...Let's talk about how *no* prisoners, male or female, should ever be subjected to prison rape. Including the victims no one cares about: Male inmates.
Thanks for bringing attention to the treatment of men in prison. Unfortunately, there is a glaring problem.
Like suicide rates (men account for 7 of every 9 suicides here in Australia) no one gives a shit. Because it affects men, and for the last decade and counting, men are having to go through some form of reparations for our past ‘evils’.
They get found guilty without due process of certain crimes (DV), royally screwed by Family Law Courts, separated from their children, and discriminated against in almost every facet of their lives. For the first time since records began, more women are single and childless in their thirties than married with children. I’m trying to figure out why…….. I’m sure it’s the fault of men. Fear of commitment etc 🙄
I guarantee that if I bought up the issue of males being raped in prison, two thirds of the women I work with would reply “well now THEY know how it feels” or “well men rape women every day, so what?”
To be born a working class male of white European ethnicity in the English speaking world, at present (relatively speaking) is to be born to struggle.
Breaking News! If we do live in a ‘patriarchy’ WC men want it gone more than ‘feminists’.
I think somewhere between your superior literary skills and my unique ability to lose my point in favour of a (adhd/autistic/tbi) infused rant we might be on the same page. Or at least the same chapter 😅 I love interacting with people who are willing to engage on topics with good faith and humour, and challenging me to think! Shutting down/‘cancelling’ etc benefits no one ☺️
I’m also very aware that my current mind frame (on this issue especially) is heavily influenced by my current occupational circumstances…..
Great article! You certainly can’t be accused of not being prepared look far afield for solutions 😅
I have always believed that women have very special strengths that, as a whole, few men are capable of. And vice versa. And in (my) ideal world, we would have equality across the board where possible. Men would happily acknowledge some areas are best served by women, women acknowledge some areas are best served by men and act accordingly, with none of these roles being gender stereotypes. For example, cooking would fall under the “equality across the board” section. Equal opportunity for both wherever possible, when it’s not, accept it and move on.
Unfortunately, feminism now appears as “men are evil, they get what they deserve”. And, being human, men are going to push back unfortunately with less nuance.
After nearly 30 yrs in Social Work (child protection for 20), if someone asked me to list the most vindictive, malicious, psychopathic acts I’ve worked on/seen, and the gender of the perpetrators, males wouldn’t make the top 20. I once had a theory that God gave men superior physical strength so that they stood a chance.
Again, I genuinely think that if women and men had equal physical strength there would be rivers of male blood.
Current Feminism also seems to believe that women want equality, but only in certain areas. Basically equality on their terms where some people are more equal than others. The “it’s payback time bastards” would be overwhelming.
Ultimately, I don’t think most women do want an end to the “patriarchy”. I think they got pretty close, had a good look, and thought “fuck This”.
Every study ever done on the subject has shown that women are smarter than men. In every facet of intelligence you care to mention. Women have endless support groups, endless govt funding (especially around health) and form lasting meaningful friendships. If they didn’t like the way things are, they’d have changed them by now.
Just from memory, men make up 85% of the homeless, 85% of mental health institutions, 85% of people in correctional facilities, 80% of suicides. Men are 20 times more likely to be violently attacked, 9 times more likely to die at work, suffer 4 out of 5 heart attacks, make up 95% of the workforce in the worlds top 10 most dangerous jobs. The author of ‘Man Made’ (the androgynous looking woman who lived as a man for 18 months), just before she killed herself - Nora something I think her name was - said she could not believe the way that women treated men. It changed her whole perspective.
One more point before I bore you to death!
I think very, very few women understand - truly understand - the pressures placed on men by society. The responsibility, the expectation, the accountability. It can be absolutely crushing. And there are very few ways out. Then, they are told they are ‘privileged’. “Men don’t ask for help”. Actually, they fucking do. And if they get help, 99/100 it’s in a mental health system geared completely towards helping women run by women who have little to know understanding about what men need. The Australian government has just announced they will be putting over half a billion dollars into a package aimed at better health outcomes for women. Men? Somewhere between fuck all and nothing. Every year for the last decade a hundred million per year has gone into female health research. Men’s health research? Twenty million per year.
