormalities. He understands Life so well that he voted against Equal Right for Individuals with Disabilities (Cause somehow Equal…

MORE STARS.