Ohhhh.. I see you have sympathy for the adult who willingly chose to hire a child to have sex with because...psshhh.. who cares about checking IDs.. no biggie. 16, 15, mmm.. whatever, right?

Me too! Earplugs save me. I also get overstimulated. I use mine in noisy cafeterias, while working on my laptop, in crowded restaurants. Always at night. They save my life. I keep em in my purse. You can still hear with them but it is dulled.

He said he didn’t do it because he’s the KING. That is some patriarchal B.S. He didn’t say, “Well, as a couple we’ve discussed this and she says she’s happy and satisfied so this works for us“... NO.. his excuse was draped in his false sense of male superiority and his sense that he’s earned it through his career and…

I can’t help but feel my blood boil to think that if it were a 16 year old white girl who killed an abuser who was forcing her to do sex acts, she would not only have spent no days in prison, but there would be mounds of sympathy for her and she’d be called a brave hero. (Which should be response to any 16 year old…

Why

He should have admitted his specific wrongs then explicitly with full disclosure and full contrition. He should have admitted he tried to force a kiss on a woman and that his past abuse was not an excuse. He should have volunteered to leave the limelight. He messed up by not doing it volunteeringly. Now he will be…

He absorbed Patriarchy into his value system and it teaches him that King rules the Queen. Queen is inferior to him.

I missed the part about the forced kiss... Yep, that is an assault as far as I can tell.

I used to love Ray Rice and took my class of kids to play with him pre-scandal.

I read this guys’ article and remember feeling sorry for the women in his life. I remember just feeling “off” about it... like there was something very not wholesome about him, and that I didn’t like him as a person even if I felt sorry about the abuse he went through.

I totally agree about the warped double standard. I have seen countless times White women [when victimuzed] get priority news footage over Black women victims. The White woman is the first story. Even in a Baltimore where 90% of the population is Black, the White victims are the lead stories.

Yes!

Kanye isn’t acknowledging that during that INVOLUNTARY enslavement the victims entrenched fought furiously to live. And the hundreds of thousands of souls who risked their lives in an attempt to free their family, friends, community and selves... When the opportunity presented itself Tubman blew that sh** down, but…

Yes.. I agree, but for whatever reason people feel very personal about it.

Thoughtful input. Fair enough.

It could be a way of expressing internalized misogyny and patriarchy. I’m not saying it justifies their support (It absolutely does not)...

Yep. I’m in. If I ever hear a DJ play it, I’ll speak up.

I am continually impressed with your writing, Panama! That piece about revisiting Dr. Dre’s the Chronic was fantastic too.

That’s a great metaphor.

While in office, JFK displayed predatory behavior with a 19 year old intern who worked under him. She alleges he had sex with her in the bathtub, took her virginity on her fourth day interning, gave her drugs, and made her do sexual favors. (Mimi Alford)