In a digital notebook on my desktop is where I store
miscellaneous links to news items and other scraps of factoids and weirdness
that catches my attention. A browse through my latest poetry books will reveal
just how much the internet news coverage/tabloids influences the subjects of my
poetry. Because “fact” is stranger than “fiction.”
Except when fact is fiction, in which case we begin to bat a
story around for clarity and some semblance of truth.
Lately people have been doing this with the Bill Cosby “sex scandal.” (“Sex scandal” is in quotation marks because RAPE is not a “sex
scandal” it’s a “rape scandal,” yet some tabloids refuse to call it such in
their headlines. Why they do this is beyond me since “RAPE” is a stronger word than “sex” and “sex” implies
consent.) Some of the most childhood-crushing news to ever hit the internet,
beloved comedian and entertainer Bill Cosby has been accused of raping multiple
women. The media circus in this case seems to not know how to handle this.
Ultimately, people are turning to the women and asking why they waited so long
to bring these accusations up, probably not realizing that when you are a rape
victim of a famous person and think you are all alone you will most probably keep
your silence because of the media. The media loves a wayward woman to skewer. Every photo you ever posted on the
internet will suddenly appear in tabloids all over the world, along with your
name and occupation. Suddenly you’re receiving the Monica Lewinksy treatment
without even having consented to sex. (At least Lewinksy got a book deal out of
it.) America loves questions like “What was she doing alone with the man at
night if it wasn’t sex?” because we live in an age of anti-sexism.
Asking questions like that are even more interesting than family-friendly entertainer who
secretly rapes dozens of women.
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| "Hmmm, Cliff Huxtable as a serial rapist? I don't know there's just no story here, Jim. Let's do the Lying Tramp story again." |
If you are the rape victim of a person the
world adores and you don’t realize you have fellow-victims out there who also
suffered at his hands, media coverage is the last thing you want. But now that so many voices are raising up, it
is probably far easier to confess to what happened. You are no longer alone. In the end, Cosby will still
probably be found not guilty and
write about how he did not do it but if he did this is how he would have done it.
However, this is not about the Cosby story and the slow, cruel
and unusual death of my childhood. It is about a story I saw on the FailBook
the other day. With a title like "Mother, 20, has sex with dogs at 13, incest fantasies." How, oh, how are you not going to read that?
This is the reason I bring up the media’s love of covering evil succubus
women. Unless you are tragically desensitized to outrageous depravity because of the internet, this will cause your knee-jerk “WTF”
reaction to kick high. Daily Mail reported on a 20-year-old mother whoclaimed to have sex with her dogs (when she was 13) and fantasize about incest.
Already in the headlines of this story scream sensationalist
news. The sad thing is, I understand. As a former newspaper writer, I understand the
pressure to find stories that seize people’s attention. Nobody wants to read
about something ordinary. Nobody wants unemotional, statistic-obsessed,
fact-happy storytelling. News stopped being about actual news quite a long time
ago. We want something wild and out there. The story essentially sums up that
an unnamed man (whose identity is protected despite the woman’s name being
aired to the world) who dated the accused woman for a few months only to
discover, by her own admittance, that she liked sex with dogs and had fantasies
about incest. Instead of finding her psychiatric help—she does have a child to
raise after all—he went to the police with this juicy story of a zoophilic,
nymphomaniac. She has been accused of crimes
against nature. (Somehow that sounds even worse that bestiality.) The story
does not mention any charges concerning her incest fantasies because thoughtcrime
is a thing of the future that Big Brother has yet to enforce.No mention is made of her possessing any pornography of illegal acts. Instead the ex mentions that she retrieved images off the internet for him to see.
Why does this story reek so much of bullshit to me?
Because I know the pressure to find sensational news
stories. I know a writer’s need to embellish and deliver only the most absurd
facts. And I know that exes, both male and female, can be some of the most unreliable narrators when it comes to their former partners. My debate
teachers also learned me real good about critical thinking. When you see a
story, especially a “he said, she said” one like this, you have to take it with
a spoonful of salt. I also note the collection of selfie pictures the story decided to
include of the accused woman in her bra and panties and in a kinky little
outfit. One site even has a slideshow, despite the photos only proving that
she is a typical 20-year-old taking selfies. Here is a woman who loves sex with
anyone, according to ex. Therefor, she
is also capable of dog-fucking and incest fantasies. Also, she’s 20, single and
a mother already. Her father is trying to gain custody of his grandchild from her. How easy it is to cast her as the degenerate. And how fun it
is. Now we have a wild story to spread around Failbook and discuss. It would be
a useful gateway story into the discussion of animal rights. At least here
someone is giving a damn that the dogs were sexually abused. That is certainly
a plus for animal rights. But all of these elements combined into one story just feel overblown and full of plot holes, for lack of a better term, that another writer has to
wonder.
Understand: I am
not saying that the story is untrue. The world provides us with 100% true batshit crazy stories everyday. But in the media we use to navigate that world, nothing is ever quite what it seems. Who is the boyfriend? If he is
concerned she will become a prostitute and has spoken to her father, why have
they not arranged an intervention
before going to the police and the media and ruining her life? Are the dogs
okay? You may laugh, but animals can be as sensitive as humans to this kind of
thing and I can’t help but wonder—if the story is indeed true—about their
well-being. What about the child? Does a strong sexual appetite and freaky kinks truly make her a bad mother? Give us some examples of how she is an
unfit mother before we turn her into a sideshow attraction. Did she suggest anything sexual in nature towards her own child?
Some people have wild fetishes that are just that: fetishes. They get into
roleplay with a consenting adult partner and pretend to be family members,
school girls, dinosaurs or whatever the hell it is that turns them on. The most popular porn search term on the internet is “mother son.” Some food for
thought. If you have a fetish for big boobs it doesn’t mean you are going to go
around squeezing every nice rack you see. Practicing zoophiles, pedophiles,
necrophiles and rapists are dangerous because they have no self-control and act
on immoral urges. Am I suggesting that all humans are actually bubbling cauldrons
of one disgusting fetish or another? Yes, I am. If someone tells
you they have an incest kink it is not quite the same as someone telling you
they actually want to have sex with a family member. If your partner walks in
and begins showing you pictures of dead bodies and suggests where you two could
rob a grave and have sexytimes with corpses, you have the right to run the
other way. But if they show you weird necro-erotica that’s not quite the same
as trying to plan a necro party with you. What I am trying to say through this
ramble is that there is a difference between the fantasy and the action and
most people are not nearly douche enough to be Ted Bundy.
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| Ancient zoophile porn because...why not? |
If she did do what he said she said to those dogs then surely she
deserves some punishment and the dogs should be properly cared for. Animals do
not deserve to be used in yet another horrible way for a human’s selfish
pleasure. If she really is a danger to her child, then something should be
done. But among these moral lapses that
the story implies only ONE of them is illegal and that has yet to be proven:
- · She had sex with two dogs when she was a minor.
- · She stopped taking her birth control pills.
- · She refused to take the pregnancy test.
- · She has an incest fetish.
- · She takes sexy selfies.
- · She is 20 with a child.
- · She likes sex. (Ex claims she is a nymphomaniac but also claims in the same breath that their sex life had been “suffering.”)
- · She thinks she could get paid for sex because she’s good at it.
- · She might be unwed and pregnant.
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