Anyway, I’m sure you’re ready to go to sleep now, and I have some privilege to throw around……
LOL. You know I can’t stand how taciturn you are, Simon :) I agree with you that women are as evil as men, we just express it differently. Anyone who doesn’t think women can be evil has never gone to public school.
Your theory that men evolved physical strength to be able to compete against women’s evil I suspect was tongue-in-cheek. A more realistic theory is that women evolved manipulation and mind games in a patriarchal world where men held all the power - probably esp after the Agricultural Revolution, when inequality likely first began. What I don’t understand is why patriarchy evolved in the first place, although that’s a whole ‘nother conversation - I’ve written about the bonobos, our close cousins in the Congo who are the only primates to have what’s best described as a matriarchy - it’s not that the females rule, but they don’t tolerate male aggression and so they’ve learned to let the females f**k who they want - the bonus being that males can do the same. And they do—with everyone. They’re the horniest primates :)
I honestly think jobs should be done based on a meritocracy! Some jobs are just better suited to men or women overall but should be open to anyone who doesn’t fit the stereotype and can do the job well.
Just remember: Not all feminists are man-haters or perma-victims. Naomi Wolf described the victim feminist, which is what you reference, who sees herself as powerless against Da Patriarchy. We power feminists aren’t afraid of our own personal power (victim feminists are, which is why I began responding to Don’t Blame The Victim with Don’t BE The Victim) and if we’re ‘surrounded by patriarchy’ as the whiners insist, we don’t notice it because we’re too busy getting shit done ;)
Which begs an interesting new Zean koan: If a feminist doesn’t see the patriarchy, does it even exist for her?
Anything you say is invalid because you take away the agency, identity, and Humanity of others for attention. Pick me Pick me…You use ridiculous examples to do it. If you want to talk about female rape in prisons, let's talk about it. What is the percentage difference between women raping women, men raping men, and trans women raping anyone??? I know there's a reason you don't want to answer that question. Because you can't further demonize people you've never met and have no understanding of to further your own motivations. This entire piece is a grift.
I assume by 'demonization' you mean 'trans' prisoners who are running massive grift I'm sure you're blind to. The Riker's Island rapist came into the prison claiming, "I'm not really trans, and I like women." I'll guess that he lowest rape rate is trans prisoners so far, but that's because, as a class of their own, they're a much smaller percentage of the prison population - for *now*. But AFAIK 100% of 'trans' prisoners who've raped others have raped women. You know, in women's prisons.
I guess 'grift' is in the eye of the beholder--and those who aren't blind.
Such a phenomenal article that is a clarion call for human rights for all even the worst among us, Grow Some Labia! I must agree completely with every single word of this article! You are so right that Trans people don’t belong in women’s prisons! This has had disastrous results and I give much credit to President Trump for trying to right this horrendous wrong. He was blocked from doing so for now but misguided bleeding heart judges won’t be able to do so forever. Women deserve to be protected from sexual violence no matter whether they are a prisoner or not and no matter if the perpetrator is Trans or not. I am 100% in support of civil rights for Trans people and anti-discrimination laws to protect them in employment, housing and banking. I think Trans people deserve to live in dignity and deserve love, respect and acceptance. But they can’t be allowed to compete in women’s sports or to be in changing rooms or prisons with biological women. It is just too dangerous and risk of harm to biological females is just too high. The safety of women needs to come first not some misguided sense of “social justice.” But prison rape in general just shouldn’t be allowed to happen across the board. It’s terrible no matter who it happens to be they male or female, Trans or not. But prison rape against men in particular is a crime that is neglected and even openly mocked. That’s got to stop! Even the worst of the worst don’t deserve to have something horrible like that happen to them! Prison guards who commit prison rape or prisoners who do so need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. This focus on female victimization is extremely dangerous and erases half the victims of prison rape. In general there is no question we need to make prisons more humane. I believe the United States needs to emulate the Scandinavian prison system. The focus of our prison system needs to shifted from punishment to rehabilitation. We need to look at it this way: people are in prison as punishment not to be punished! While in prison they should be given and education and be taught a trade. They should be given an outlet for their energies so they can be channeled away from criminal activity. That way when they come out, they will be good, respectable citizens ready to rejoin the community. The exemption for prison labor should be removed from the 13th Amendment. All private prisons should be closed. They are more expensive than state run prisons, easy to brake out