According to the most rigorous studies, 10.8% of college men perpetrate at least one rape before graduation. This statistic always comes to mind when I see men in power reacting with disgust to the idea that one of their peers could face even a shred of accountability.

i can all but guarantee you there are other women out there who have been sick to their stomachs for 24 straight hours praying that this will be enough. hoping like hell they won't have to rustle up their own traumas for an angry, hateful audience

oh, fuck ALL the way off with this shit. some rich rando rapist who had no history of political participation, let alone leadership, until he ran for Senate does not have a MOVEMENT.

I also think it’s well beyond time to start considering these men are not, in any true or meaningful way, on the left

Not lost on me that the high profile "they were right, and i fucked up" apologies have come from women (goldberg, klein) and not from the podbros who are arguably more responsible for this bugfuck mess than anyone else other than the candidate himself.

When someone says, “The timing is suspect” about a victim of rape or sexual assault coming forward when the perpetrator is on the cusp of grasping power or notoriety, they are telling you they have not cared enough about sexual violence to have learned why that pattern exists.

Graham Platner was "vetted" by Dan Moraff, a man kicked out of Pittsburgh DSA for sexual assault. You cannot have rapists in your tent because they will surround themselves with people who are also abusers or enablers, so they get away with more abuse. There are too many examples of this.

Believe Women is an epistemological stance. It doesn't mean you assume that every single woman is telling the truth and women never lie. It means you understand that in the system that we exist in, there's much more risk and pain for women coming forward about abuse than there is anything to gain.

maybe this is why @vassar.bsky.social doesn’t require math classes

Reminder that accusers don’t actually “press charges,” that’s a choice made by prosecutors, that it is far from a sure bet that a prosecutor will do so even if that’s what a survivor wants and that most rape survivors choose not to report because of the legal system’s hostility to survivors.

Reposting this take for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

One of my hardest-won political lessons is that it’s never, ever worth it to treat ppl as ~indispensable no matter what they do~ —bc we *see* the contributions & potential of the abusive men & we don’t get to see that in the women they drive out. We never actually get to know what we’ve squandered

better people that the Maine Dems could nominate: rusty from tabs; my mother in law, who spends a couple of weeks in maine in the summer; the hotel from newhart (pretty sure that was in maine); bigfoot, probably?

I am so fucking tired of woman having to stand on a national stage and tear their hearts open and pour their trauma out in front of the entire country. And still not be believed. Or be told it doesn’t matter because we need her assaulter. I’m so tired of it.

the high-profile people who supported platner ignored the nazi tattoo, so a bunch of women came forward to report sketchy behavior, which they also ignored, until this woman had to come forward and tell her full story. i hope they do some reflecting on how and why they put her in that position

Jenny Racicot, matter-of-factly, on CNN: "I've thrown up three times today." If Platner had dropped out, or been pushed out, when the last round of DV allegations dropped, she wouldn't be in this position today. That she is, is on him and his supporters.

i will not forget the men who downplayed the earlier allegations of abuse against platner and said accepting them was just the price we had to pay to gain control of the senate. i hope they feel like fucking assholes.

Abusers sabotage their own agenda and betray those who share it while placing the burden on victims to come forward and be punished, blamed, shamed, disbelieved, or not come forward and suffer in silence and let an abuser hold power. Abusers demonstrate radical selfishness.

Part of being a perfect victim when you’ve been assaulted by a politician is sharing your story in the exact right way at a time most beneficial for ~politics~ It’s beyond fucked up that we continue to put this responsibility on victims and survivors.

What if we made it socially, culturally, & politically untenable to be a man who hurts women? What if we valued women JUST ENOUGH to value women's lives over men's power or talent?

The rise and (hopefully) fall of Platner should be a time for the left to reflect on the ways sexual violence intersects with the oppression of other marginalized groups to corrode democracy. It’s never just a totenkopf tattoo. It’s never just reddit posts. It’s never just one woman.

This is almost exactly the reasoning Dolores Huerta had about not saying anything about how Cesar Chavez sexually assaulted her

Rape is a crime against democracy in the most immediate sense of equality between individuals and the premise that we’re all endowed with certain inalienable rights.

Yeah, as an #ActuallyAutistic woman, Baron-Cohen isn’t getting my forgiveness. He did SO much harm to ASD women for decades with the myth that HE created. I’m typically a forgiving person, but not on this.

she also had a crush on puck so maybe we shouldn’t be taking her opinions too seriously

I hope his hospital room’s AC is broken

here is what i think: we're not consumers or spectators, we are participants with agency. you should not hope that democrats will do anything. you must work to force them to do the right thing. the odds are long, but we are far from the first americans to face long odds. we will win.

Tip for anyone working with an autistic person (I'm becoming a broken record I know) if something's going wonky: let us work to our strengths. If we're interested in a task, often we'll do it in such a focused way that the end result will be high quality and quickly delivered.

Society: we want you to be able to work, even disabled Disabled person with a job but needs accommodation or simply understanding Society: no, not like that Now disabled person without a job needs assistance to live Society: stop being lazy & get a job Yall, we can’t win

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i looked at threads for one minute and saw tom colicchio defending dan goldman. whatever the opposite of “the juice” is, that’s what threads has.

It is unconscionable that this article discusses the military’s lack of insurance coverage for ABA without ever considering *why* that decision was made or talking to any autistic people at all.

My grandma was my autistic mentor and she was born in 1920.

In 2013, Brad Lander and Jumaane Williams teamed up to introduce two police oversight bills in the New York City Council. They passed easily, Bloomberg vetoed them, and the Council overrode the veto in a dramatic, late night vote. Here's what I remember from that session... (1/3)

fuck yeah, i didn’t even finish bedtime with my kid before this race was called!!!

At the time she was serving, I think we all underestimated what a malevolent force Melissa DeRosa was, and that's really saying something.

The cybertruck might be the only invention stupider than DARE, so I guess this makes sense.

I’m gonna have to insist that randos who have never cut turf stop opining on electoral strategy.

One way to celebrate Pride Month is to stop asking bisexual monogamous people if they "can ever be fully satisfied with one person."

Joyful news! A new episode of the Brothers Dimm podcast dropped! This week, discussing Story 88: The Singing, Springing Lark. Featuring a lady banging the amnesia out of her were-lion husband and an Indecent Proposal! Share and Enjoy! #fairytales #folklore #grimm #amnesiasex #furries

i don’t think i’ve seen 22 different doctors in my whole LIFE

ACAB includes basketball refs

oh guys i get basketball now! this is a good sport!

ACAB includes basketball refs

I definitely did not have "Vito Lopez being fondly remembered by a Republican on the Assembly floor" on my 2026 session bingo card. 👀

"uncorroborated allegations of a single source" is how domestic violence WORKS. Abusers generally abuse in private to ensure that victims/survivors won't have corroboration.

The way this woman minimizes the abuse that she suffered breaks my heart. I don't live in Maine, I don't vote in Maine, and I realize there aren't a lot of great choices for Mainers right now, but this much is clear: a vote for Graham Platner is a vote for a domestic abuser with a Nazi tattoo.

Showed this to the toddler and he gasped and said, "That's a silly painting!"

This bill creates a path home for the wrongfully convicted who've been legally barred from bringing evidence of their innocence to court. Today is the last day of session - if it doesn't get a floor vote today, innocent people will be forced to keep waiting until next year. Now is the time to act!