October 6, 2018

h/t @ChuckModi1, who tweeted:

Thought he’d just focus on Kavanaugh. Instead he gave best response on rape culture I’ve ever heard from a man! I aspire to be this reflective. Damn!

Rapper and activist Mysonne Linen joined other men in protesting Kavanaugh outside the Supreme Court building on Friday. The men stood in solidarity with women and victims of sexual violence, and were ultimately arrested by Capitol Police:

Before his arrest, Mysonne said this:

I came out here today because I think it's imperative, that men stand not only with women, but that they stand for women. By standing for women, that means we have to acknowledge that there is a culture of sexual violence, rape culture, that men have benefitted from. In order for it to change, men have to change. The same way we asked white people and black people to change, white supremacy, stand up, and face the white supremacy, we have to call ourselves to the same duty, when it comes changing to rape culture.

You know, we all look at Kavanaugh, and we see some similarities to things that have happened in our lives. At some point, we've traumatized some women, in some way that we might not even have even acknowledged, because it was normalized. You know, at some point, a woman said no, and you tried to pressure her into doing something, because this was normal behavior for us as men. We're supposed to "score," quote-unquote.

And when you realize, and you listen to these stories of these women, you realize that they've been damaged as a result of the things that we've took as normalized. So that comes with accountability. It comes with accountability saying, I might have done something, that, I might not have raped a woman, but I may have done something that may have traumatized her, as a man. And that's when manhood begins, when we take accountability for our own faults. So that's why I'm out here [inaudible].

And when you look at Kavanaugh, and understand that mentality: if you can't come to terms with the fact that you may have harmed a woman indirectly, not on purpose, and be honest as a man, then you're not fit to sit on the Supreme Court. So you know, you can't represent me. You can't represent us, in the highest court in the land.

So this is why I stand out here, in solidarity with women. I've watched them protest, I've watched them march. And I think it's imperative that we do the same, and show them, how we honor them, and how we love them, and how we are willing to stand for them.

Mysonne was one of many arrested at the Kavanaugh hearings as well. He's a hero.

Can you help us out?

For nearly 20 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but now Facebook is drowning us in an ocean of right wing lies. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon