# Starving Artists thinks attempted rape is not "all that serious" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 24, 2018, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artists-thinks-attempted-rape-is-not-all-that-serious/821855 "2018-09-24T20:59:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Not\_Carlson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc79bd/32.png) [@Not\_Carlson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_Carlson)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artists-thinks-attempted-rape-is-not-all-that-serious/821855/201 "2018-09-26T16:12:52Z")
> [@Gary\_Kumquat](#): > > , all you’re doing here is provoking the usual tortuous set of verbal gymnastics where our resident defender of sexual assault… > [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Same challenge to you. I’ll mail you a check for $100 dollars if you can prove I’ve ever defended sexual assault (in some manner other than to point out that it wasn’t as serious in fact as was being alleged). Easiest $100 ever, **Gary**. Except, of course: > [@blob](#): > > Do you really think anybody would want you to know his or (particularly) her address? You must be kidding, mate. 😃 Yeah. Definitely not worth it. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artists-thinks-attempted-rape-is-not-all-that-serious/821855/202 "2018-09-26T17:49:00Z")
You know, kids reading this thread really could learn a lot. They could learn the methods trolls like SA use. Here’s one: IMPLY STRONGLY and then dance around and say, “Ha-ha, show me the exact words or admit I never said that!” Let’s practice, kiddies: “I said she stole my money. I NEVER called her a thief!” “I said that kid has the IQ of dirt. I NEVER said he was stupid!” “I said she had sex with anyone who’d pay her money. I NEVER called her a whore!” But be careful, kiddos! Don’t try this with judges, parole officers, your parents, or any rational human being. It doesn’t work on anyone but kids like SA. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artists-thinks-attempted-rape-is-not-all-that-serious/821855/203 "2018-09-26T19:04:29Z")
I hope nobody’s considering actually accepting a check from this guy, or indeed touching anything he has touched. If you do decide to conclusively cite his casual pro-rape policies for the reward, at least arrange for a sterile transaction like a bank transfer or PayPal. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artists-thinks-attempted-rape-is-not-all-that-serious/821855/204 "2018-09-26T20:17:45Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I hope nobody’s considering actually accepting a check from this guy, or indeed touching anything he has touched I’d have suggested telling him to make a cheque out to his nearest rape crisis centre, but let’s be honest he’s never going to acknowledge the actual meaning and implications of his bilge, so why worry? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artists-thinks-attempted-rape-is-not-all-that-serious/821855/205 "2018-09-26T21:16:17Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > So NBD = acceptable? > > If a firecracker should go off in my hand, and I receive a blister as a result which I characterize as no big deal, does that mean I think it’s fine to hold firecrackers in your hand until they explode? But in the case of the alleged attempted rape, it’s the **entire incident** that you characterized as NBD: > [@Starving Artist](#): > > Perhaps the problem lies in the fact that I don’t think what she alleges to have happened to her is all that serious. During the days of my own youth such occurrences during drunken parties was fairly commonplace As you noted, saying that the blister you got from holding an exploding firecracker is NBD is not the same as saying that holding an exploding firecracker is NBD. The analogy to that in a case of attempted rape would be if the victim got, say, a slight bruise which was NBD. Which is not the same as claiming that the attempted rape **itself** was NBD. But what you said, in fact, was that the attempted rape **itself** , even if it happened exactly as she alleges, was not “all that serious”—i.e., no big deal. So no, your inaccurate firecracker analogy doesn’t let you off the hook here from having tried to normalize and minimize the crime of attempted rape. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artists-thinks-attempted-rape-is-not-all-that-serious/821855/206 "2018-09-26T21:38:19Z")
This is nonsense. You (and others) keep characterizing what I said as “no big deal,” when what I actually said was that “it wasn’t that serious.” The distinction then? The comment, “not that serious,” was intended in comparison with rape, which many of the board’s nimrods were attempting to characterize it as having been. And this is undeniably true. What Ford is claiming was clearly less serious than full-on rape. But people of your, shall we say, persuasion, have taken this perfectly innocuous and factually valid comment and attempted to construe it as though I were saying that what happened to her was “no big deal,” and that I’m attempting to normalize and minimize sexual abuse. What I said was correct, your interpretation is wrong, and it would behoove you on an intellectual-honesty level to acknowledge this. