Date: 2007-04-14 16:05 Subject: (no subject) Security: Public

The charges have been dropped in the Duke rape case, and I am incredibly sad and frightened for the accuser. Her name and face have now been made public; some places on the internet have even published her home address. I don't think she's safe. Some of the reactions towards her I have seen have been so incredibly hateful and vile - even from so-called newspapers like the New York Post, which featured her picture on the front page with the headline THE DUKE LIAR. If this kind of vitriol is mainstream, imagine some of the reactions going on in the minds of the slightly unhinged. I'm scared she'll be attacked or worse. But even if she isn't, her life is pretty much fucked forever.

It's extremely sad, of course, for the young men who were (it appears) falsely accused. But they'll be okay. They're rich, white, at a top school, and have the sympathy of the nation.

The accuser - I don't want to use her name, even though it is now public - is poor, black, and traumatized. Even if she wasn't raped - which still isn't clear (just because she wasn't raped by the men charged doesn't mean she wasn't raped) - something happened at that party. She left her fake nails, cellphone and purse behind. She didn't take her money. She called 911. And the members of law enforcement who talked to her agree that at the very least, she thinks she was raped. Oh, and let's not forget that she filed rape charges before, so was very likely a victim of sexual assault before this case even happened.

Chances are she won't be okay, and I'm terrified for her now that her personal information has been made public.

I'm terrified to talk to anyone about this. Because the reactions I hear are so angry towards the accuser, so hateful. They make me frightened to be a woman, and frightened that if I was raped nobody would believe me.

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Date: 2007-04-14 20:49 Subject: (no subject) Security: Public

Fuck male privilege.

Fuck men who dismiss women's experiences and feelings as 'hysterical' or 'overreacting'.

Fuck men who tell me it's paranoid, even PREJUDICED, to be scared of men, but who would be the first ones to ask me what I was doing alone with a strange man if I was raped.

Fuck men who don't listen to women.

And fuck men who don't believe them.

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Date: 2007-04-14 21:10 Subject: (no subject) Security: Public

I feel sick and scared, and I don't know who to talk to.

Jill at Feministe wrote an excellent post about the whole Duke rape accuser outing. But since she wrote it, she's had to add the following disclaimer:

In light of comments on the AutoAdmit/XOXO message board in response to this post (”I want to brutally rape that Jill slut,” “I’m 98% sure that she should be raped (even if only in Internet Land),” “So seriously, I think we should start another war with this cunt. She clearly deserves anything XOXO might inflict on her”), I’m going to be moderating it very heavily.

What the fuck kind of world do I live in where men want to rape women for expressing their opinions? (This also very much supports my fear for the accuser - if these men are so angry they want to rape a woman for writing a blog post expressing some support for the accuser, how do they feel about the accuser herself?)

I'm scared that men I know think and post this kind of shit. I'm scared to talk to them about this in case I find out something about them I'd rather not know. I don't know how Jill handles it, I don't know how she can go on, when I'm cowering in fear writing a journal that nobody reads instead of going out and speaking my mind.

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