Very rarely do I post something this serious minded but it’s extremely important that it be read by as many people as possible. Also that it came from the presumably forward thinking alternative comedy community is especially of note.
Below are excerpts from the original post by Poupak Sepehri, audience member at the closing Asssscat of the recent UCB Del Close Marathon in NY.
I wanted to talk about ASSSSCAT, the show that closed the Del Close Marathon, a huge improv festival. During the show, comedians on stage invited audience members to tell a true story from their lives, and then improvised a set around it.
….
He started his story by saying that he is a cook/host at Second City in Chicago (justification#1 – he is supposedly part of the community). One evening, a very drunk (justification #2) and older (justification #3) woman was hitting on one of the waiters at Second City. This woman, who was from out of town (justification#4), gave her number to the waiter and asked him to call her (justification#5). The waiter, not interested, shared the story with the rest of the staff and practically forced this cook/host to take the number, even giving him money for the cab (justification#6) to show up at her hotel.
The woman opens the door to her hotel room thinking it was the waiter, but SURPRISE it’s the cook/host. She immediately asks him to leave, but he finds some BS excuse to go get her cell phone so that he can call a friend to come pick him up since he doesn’t have money for the taxi back (another murky part of the story). She goes to get her cell phone, and makes a HUGE mistake: she leaves the hotel room door open.
Halle Kiefer at Splitsider was also in attendance and shares her thoughts, which come from a more comedy insider perspective. Stephanie Streisand has also provided a first hand account and there is video of the monologue.
Thanks all, now back to your regularly scheduled Hollywood nonsense.
I hope this guy is identified. But in the meantime, this is so indicative of a larger problem. The big thing that stands out to me in this story is that he’s told it before as a funny anecdote. He doesn’t see anything wrong with what he did. And no one thought to tell him.
Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley said today during a public hearing that she was raped as a college student at Boston University.
Speaking at the council’s weekly meeting at City Hall, Pressley made the revelation as she discussed an upcoming hearing to examine sexual assaults on local college campuses. Pressley had previously described herself as a survivor of sexual assault as both a child and an adult, but she had not provided specifics.
“I am a survivor of sexual assault while a college student,” Pressley said, without mentioning that she attended Boston University. “Mine is a truth shared by 17.7 million American women. And like 90 percent of rape survivors, I knew my attacker.”
After the meeting, Pressley declined to discuss specifics of the time and place of her attack. She said she spoke about her experience because “it’s important to always put a face to issues.”
“This is a crime of silence. In general, it is a crime that is underreported because of the shame, because of the stigma,” Pressley said. “But also because there isn’t a belief that there will be consequences, especially on a college campus where there is often contact with the attacker.”
Very brave.
“Neighbors’ comments about the girl, which we reported in the story, seemed to reflect concern about what they saw as a lack of supervision that may have left her at risk,” said Danielle Rhoades Ha, a spokeswoman for the paper.
Nope, New York Times. Still wrong. Her clothing didn’t leave her at risk. Her choice to hang out with older kids didn’t leave her at risk. Why are we just accepting, in print, in one of the world’s most highly-regarded papers, that rape is going to happen to a child????
THE ONLY PEOPLE AT FAULT HERE ARE THE MEN WHO CHOSE TO RAPE AN 11 YEAR OLD GIRL.
The factors as to why she was raped are singular as such: Men decided to rape her.
And maybe articles like this that continue to ask what the victim did wrong. THE ANSWER IS NOTHING. THE ANSWER IS ALWAYS NOTHING.
The point that should be addressed is, why do we live in a culture where a group of men can decide to rape an 11 year old? A sick thought that shouldn’t even be crossing their minds, let alone acted upon?
That’s the real tragic mystery. Not what a child did to invite her own rape.