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artists-thinks-attempted-rape-is-not-all-that-serious/821855/207 "2018-09-26T21:49:29Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > I neither watch nor listen to right-wing media. :dubious: An odd claim from someone who has frequently commented on the general viewpoints and specific remarks of, e.g., [Rush Limbaugh](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11701154&postcount=4), [Ann Coulter](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14280927&postcount=2), [Bernie Goldberg](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=5924880&postcount=22), [“birther” conspiracy theorists](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13461514&postcount=66), and many other conservative sources. Whatever your personal habits or choices may be about your consumption, or lack thereof, of specific right-wing media products, you’re clearly getting a lot of exposure from somewhere to right-wing talking points, and it shows in the rhetoric of your posts. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artists-thinks-attempted-rape-is-not-all-that-serious/821855/208 "2018-09-26T21:57:03Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > The comment, “not that serious,” was intended in comparison with rape, which many of the board’s nimrods were attempting to characterize it as having been. > > And this is undeniably true. What Ford is claiming was clearly less serious than full-on rape. :rolleyes: Let’s review again what you went on to say immediately after the “not that serious” comment: > [@Starving Artist](#): > > Perhaps the problem lies in the fact that I don’t think what she alleges to have happened to her is all that serious. During the days of my own youth such occurrences during drunken parties was fairly commonplace, and the reaction of the girls involved was usually that the guy was just a drunken asshole and then they forgot about it. In these remarks, you were very clearly expressing the opinion that the behavior alleged by Ford was not only “less serious than full-on rape”, but so comparatively “commonplace” and trivial **that its victims did nothing about it and just forgot about it** , and that seemed to you like an appropriate course of action. Yes, that sends the very strong message that you’re characterizing that kind of attempted rape as “no big deal”. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artists-thinks-attempted-rape-is-not-all-that-serious/821855/209 "2018-09-26T22:10:14Z")
No, my own comments, plus my descriptions of how girls back then viewed such attempts, were made for the precise purpose of illustrating how much less serious than actual rape this kind of behavior is. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artists-thinks-attempted-rape-is-not-all-that-serious/821855/210 "2018-09-26T22:52:52Z")
You said it again. How do I get my $100?? (Psst. You don’t get to say how the girl felt) ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2018, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artists-thinks-attempted-rape-is-not-all-that-serious/821855/211 "2018-09-27T02:05:26Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > No, my own comments, plus my descriptions of how girls back then viewed such attempts, were made for the precise purpose of illustrating how much less serious than actual rape this kind of behavior is. So if someone grabbed you, pushed you into a room, turned up the music, pinned you down, and held a hand over your mouth so you couldn’t breath, you would be inclined to see that as minor? Never mind the fact that he was literally trying to get into her pants at the time. Also, who the hell cares what society accepted as normal back in your days, which I gather is why you keep bringing up how women used to feel. How is that relevant? Society used to think that slavery was normal too. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2018, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artists-thinks-attempted-rape-is-not-all-that-serious/821855/212 "2018-09-27T02:12:15Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > So if someone grabbed you, pushed you into a room, turned up the music, pinned you down, and held a hand over your mouth so you couldn’t breath, you would be inclined to see that as minor? Never mind the fact that he was literally trying to get into her pants at the time. > > Also, who the hell cares what society accepted as normal back in your days, which I gather is why you keep bringing up how women used to feel. How is that relevant? Society used to think that slavery was normal too. Silly girl. It’s no big deal when it happens TO A WOMAN because that’s just part of being a woman. It’s the flipside to all the attention and free drinks and shit. It’s part of how things are meant to be. Doing that shit to a man is fucking gross and humiliating. Treating him like a bitch. It’d be okay for a man to kill a man who did that to him. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2018, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artists-thinks-attempted-rape-is-not-all-that-serious/821855/213 "2018-09-27T03:02:09Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > No, my own comments, plus my descriptions of how girls back then viewed such attempts, were made for the precise purpose of illustrating how much less serious than actual rape this kind of behavior is. In fact, so “much less serious than actual rape”, according to you, that [you even asserted it wasn’t considered “morally wrong”:](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21227473&postcount=3217) > [@Starving Artist](#): > > Well you see, in those days people were both more realistic about life and they could cope with things. It simply never occurred to the girls that anything morally wrong was going on, boys were gonna go for it and that’s just the way life was. Yes, **Starving Artist** , that really does send the very strong message that you’re characterizing that kind of attempted rape as “no big deal”. No matter how much you now attempt to deflect that message by claiming that you only meant that attempted rape wasn’t as big a deal as achieved rape. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2018, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artists-thinks-attempted-rape-is-not-all-that-serious/821855/214 "2018-09-27T03:19:29Z")
