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Showing posts from January, 2018

Aziz Ansari: why date pressure is real and dangerous

Oh Aziz. I’m not angry, I’m just disappointed. Wait – hold up. I’m furious. This subtle tale of gender power dynamics has been an interesting challenge to those who struggle with getting their head around ‘sexual abuse: the basics’. The #Metoo campaign started by outing a version of sexual violence that most of the public can accept and, to a degree, sympathise with, ie ‘straightforward’ rape. Ugly, unsympathetic man + power + woman who says no + penetrative sex. Minimal need for victim blaming there (although, of course, there are always some helpful comments from Men Who Know Best). Next it became a ‘witch hunt’ – as if the National Lottery giant finger could be poking its way through any innocent man’s curtains to proclaim ‘It’s You’. Then there was Louis CK and the waters got even murkier. He was less hateable than Harvey Weinstein (not a difficult challenge) and this was the type of assault that people find harder to compute, ie non-penetrative sex. [Why do wom