Schrodinger's Rapist: When is uncritical thought ok?

[bookitty]

Or apologize. The women that have participated in this thread have been more than fair in comparison. I certainly have a different opinion of what constitute an extreme feminist viewpoint after reading more of her blog. Sorry ladies.

I would like to apologize to you as well. I got caught up emotionally.

In real life I'm not such a OMGWTFBURNMYBRABBQ!!!! feminist. It's just that there's a low-grade marginalization that happens on occasion. It's not really a big deal, it doesn't mess up my whole day, but it is annoying. Annoying can sometimes be worse than something that is a big deal. Like getting cut off in traffic. It's super-annoying but affects your mood more than anything else.

So yeah, the original article is flawed, a bit over-emotional and inflammatory. At the same time, I totally get what she's saying and I think it's important. So I try to express that, get cut off, and it all turns into numbers and semantics. Annoying. Yes, the flaws in the article are what started the stats and semantics, I get that. Really, I do. But still it's annoying.

I'm cranky when I'm annoyed. Sorry about that.

 

[Furcifer]

I would like to apologize to you as well. I got caught up emotionally.

In real life I'm not such a OMGWTFBURNMYBRABBQ!!!! feminist. It's just that there's a low-grade marginalization that happens on occasion. It's not really a big deal, it doesn't mess up my whole day, but it is annoying. Annoying can sometimes be worse than something that is a big deal. Like getting cut off in traffic. It's super-annoying but affects your mood more than anything else.

So yeah, the original article is flawed, a bit over-emotional and inflammatory. At the same time, I totally get what she's saying and I think it's important. So I try to express that, get cut off, and it all turns into numbers and semantics. Annoying. Yes, the flaws in the article are what started the stats and semantics, I get that. Really, I do. But still it's annoying.

I'm cranky when I'm annoyed. Sorry about that.

lol, it's just the internet, it happens. It's a little surreal at times.

Yah it's flawed but compared to some of the other stuff on that blog it's rather tame. I'm not sure if it's deliberately inflammatory or not anymore. It certainly could have been worse.
Based on what Dunstan said earlier and what I read last night it was a clever little comment they spun into an article that gained a lot of attention in October of last year. I think it was written to incite some discussion amongst men and women. And apparently it did just that, and then some.
The arguments that we've seen in this thread were repeated almost verbatim on several different websites.

http://www.upliftmagazine.com/uplift/tag/phaedra-starling/

http://champagneandbenzedrine.blogspot.com/2009/11/giving-off-that-creepy-vibe.html

http://hugoschwyzer.net/2009/10/15/of-schrodingers-rapist-zenos-paradox-and-the-problem-of-trying-to-prove-a-negative/

http://zaskoda.com/2009/10/12/a-response-to-women-regarding-starlings-schrodinger%E2%80%99s-rapist/

http://www.canow.org/canoworg/2009/10/schrodingers-rapist-and-why-it-doesnt-say-what-you-thought-it-did.html

http://yesmeansyesblog.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/shroedingers-rapist-and-the-imagined-right-to-intrude/

http://yesmeansyesblog.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/shroedingers-rapist-and-the-imagined-right-to-intrude/

http://www.fourthwavefeminism.com/2009_11_08_archive.html

http://ethecofem.com/2010/08/17/1205/

The reaction was fairly predictable, the feminist leaning sites found it indispensable, a "must read for anyone with a penis" and the male friendly sites were like "I get it, but geesh, we're not all rapists".

It took some searching but there were a few responses from men and women that represented the middle ground. The men didn't feel centered out for having external sex organs and the women somewhat resented the implication that they scurry through public considering every man they meet as a potential rapist.

Anyhow, there are some excellent responses in the links above, and decidedly more female content than we've had here. I'm not sure how edited the comments are on any given site, and although there was a lot of criticism I didn't see very many people claim the issue was being marginalized. It honestly wasn't my intention to do so and I apologize if I came off that way at any time. I appreciate your comments and I did learn something along the way, thank you.

 

[Dipayan]

I'm guessing you wouldn't actually go out of the way to have your back turned at her, though, right? We're not really talking just defensive posture, which would be hard to judge in a stick figure drawing.

Stop already. Look at the last panel again. She is updating her blog, lamenting how the cute boy is ignoring her. Since she is updating her blog, of course she would be on her laptop. Since she is talking about the boy sitting next to her, of course she would try and hide it from him.

Let's stop over-analyzing xkcd.

 

[Dunstan]

The author of the article however, Kate Harding, seems to be critical of men no matter what they say or do. After reading a few of her blogs I can say with relative certainty you simply can't win for losing with her. Read them, men aren't allowed to talk about women because they aren't women and can't possibly understand them. If a guy says "Women can do what they want", she says she doesn't need their permission to do what she wants. Apparently men don't open their mouths without intending to control women.

It's not so much the Civil post that paints her as a misandrist as it is the entire website. Read some of the 140 blogs in the "feminism" category, it's enough to make you weep.

Or apologize. The women that have participated in this thread have been more than fair in comparison. I certainly have a different opinion of what constitute an extreme feminist viewpoint after reading more of her blog. Sorry ladies.

(Minor clarification: I don't think all those posts were written by Harding. I believe her site is archiving a lot of posts that were written by other bloggers.)

Regardless of who wrote them, I certainly don't agree with everything on that site, or even everything in the articles mentioned in this thread. That's not a surprise, as I don't agree with a lot of feminist theory. But I did learn something from them.