More Today in Rape Culture

[Trigger warning.]

1. CNN—Yemeni child bride dies of internal bleeding: "A 12-year-old Yemeni bride died of internal bleeding following intercourse three days after she was married off to an older man, the United Nations Children's Fund said. The girl was married to a man at least twice her age."

No. She did not die of internal bleeding following intercourse; she died of internal bleeding following rape.

I don't give a shit if the editors insist from here to kingdom come and back again that they can't use the word "rape" because that's a legal term blah blah. "Intercourse" is effectively a legal term, too, given that it implies enthusiastic consent, which a 12-year-old child cannot give, irrespective of what the laws may say in Yemen.

"Following sexual activity" would be an appropriate term to use, if legal considerations prevent the use of any language that implies assault.

2. Shaker Cassie forwards this story about the ongoing (eight years and counting) victim-blaming bullshit from the accused men in the Haidl Gang Rape case, which has been a textbook example (in the worst textbook for the worst class ever) of how the rape culture and its narratives are utilized by defendants in rape cases. The content of the piece is good, but the flippant tone (and ugh! that last line! are you kidding me?!) is not great.

3. Shaker Jae forwards this article by singer Andrew WK, which includes a track he wrote and recorded at 17 and eventually resulted in a retraining order. The lyrics, which include lines such as "You are my destiny; I'll make you fall in love with me" and "Harm: That's what you're in for if you don't open your door," were written for a 14-year-old girl about whom WK now writes:

She consumed me with both lust and hatred – lust, because I was truly drawn to her beauty and soft skin, and hatred because she rarely spoke to me, wouldn't look at me much and never gave me a chance to show her my deep affections.

...[I wrote the song] when my crush was at its absolute height.

Crush, obsession. Potato, potahto.

WK says he's now making the song public because "Three months ago, I was advised by my personal manager and life coach to finally let people hear it, to resolve the nightmare [of having had a juvenile restraining order put on me, which lasted until I was 21]." Yes, well, it's important to resolve that nightmare for you, and definitely the best way to do it is to make public the stalker song you wrote for a woman who will surely be thrilled to hear it again and revisit the time she had to put out a restraining order on the man who threatened to "make her" love him. What great closure for her!

But then, she doesn't have an album to promote, so who cares about her, right?