On Lara Logan

[Trigger warning for sexual violence, victim-blaming, rape apologia, sexism, racism.]

Lara Logan is a CBS correspondent who was gang-raped and beaten during the celebrations in Tahrir Square last Friday after former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigned.

In the crush of the mob, she was separated from her crew. She was surrounded and suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating before being saved by a group of women and an estimated 20 Egyptian soldiers. She reconnected with the CBS team, returned to her hotel and returned to the United States on the first flight the next morning. She is currently home recovering.

Since this story was reported yesterday, there has been a tremendous amount of reaction, much of it absolutely horrifying in all the expected ways.

I had no desire whatsoever to write anything about this story, in no small part because I haven't even been able to ascertain whether Logan gave her permission to CBS to even report the story, and all its details, in the first place. But I'm getting lots of email about it, so here's the entirety of what I have to say:

1. I wish Lara Logan a speedy recovery from her physical injuries, and I wish her strength and peace.

2. If your first inclination, upon hearing of the sustained gang rape of a woman, is to suggest it was inevitable, because she was doing a job women shouldn't be doing, or because of the ethnicity and/or religion of her attackers (especially when the people who rescued her were the same fucking ethnicity and/or religion), then you are a fuckneck of epic proportions.