Sunshine's Mod Blog

tarajenkins:

My “social justice warrior” training began young, when I was around ten or eleven. I wrote a lot of letters to both our major newspapers and also wrote our state governor about a catchphrase used by the media to describe delinquent parents at that time, “deadbeat dads”. I wanted them to stop using…

Worth the read.

Death threats, rape threats, etc are all to familiar to people who even remotely agree with this it seems. Weapon of choice is fear.

Making you fear you are wrong, you are alone, and you should be quiet. Its terrifying to have someone threaten you over the opinion…you don’t like rape jokes. Its been a long time since I visited that certain debilitating fear over anything, and the fact its over THAT is absurd.

One of the most powerful things I’ve found though is the knowledge “No, you aren’t alone. There are people who will support you, who’ve had similar experiences as you.”

Cause as loud as that bad side can be, there’s plenty of people who are just scared to say anything. They sometimes just need that voice to say the right thing, as Tara said.

tarajenkins:

- You made a podcast on a very sensitive subject while intoxicated, apparently. Not a good start if you want to perceived as sincere and thoughtful on the subject.

- Throughout the course of this painfully improvised piece of audio, I did not hear any of you once address the multiple survivors that have spoken out against the Molestia meme, making it seem rather one-sided.  You did not seem to consider that those who oppose jokes at the expense of the victim have legitimate reasons. Not once did I hear an explanation of why the humor of APM must come from the discomfort of the victims. Why is that?

“‘cause that’s some vile shit, to take somebody’s humanity.”

- Richard Pryor, Wanted: Live In Concert

It isn’t hard to place the joke where it belongs; I always thought the goal of comedy was to make as many people laugh as possible, not prey on trauma at a victim’s expense, and the statistics show there is a very good chance there are survivors in your audience or those who care for a survivor. But you seem solidly behind the lazy “humor” of showing characters not only being assaulted for sexual titillation, but you excuse it away as “they wanted it in the end”. Without both sides being discussed soberly, you gave me the impression that those affected by them simply need to “get over it” to fit your comfort zone, again, an insincere impression.

So again, the question begs—why does it have to be rape, and why does it have to be presented at the victim’s expense?

By the way, RAINN—the largest anti-sexual violence organization in America—thinks sexual assault is no joke either. This is not a small pocket of individuals, or a small issue. It may not hurt you, but it does hurt good people who should NOT be a punchline, however indirectly.

- I have yet to see Molestia presented as a negative character in APM. In turn, what she does is perceived as “sexy”, or as you put it, “fun”, and an amazing quantity of people did not think what she did was assault at all. You backed this phenomenon up with both of your videos on the subject. You were so engrossed in defending it, you never explained why the “vile shit” is somehow less vile because a “sexy pony” did it.

It’s piss-poor grade-school-clueless characterization at best, exploitation at worst, and there have been multiple brave anons all too willing to use the threat of rape as a tool of control against a minor in this argument, and more still willing to silently watch them do it or say she “deserved” it. You would think it wasn’t taken seriously or something.

- “Mild rape”? “Molestia raped me and it was fun!” Speaking of thinking on the weight of your words. Also, “Hitler liked bread” does not explain why rape is used as a threat, a sly euphemism, or a twisted insult, or why a lot of people seem to confuse rape with sex. It does not explain the statistics at RAINN or the horror stories like Steubenville, this, this, this, the list goes on.

This is why it is not a joke to many people, including RAINN. Because it is not taken seriously to start with too many damn times.

And if you are still laughing, if you are still portraying assault as sex for a cheap thrill, then yes, I will wonder why and side-eye you like a shitlord, because you seem to be more invested in a cheap laugh than consideration to others. Opinion? Maybe. But actions speak louder and all.

Hope this clears things up.