Well, but I think that depends on how much they “need” you to be a certain thing to match their value system. If someone decides you’re bad because you’re a certain color or religion or whatever, that’s hard to sway because they’re very invested in maintaining their own worldview hierarchy of who’s good and who’s bad.…

Maybe it’s just the theory of cognitive dissonance. Wikipedia has some interesting things to say about people believing things that are contradicted by evidence.

The scariest part is that people come up with this idea within a few moments of meeting you. Meaning that their first impression of you is what they will stick with no matter what.

Interesting tattoo on his right shoulder.

I think there is a fancy name for this, but I can’t remember it. The theory has to do with labeling/categorizing and the human tendency to not allow for contradictions in people’s characters. If we believe someone is “a good person” (or whatever label we give that: an upstanding citizen, a loving father, whatever),…

I was sexually assaulted by a former supervisor. He claimed I had been hitting on him all night so he just thought it would be ok to have sex with my unconscious body. His girlfriend found out and decided she would email me while cc’ing all of our coworkers about how I was some kind of whore for sleeping with her man.

Good.

She’s probably looking out for the family bank account and their children’s future inheritence. If this goes badly in criminal court, her testimony will be on record and the civil claimants and their lawyers will take Bill to the cleaners (which I hope they do).

She’s silent because she likes the money and power. I hope she chokes to death on her smugness.

God what a fucking mess. Kind of just hoping that she drops a bomb on all of us and sides with the women, but I highly doubt it. But who even knows, so many women who are married to/related to monsters have no idea what is actually up since they’re so in denial and look away at every curve in the road.

Well, this year I finally became peaceful with the fact that I don’t have a relationship with my living family members. I am okay with it. It isn’t what I would have chosen, but of the available options, I am happier with this. I decided at a certain point that I didn’t have time for people who made me unhappy. I gave…

Sorry dude, I am a cat fan. I almost missed that calico because of your generous efforts to save time. Thanks, but no thanks!

Sometimes the people making the porn are indeed arrested. Sadly, I have personal experience with this - my son’s and another child’s testimony put away over a dozen pedophiles, and 4 of them were the ones making the videos.

We no doubt do hear about some of them, but the headline charges in those cases are going to be child sexual abuse so you probably miss the charges for taking pictures of it, or the DA doesn’t bother to put them in if he’s going to get a good sentence on the other anyway. But also a lot of it is from abroad, so again…

My auntie was an RN and did a three-year stint in the ER before taking a more mundane job with an orthopedist clinic.

Mark, I know I'm rather late to the party, but seeing as no one seems to have done it so far, I really feel the need to tell you how amazed I am by this post, quality-wise. You really took your game up a notch or three. This piece is thoughtful and well-crafted, and I hope you'll continue to write longer discussions…

this is my favorite piece you've written. i'm almost indescribably horrified but i think it's important to know about even if you NEVER EVER HAVE TO SEE IT. the aspects of humanity that porn reflects & capitalizes on, and the economy of fantasy, bodies, & disposability that it's based in are not only interesting, but…

I'm a little late to this horrifying article, but you may be interested to hear more from Sheena Shaw's perspective. You mentioned that she seems like she has some conflicted feelings in the Vice piece, so I decided to look her up (avoiding ANY sites that could possibly have video). It seems from her twitter…