I agree. I don’t feel like he sexually assaulted her and don’t feel like this should be included in the same realm as “me too.” I think he was very wrong and acted like an asshole, but she was always free to go. He didn’t force anything on her. This reminds me of the type of stuff they tell you in high school (“If a…

What power imbalance? She isn’t in his industry, he has no control over her. If she had left on her own accord after dinner, nothing bad would happen to her.

As the article points out, he is 10 years older, rich and famous. She seemed naive and overwhelmed.

Looking into the story as well, I thought the same thing, but didn’t want to be the first person to voice that thought. I’ll always give the benefit of the doubt, but the story made it come off like petty airing of dirt rather than actually pointing at predatory behavior.

There was some sleaziness to his plays, but nothing that seemed outside the Tom Haverford playbook of overreaching. Certainly nothing that constitutes coercion.

“present Grace’s story for what it is—a starting point to discuss the ways consent can feel blurring, no matter how clear we might wish it were, and our lack of language to describe this”

This is a valuable conversation and could have occurred in a better written piece. I also think a discussion about the blurred…

Just here for the comments:

If there was a shirt that said Your Black Friend Thinks You’re a Racist I’d buy it

Yeah but that was back when they had a plausible claim to shining a light into the dark recesses of government corruption. Arguablely Chelsea Manning’s actions highlighted how Wikileaks was really just a tool to weaken western democracies and let the truly corrupt nations off the hook. *cough*Russia*cough*

Because there’s nothing sexier than a woman just lying there, limp, not clearly into what’s going on. Is she at all aroused? Frozen in fear for her safety? When you can’t tell one way or the other, that’s MY biggest turn on.

I’ve known a few women who told me being asked before each sexual thing is a huge turn off for them too. So it can be confusing. The more passive and careful I acted around women when I used to date, the more awkward it would be. Sometimes they would just laugh at me for asking. One time a girl literally had to take…

Two problems with this story (or really one combined major problem):

Why didn’t she simply walk out? Why did she blow him? This is clearly a consensual sexual encounter she later regretted. “I didn’t really want to do it, but I did anyway” is not sexual misconduct.

Probably the best Life in Aggro in ages.

Ugh, please no. Maryland is home to the NSA, among other foreign policy institutions. She betrayed them and all of us. This would be a farce anywhere in the country, but it’s a special slap in the face that she’d dare to try to represent those public servants. She got a really lucky break with Obama’s commutation; why…

Shipping them where?

You forgot the part about when one of her defenses, that she affirmatively made to the court, was that the DoD should have known better than to trust a trans person with sensitive information. Seriously.

Her recent ‘fuck the police’ rant along with her inability to ever obtain a security clearance again (given that she was convicted of a felony) will make it tricky.

Can a convicted felon even ran for federal office?

Maryland is one of the Blackest states in the country, with a Democratic party that is almost entirely Black. There is no way in hell Manning has the cultural and political understanding to run there without falling on her face. Also, there is a long history of comments about Obama from her and her supporters that…