Ah. You know, I have known more male Ariels than female Ariels. Thanks for the catch.

I think commenters on this site take any mention of the victim's behavior, i.e., the circumstances of the case, to be "victim-blaming". It's pretty clear from the article that the author wasn't blaming the victim, but that he did consider her drunkenness and how she was treated as a result to be relevant as part of…

You would be amazed — AMAZED — at the kind of horrible grammar, spelling and syntax you see in court filings, from apparent actual attorneys. Seriously. I do criminal law, where it's pretty bad, but if you ever want to make an English teacher weep, check out family court pleadings.

Exactly. I said this elsewhere on the thread. My advice as his lawyer would have been for him to say nothing at all, or something anodyne like "My client just wants to learn from this experience and move forward". But probably nothing at all would have been better. Certainly not the pity-fest that his lawyer wrote…

I am a defense attorney. While I would normally never have a client write a statement admitting guilt, for various reasons, I would also not have him write a statement which is literally all about how his life has been made difficult by sexually assaulting someone else. No statement at all would have been the much…

Inexcusable.

Well, thanks Jezebel! My oldest turns three next week and is set to have her first dentist appointment the week after. I'm pretty confident she doesn't have 10 cavities and need root canals (WTF), but you've given me something else to fear irrationally!

Yes, yes, got it, Africans looks all sorts of different ways. I know. I was talking about the PERCEPTION of African features by most of society, which I should have made clearer. Like, I'm aware that Somalis, for instance, will often have fine, "white" type features that will surprise people who think of Africans as…

I think it has already been noted elsewhere on this thread, but this totally happens to dogs. A few years ago my husband and I were visiting a Cambodian temple, which was also home to a ton of stray dogs. As we were looking at the friezes, two dogs started to get it on. And then the boy dog GOT STUCK INSIDE. He kept…

I guess what you're saying is: Beyonce pre-surgery/pre-skin lightening (did she do that?) looked blacker. I will buy that for a dollar. But the popular perception of Beyonce is how she looks now, with a slim nose and light skin, and yeah, her features look more Caucasian/less African. So from what you told me, it…

I think that's totally right — it's a fetishization.

Awesome find! And you're right — those illustrations are ridiculous. This woman wouldn't get much comment on the street these days, from the picture.

I really disagree:

I agree with that — she was a freakshow and a kind of sexual fetish object. There was nothing good about how she was treated or what her treatment meant. I was just saying that the relationship society has had with big butts is a lot more complicated than "gross and disgusting".

Jesus, that is fucking sad.

Weird. I grew up in Florida around the same time, and I do not remember anyone ever NOT wanting an ass.

Yes, this is exactly right. It is cherry picking — big butts/small hips and tan skin are great these days, but broad noses and thick lips are not. Which is why Beyonce is now the ideal. But if changed her skin tone, her features would not be out of place on a white lady.

You mean we're not already?

I'll just say that I'm not sure this was ever true. It's possible that white people exoticized big butts. It's possible that they thought that big butts were a sign of low intellect or savage nature or something. But I'm pretty sure people have always liked big butts. See, e.g, the Hottentot Venus, aka Sara Baartman,…

WHAT IN THE FUCK. If someone had said that to me, I would have actually just ripped their lips from their face.