of and escape from and inhumanely administered. The use of solitary confinement in prisons should be ended. Felons should have their right to vote restored once they have served their time. I agree completely, Grow Some Labia like with slavery one day people will look at home we treated prisoners in this country and how brutal the conditions the inmates had to live under and they’ll definitely wonder to themselves, “what were we thinking!” Also, you’re right just slapping people in jail and treating them like animals won’t make them into better people, it will just make them angry, bitter and resentful and they’ll go right back to offending when they get out. I also believe we need to shift the focus of our criminal justice system in general to rehabilitation. Mandatory minimum sentences and three strikes laws need to go. We need to decrease sentences for lesser crimes. The War on Drugs has been a huge failure that needs to be brought to an end. Has it done anything to magically cure drug addiction or reduce drug related deaths? No. But it has locked up a disproportionate number of poor white, black and brown people, increased the availability of drugs, made them stronger and more dangerous, created a whole new racket for and enriched criminals (have you seen the cartels in Mexico and South America?), led to political destabilization in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, has failed to stop the flow of drugs into this country, has led to increased violence and murder rates as the cartels can use the legal system to resolve disputes so they resort to executions and assassinations. Returning to prisons, I would propose the following reforms: better physical and mental healthcare for inmates, better and healthier food for inmates, prison guards who abuse their power will be instantly dismissed, a stronger bill against prison rape against inmates of both sexes should be passed by Congress with bipartisan support, inmates should be able to earn college degrees, it should be illegal for Trans inmates to be in women’s prisons, more funding should be put towards fixing up prisons, more guards hired, and a system set up by which prisoners can complain about or report crimes by prison guards or other prisoners which will be immediately acted upon. If it’s a guard guilty of a crime they’ll be fired. If it’s a prisoner they’ll be transferred to another prison until their trial.
Don't hold back, Noah...how do you *really* feel about it? You're so....taciturn. :)
Seriously though, thanks for the kind comments! So many *real* problems we have like prison reform...and Trump is wasting time renaming bodies of water. But, while violent immigrants ran rampant the Dems threatened to throw people in jail for 'misgendering'.
Thanks for bringing attention to the treatment of men in prison. Unfortunately, there is a glaring problem.
Like suicide rates (men account for 7 of every 9 suicides here in Australia) no one gives a shit. Because it affects men, and for the last decade and counting, men are having to go through some form of reparations for our past ‘evils’.
They get found guilty without due process of certain crimes (DV), royally screwed by Family Law Courts, separated from their children, and discriminated against in almost every facet of their lives. For the first time since records began, more women are single and childless in their thirties than married with children. I’m trying to figure out why…….. I’m sure it’s the fault of men. Fear of commitment etc 🙄
I guarantee that if I bought up the issue of males being raped in prison, two thirds of the women I work with would reply “well now THEY know how it feels” or “well men rape women every day, so what?”
To be born a working class male of white European ethnicity in the English speaking world, at present (relatively speaking) is to be born to struggle.
Breaking News! If we do live in a ‘patriarchy’ WC men want it gone more than ‘feminists’.
Because it’s fucking killing us.
I think somewhere between your superior literary skills and my unique ability to lose my point in favour of a (adhd/autistic/tbi) infused rant we might be on the same page. Or at least the same chapter 😅 I love interacting with people who are willing to engage on topics with good faith and humour, and challenging me to think! Shutting down/‘cancelling’ etc benefits no one ☺️
I’m also very aware that my current mind frame (on this issue especially) is heavily influenced by my current occupational circumstances…..
You might find this interesting...I wrote this a few years ago, and I don't think anyone saw it because i had like 15 subscribers at the time:
https://growsomelabia.substack.com/p/smashing-the-patriarchy-whats-in
Great article! You certainly can’t be accused of not being prepared look far afield for solutions 😅
I have always believed that women have very special strengths that, as a whole, few men are capable of. And vice versa. And in (my) ideal world, we would have equality across the board where possible. Men would happily acknowledge some areas are best served by women, women acknowledge some areas are best served by men and act accordingly, with none of these roles being gender stereotypes. For example, cooking would fall under the “equality across the board” section. Equal opportunity for both wherever possible, when it’s not, accept it and move on.
Unfortunately, feminism now appears as “men are evil, they get what they deserve”. And, being human, men are going to push back unfortunately with less nuance.
