“Believe me, she would not be my first choice, that I can tell you,”
Donald Trump about Jessica Leeds
If you hear a man claim that he didn’t rape a woman because she was just too unattractive for him, he is probably guilty. Why? The ‘eww I have better standards than her’ defense is the first one that misogynist jerks resort to. These men might as well be saying that they MIGHT have raped that woman if she was pretty enough.
The retaliation against Cathy Areu for accusing Tucker Carlson of sexual harassment is outrageous. The retaliation itself is harassment and illustrates why women are reluctant to come forward after being raped or harassed.
The old ‘she is not pretty enough’ defense is already gaining momentum across social media. Tucker Carlson fans are going out of their way to suggest Cathy Areu is just not attractive enough for Tucker to be interested in.
Rape and other forms of abuse are not dependent upon a woman’s physical appearance. The fact is that rape is not about sex. It is about power. Men that rape or harass women do it because they are exerting control over that woman. Sometimes they hate that woman, or are jealous of her. They might just dislike women in general. They might want to teach her a lesson. They might just be narcissistic sociopaths.
“We see that babies to women in their 90s are raped,” said Sarah Cook, associate dean at Georgia State University Honors College, a nationally recognized expert on violence against women and a survivor of sexual assault. “Rape isn’t about sexual attraction. Rape is about the expression of power through sexual behavior.”
USA TODAY
Sometimes, a man will rape a lesbian because he disapproves of her “lifestyle choice”. This is called ‘corrective rape’ and the goal is to either ‘cure’ or punish the victim for not conforming to approved gender or social roles. It happens a LOT and it happens all over the world.
The objectification of women is believed to be a factor in normalizing rape culture and violence toward women. Take FOX News for example. They are famous for presenting a certain type of female news and opinion presenter.
The uniformity of this style suggests a political statement which, indeed, it is. Theirs is a look that defiantly embraces the most conservative notions of femininity and firmly rejects any idea of modernity, let alone feminism.
The Guardian
Objectifying women dehumanizes them. It provides the message that women are only valuable if they conform to a narrow definition of beauty and sex appeal. This narrow definition is not representative of the typical appearance of women. It is an idealized caricature of women that appeals to a specific audience.
We will go even further. Objectified women are being divided into those that are worthy of rape and those that are not worthy. Every single day that a cable news anchor is subjected to the ‘leg cam’, she is being categorized on a scale of rapability. That sexy dress, the exposed breast implants, the stiletto shoes–it is all a contrived look meant to tell men that they are sexually available.
In a work environment where women are highly objectified, where their worth as employees is dependent upon their ability to attract the male gaze, they are left open to abusive treatment by their peers. Men often get the idea that their female co-workers are there simply to be sexually available–for them. Sometimes, male executives or media personalities will view women employees as perks of the job.
So, is it hard to believe that Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity engaged in sexually inappropriate behavior toward women employees? Not really. The culture at FOX seems to encourage it. It is well established that FOX has maintained a hostile work environment that objectifies women.