SA is typical of all conservatives. #Jail!!! ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2018, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artists-thinks-attempted-rape-is-not-all-that-serious/821855/215 "2018-09-27T03:27:34Z")
I am just waiting on another giant Bill Clinton to pop up again. Those are always so cheerful. ---
**Author:** ![Not\_Carlson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc79bd/32.png) [@Not\_Carlson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_Carlson)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2018, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artists-thinks-attempted-rape-is-not-all-that-serious/821855/216 "2018-09-27T04:22:18Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > This is nonsense. You (and others) keep characterizing what I said as “no big deal,” when what I actually said was that “it wasn’t that serious.” > . . . > But people of your, shall we say, persuasion, have taken this perfectly innocuous and factually valid comment and attempted to construe it as though I were saying that what happened to her was “no big deal,” and that I’m attempting to normalize and minimize sexual abuse. . . . Sarcastic paraphrasing: “You people are attempting to construe human meaning from my words.” ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2018, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artists-thinks-attempted-rape-is-not-all-that-serious/821855/217 "2018-09-27T04:28:52Z")
:DBill:)Clinton:DCheerful enough? CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2018, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artists-thinks-attempted-rape-is-not-all-that-serious/821855/218 "2018-09-27T04:36:04Z")
I’m going to go out on a really long limb here and suggest that attempted rape is just as fucking scary, threatening and dehumanizing as an actual rape. It doesn’t make the perp a better person, it doesn’t absolve them of ANY culpability in my eyes. That they didn’t get to finish what they intended in no way diminishes the fear that the victim experienced. Sure, maybe there’s no physical damage to the victim, but the emotional and psychological scars remain, as has been evidenced in this very thread. Again, for all those sharing their stories, thank you and sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2018, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artists-thinks-attempted-rape-is-not-all-that-serious/821855/219 "2018-09-27T04:46:43Z")
Well, we all know rape isn’t so much about sex as it’s about scaring and overpowering the victim. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2018, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artists-thinks-attempted-rape-is-not-all-that-serious/821855/220 "2018-09-27T07:06:33Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > :dubious: An odd claim from someone who has frequently commented on the general viewpoints and specific remarks of, e.g., [Rush Limbaugh](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11701154&postcount=4), [Ann Coulter](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14280927&postcount=2), [Bernie Goldberg](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=5924880&postcount=22), [“birther” conspiracy theorists](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13461514&postcount=66), and many other conservative sources. Four posts over a 13 year span (one from 2005, one from 2009, and two from 2011) is frequent? I do not think that word means what you think it means. Besides, Bernie Goldberg was a career journalist for CBS and quite liberal in his views. It’s just that he was just intellectually honest enough to call out media bias once he got fed up wit it. And the other posts were the result of my investigating comments made here on the Dope. People would assert claims about these people so I would do a Google search to see what they were talking about. Further, you seem to have missed that in two of those four posts I was on the side of those here who said the people or claims in them were wrong. > [@Kimstu](#): > > Whatever your personal habits or choices may be about your consumption, or lack thereof, of specific right-wing media products, you’re clearly getting a lot of exposure from somewhere to right-wing talking points, and it shows in the rhetoric of your posts. I don’t listen to Rush Limbaugh and haven’t for over 25 years, and only occasionally for a couple years prior. I didn’t watch Bill O’Rlley’s show, I’ve never watched Hannity’s show, and as a matter of fact I don’t watch anything on Fox, and as of now I couldn’t name more than one or two of their on air talent, which come to think of it would be Hannity and Shepard Smith. The fact is I don’t watch more than three or four hours of TV in a month, and I haven’t for many years. Most of what I do watch is either on DVD (A&E’s Nero Wolfe, for example, or various movies) or Perry Mason reruns on ME TV. I don’t have cable or satellite television because it would be a waste of money. I also don’t listen to the radio except for music, and I haven’t for many, many, many years. Like, for almost 30, and even then it was Bruce Williams’ show, which focused mainly on advice regarding financial issues. So you can infer what you like from my “rhetoric,” but your current inference is factually wrong. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artists-thinks-attempted-rape-is-not-all-that-serious/821855.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artists-thinks-attempted-rape-is-not-all-that-serious/821855.md?page=12)