After nearly 30 yrs in Social Work (child protection for 20), if someone asked me to list the most vindictive, malicious, psychopathic acts I’ve worked on/seen, and the gender of the perpetrators, males wouldn’t make the top 20. I once had a theory that God gave men superior physical strength so that they stood a chance.
Again, I genuinely think that if women and men had equal physical strength there would be rivers of male blood.
Current Feminism also seems to believe that women want equality, but only in certain areas. Basically equality on their terms where some people are more equal than others. The “it’s payback time bastards” would be overwhelming.
Ultimately, I don’t think most women do want an end to the “patriarchy”. I think they got pretty close, had a good look, and thought “fuck This”.
Every study ever done on the subject has shown that women are smarter than men. In every facet of intelligence you care to mention. Women have endless support groups, endless govt funding (especially around health) and form lasting meaningful friendships. If they didn’t like the way things are, they’d have changed them by now.
Just from memory, men make up 85% of the homeless, 85% of mental health institutions, 85% of people in correctional facilities, 80% of suicides. Men are 20 times more likely to be violently attacked, 9 times more likely to die at work, suffer 4 out of 5 heart attacks, make up 95% of the workforce in the worlds top 10 most dangerous jobs. The author of ‘Man Made’ (the androgynous looking woman who lived as a man for 18 months), just before she killed herself - Nora something I think her name was - said she could not believe the way that women treated men. It changed her whole perspective.
One more point before I bore you to death!
I think very, very few women understand - truly understand - the pressures placed on men by society. The responsibility, the expectation, the accountability. It can be absolutely crushing. And there are very few ways out. Then, they are told they are ‘privileged’. “Men don’t ask for help”. Actually, they fucking do. And if they get help, 99/100 it’s in a mental health system geared completely towards helping women run by women who have little to know understanding about what men need. The Australian government has just announced they will be putting over half a billion dollars into a package aimed at better health outcomes for women. Men? Somewhere between fuck all and nothing. Every year for the last decade a hundred million per year has gone into female health research. Men’s health research? Twenty million per year.
Anyway, I’m sure you’re ready to go to sleep now, and I have some privilege to throw around……
LOL. You know I can’t stand how taciturn you are, Simon :) I agree with you that women are as evil as men, we just express it differently. Anyone who doesn’t think women can be evil has never gone to public school.
Your theory that men evolved physical strength to be able to compete against women’s evil I suspect was tongue-in-cheek. A more realistic theory is that women evolved manipulation and mind games in a patriarchal world where men held all the power - probably esp after the Agricultural Revolution, when inequality likely first began. What I don’t understand is why patriarchy evolved in the first place, although that’s a whole ‘nother conversation - I’ve written about the bonobos, our close cousins in the Congo who are the only primates to have what’s best described as a matriarchy - it’s not that the females rule, but they don’t tolerate male aggression and so they’ve learned to let the females f**k who they want - the bonus being that males can do the same. And they do—with everyone. They’re the horniest primates :)
I honestly think jobs should be done based on a meritocracy! Some jobs are just better suited to men or women overall but should be open to anyone who doesn’t fit the stereotype and can do the job well.
Just remember: Not all feminists are man-haters or perma-victims. Naomi Wolf described the victim feminist, which is what you reference, who sees herself as powerless against Da Patriarchy. We power feminists aren’t afraid of our own personal power (victim feminists are, which is why I began responding to Don’t Blame The Victim with Don’t BE The Victim) and if we’re ‘surrounded by patriarchy’ as the whiners insist, we don’t notice it because we’re too busy getting shit done ;)
Which begs an interesting new Zean koan: If a feminist doesn’t see the patriarchy, does it even exist for her?
Anything you say is invalid because you take away the agency, identity, and Humanity of others for attention. Pick me Pick me…You use ridiculous examples to do it. If you want to talk about female rape in prisons, let's talk about it. What is the percentage difference between women raping women, men raping men, and trans women raping anyone??? I know there's a reason you don't want to answer that question. Because you can't further demonize people you've never met and have no understanding of to further your own motivations. This entire piece is a grift.
