Why do you feel this desire to ab/use women in this way, to expose more and more and more of them for your pleasure? Why do you think this is ok behaviour? Bastard.
I guess you might find it the answers here, perchance ;-)
I have been meaning, for a few weeks, to draw attention to a post from reSISTERance blog: British Soldiers Cleared of Rapes in Kenya.
She refers to a Times online article about the 'investigation' and report. Basically, 2187 Kenyan women reported that they had been raped by British army servicemen training there. The Royal Military Police has now reported that not one of those cases was genuine. Not one!
That's what happens, I suppose, when the army investigates reports against itself! Are they really, truly asking us to believe that 2,187 women have lied about this. All of them? More than two thousand?
I am as furious about this as I write, as I was when I first read the ReSisterance post. What better example of patriarchy and misogyny upholding its own rules do we need?
We *know* that the army uses rape as a weapon of war. We *know* that soldiers are more violent to their female partners than non-soldiers. We *know* that these people are being trained in aggression, in violence, in combat. Rape is part of that. We know this so well!
But the bare-faced cheek of these investigators, saving their colleagues' backsides by reporting that there are 2187 lying women, and that the blokes in the army were examples of perfection and never, ever, ever lie is just blatantly ridiculous.
The investigation by the Royal Military Police (RMP) has concluded that there is not one single case to answer out of 2,187 reported rapes. A team of 12 to 18 investigators spent ten months in Kenya between October 2003 and July 2004 and interviewed all 2,187 claimants, most of whom were Masai and Samburu tribeswomen from some of the most remote areas, where about 3,000 British servicemen train every year.
Working with local interpreters, the investigators deemed only 281 cases worthy of further examination. These fell apart on closer scrutiny and during follow-up interviews with other local people and former members of the Army in Britain.
“No corroborative evidence which will stand up in a UK court of law, and which might lead to a successful prosecution of any named individual, could be found to support any of the rape allegations,” a source linked to the investigation said.
Today’s report also exonerates senior British army officers who were on duty in Kenya at the time and to whom the claimants alleged they had reported the incidents. “There are no grounds to believe in any institutional acquiescence,” the report states. (my emphasis). From: British soldiers cleared of tribal rapes after £3m inquiry finds forged records
Oh no, no grounds at all. Just the whole bloody report!
And do you know what else, the only place I heard about this was on reSISTERance. This was a case I was aware was ongoing, but nowhere else that I have come across has even mentioned that the Military Police have accused 2187 Kenyan women of lying. I've not heard it on BBC news or seen it elsewhere. Is this not worthy of publicity?
To the women in Kenya: I believe you. And you're not alone. Neither alone in having been raped, nor in having not been believed. It's part of the whole patriachal plan, you see, to be disbelieved and ridiculed boosts their power and their ability to do it again. The more women are disbelieved, the more they can get away with. But you are really not alone.
Newly Noted Blogs
As the Tumo(u)r Turns - a surprisingly light-hearted blog detailing a woman's dealings with cancer and cancer treatment.
Trollbuster - Patrolling the radical anti-pornstitution feminist blogosphere and pulling trolls up on their rudeness! Marvellous!
one salford feminist - great blog, and also notable for being by another Pippa!
friedaquilter musings - Frieda is an amazing textile artist and I am lucky enough to own some ATCs by her, and we are on some of the same ATC groups.
Entries of Note
Body Impolitic's Guide to Sane Holidays
Not a blog post, but a post to the misogynist lads' mag Nuts message board. Subvert their media!
"Feminist" Rape Apologists.
Men face jail for rape if women are too drunk to consent - Sparkle*Matrix subtly deconstructs an appalling Daily Mail article on this new proposed legislation.
Daily Maybe 100 best green bloggers - some great links here, and hippie blog is #40!
Why I Speak Out - inspiring reading, also refers to this Fear of White Panties post.
Exceptional Comments
The "Rape" of Mr Smith
Carnivals
Carnival Against Child Abuse 7.
Carnival Against Sexual Violence #14, including a link to my Ipswich post.
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Technorati tags: feminism; links; incurable_hippie; anti-rape; anti-porn; Kenya.
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