I assume by 'demonization' you mean 'trans' prisoners who are running massive grift I'm sure you're blind to. The Riker's Island rapist came into the prison claiming, "I'm not really trans, and I like women." I'll guess that he lowest rape rate is trans prisoners so far, but that's because, as a class of their own, they're a much smaller percentage of the prison population - for *now*. But AFAIK 100% of 'trans' prisoners who've raped others have raped women. You know, in women's prisons.
I guess 'grift' is in the eye of the beholder--and those who aren't blind.
Such a phenomenal article that is a clarion call for human rights for all even the worst among us, Grow Some Labia! I must agree completely with every single word of this article! You are so right that Trans people don’t belong in women’s prisons! This has had disastrous results and I give much credit to President Trump for trying to right this horrendous wrong. He was blocked from doing so for now but misguided bleeding heart judges won’t be able to do so forever. Women deserve to be protected from sexual violence no matter whether they are a prisoner or not and no matter if the perpetrator is Trans or not. I am 100% in support of civil rights for Trans people and anti-discrimination laws to protect them in employment, housing and banking. I think Trans people deserve to live in dignity and deserve love, respect and acceptance. But they can’t be allowed to compete in women’s sports or to be in changing rooms or prisons with biological women. It is just too dangerous and risk of harm to biological females is just too high. The safety of women needs to come first not some misguided sense of “social justice.” But prison rape in general just shouldn’t be allowed to happen across the board. It’s terrible no matter who it happens to be they male or female, Trans or not. But prison rape against men in particular is a crime that is neglected and even openly mocked. That’s got to stop! Even the worst of the worst don’t deserve to have something horrible like that happen to them! Prison guards who commit prison rape or prisoners who do so need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. This focus on female victimization is extremely dangerous and erases half the victims of prison rape. In general there is no question we need to make prisons more humane. I believe the United States needs to emulate the Scandinavian prison system. The focus of our prison system needs to shifted from punishment to rehabilitation. We need to look at it this way: people are in prison as punishment not to be punished! While in prison they should be given and education and be taught a trade. They should be given an outlet for their energies so they can be channeled away from criminal activity. That way when they come out, they will be good, respectable citizens ready to rejoin the community. The exemption for prison labor should be removed from the 13th Amendment. All private prisons should be closed. They are more expensive than state run prisons, easy to brake out of and escape from and inhumanely administered. The use of solitary confinement in prisons should be ended. Felons should have their right to vote restored once they have served their time. I agree completely, Grow Some Labia like with slavery one day people will look at home we treated prisoners in this country and how brutal the conditions the inmates had to live under and they’ll definitely wonder to themselves, “what were we thinking!” Also, you’re right just slapping people in jail and treating them like animals won’t make them into better people, it will just make them angry, bitter and resentful and they’ll go right back to offending when they get out. I also believe we need to shift the focus of our criminal justice system in general to rehabilitation. Mandatory minimum sentences and three strikes laws need to go. We need to decrease sentences for lesser crimes. The War on Drugs has been a huge failure that needs to be brought to an end. Has it done anything to magically cure drug addiction or reduce drug related deaths? No. But it has locked up a disproportionate number of poor white, black and brown people, increased the availability of drugs, made them stronger and more dangerous, created a whole new racket for and enriched criminals (have you seen the cartels in Mexico and South America?), led to political destabilization in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, has failed to stop the flow of drugs into this country, has led to increased violence and murder rates as the cartels can use the legal system to resolve disputes so they resort to executions and assassinations. Returning to prisons, I would propose the following reforms: better physical and mental healthcare for inmates, better and healthier food for inmates, prison guards who abuse their power will be instantly dismissed, a stronger bill against prison rape against inmates of both sexes should be passed by Congress with bipartisan support, inmates should be able to earn college degrees, it should be illegal for Trans inmates to be in women’s prisons, more funding should be put towards fixing up prisons, more guards hired, and a system set up by which prisoners can complain about or report crimes by prison guards or other prisoners which will be immediately acted upon. If it’s a guard guilty of a crime they’ll be fired. If it’s a prisoner they’ll be transferred to another prison until their trial.
Don't hold back, Noah...how do you *really* feel about it? You're so....taciturn. :)
Seriously though, thanks for the kind comments! So many *real* problems we have like prison reform...and Trump is wasting time renaming bodies of water. But, while violent immigrants ran rampant the Dems threatened to throw people in jail for 'misgendering'.
We live in crazy times :(