Hi Clay. I know you were seeking feedback on your use of the trigger warnings on recent strips, so I wanted to point out that (the way facebook displays vertical images) the title and trigger warning get cut off in timeline view on web browsers. I’m not sure what can be done to fix that, but I wanted to let you know about it regardless.
I was asking more for Tumblr because I get a lot of messages there when I post sensitive strips. As for Facebook, I am really limited to what I can do with this especially when posting from a WordPress site. The tags I put in seem to get copied over in Tumblr but not Facebook. The post’s caption is generated automatically from a plug in and is not something I can edit on a post-by-post basis, and posting this manually would mean that this post isn’t connected to the main site. I understand that one can’t see the trigger warning until they click on the image.
Sexual assault leaves a witness — the person assaulted. Their memory and testimony is evidence. The fact that people overlook this as evidence shows how little we regard the experiences of survivors.
Whilst I agree that testimony can be admitted as evidence, lack of physical exhibits, as well demonstrative evidence, in combination with testimonies against the accuser (as had happened with Blasey Ford) is not enough to rightfully jail someone. Rape and sexual assault are disgusting, but preparing to lie in a court of law when you clearly have an agenda? Just as bad.
Uhh… the whole point of what Ford went through was not to jail someone, but determine someone’s fitness for the highest court. It wasn’t a court of law in the sense of someone being tried for a crime, it was for a job. If it were a court of law, there would have been a greater attempt to gather evidence. And while being lied to isn’t a good thing, I’m sure anyone I know would rather be lied to than raped. I think you’re mixed up as to the difference between a criminal proceeding and what Ford went through, regardless of your claim of “clearly having an agenda”, as you most certainly did by posting that. Please note that while you’re attempting to hide under an alias, this software does record all information about you when you send a message such your IP address. I don’t publish people’s IPs but people often have a false sense of confidence in their anonymity when they state their opinions that they wouldn’t dare state with their name attached.
\m/says
Ford was still accusing someone of a crime that rightly carries a harsh sentence. I am not sure about American law but in Germany a public accusation like that would have forced the state attorney to investigate by law. In any case it is not something you want hanging over you.
If you seriously think that no woman would lie about something like that, I invite you to study the case of Horst Arnold, a German teacher who was sentenced to 5 years for a rape that never happened, lost his job and pension, served his sentence in full because he would never “admit” his guilt and is now dead. As it turned out, his “victim” invented the whole thing even without an agenda.
Not sure what your point is about your first paragraph, since it did not force anyone to investigate in the US. Germany law does not apply to American law. However, it should be noted that lying to the FBI IS a crime. Ford wanted to talk to the FBI during the subsequent investigation, and if she was lying it would have meant jail time for her. Brett did not talk to the FBI and did not request it.
In the second paragraph, cherry picking examples that are very uncommon does not help your case. Whether it not I think someone would lie about that is irrelevant, I’m sure there are people who misconstrue the facts but I believe of the 250000 people who are sexually assaulted annually, the false accusations are outliers rather than any kind of trend. Just because one person is a pickpocket doesn’t mean everyone is a pickpocket. And one person lying doesn’t necessarily mean everyone lies. You’ll have to do better against a person with a psychology and stats background, I’m afraid.
Rajveer Singhsays
While the cherry picking may be true, you can’t seriously say that false accusations are remaining an outlier? Maybe a year, a year and a half ago, sure, but with the influx of false-rape accusations that clearly have an agenda (which isn’t to impose consequences on actual sexual assault perpetrators) using the platform of social media, not only are people like Dr. Ford diluting the credibility of real rape victims, and actual survivors, but they are instilling this thought in the aforementioned survivors’ heads that they wont be believed, because of public cases like this. It empowers only one type of people: liars, those who would falsely accuse, and see false rape accusations be followed through for some amoral personal gain. One person may not be a pickpocket, but the easy-going mindset that “it’s just one person” is what lets more pockets be picked.
P.S. I included my name, because you have the foolish assumption I don’t want to be associated with my opinions.
You’ve made the “foolish” assumption that Dr, Ford is lying and ran with this assumption. There is no evidence that this person is lying, there is no evidence that this person has “an agenda” beyond not wanting to see someone who tried to rape her have influence on her life by becoming a supreme court judge, which is fair.
Basically you are calling someone a liar without evidence, essentially the same thing you are claiming she is doing. You are a hypocrite.
The rest of what you are saying is nonsensical bullshit.
As for my “foolish assumption”, you initially took the time to type in “Anonymous” so it wasn’t that much of an assumption — you just got called out on it.
DoveCGsays
Or you could consider it’s because society doesn’t do much about rapists that many victims never come forth. Anita Hill was treated similarly when it came to Justice Clarence Thomas. This problem has been happening, to all sexes, for far longer than social media has existed. Just look at the Vatican…
DoveCGsays
Just to clarify, Anita Hill stated that Judge Thomas was inappropriate (sexual harassment.) I mentioned her, because now things have escalated to where being a potential rapist isn’t enough to give politicians pause. No one listens when the victim is trying to explain, all they can do is doubt immediately without even knowing them, so why speak? Rajveer Singh is just as complicit in the circle of silence that allows rapists to continue assaulting people.
Nicolasays
This came to my inbox at such a relevant time for me. It was only a few days ago I was explaining to someone why I’m haven’t reported my assault
“Did you consider taking them to court?” Fuckin’ hell… I couldn’t have taken a kitten to milk. I couldn’t have avoided a panic attack in a courtroom. Deer in headlights would be more capable of action.
Reminds me of the story, about the guy who removed his own appendix because he was the only doctor… and people look at *that* and go “wow. I would have died.” and that’s what it looks like to us when we see someone stand up and testify. And I wish the rank & file could grasp that… the ones standing up there are like the guy that chose to cut himself open to get out that infected little squiggle… when any of the rest of us would have just died.
This is not a new rule, but a reiteration that dismissing someone’s suffering –whether the suffering be a trauma, depression, an assault, etc, is just not tolerated here. Also, this applies to calling people liars without evidence for talking about their suffering. This is a safe place for survivors, and those who want to spread their hate will have to do it elsewhere.
I really needed this.. Recently was the date of the time I was sexually assaulted, it’s been 7 years since it happened, and it’s been 4 years since I came out about it. It makes me feel less alone knowing there are people that actually understand.. Makes me feel like more of a survivor than a victim..
thanks for the new post
Hi Clay. I know you were seeking feedback on your use of the trigger warnings on recent strips, so I wanted to point out that (the way facebook displays vertical images) the title and trigger warning get cut off in timeline view on web browsers. I’m not sure what can be done to fix that, but I wanted to let you know about it regardless.
Yes, I would add a trigger warning in text on the post’s caption.
I was asking more for Tumblr because I get a lot of messages there when I post sensitive strips. As for Facebook, I am really limited to what I can do with this especially when posting from a WordPress site. The tags I put in seem to get copied over in Tumblr but not Facebook. The post’s caption is generated automatically from a plug in and is not something I can edit on a post-by-post basis, and posting this manually would mean that this post isn’t connected to the main site. I understand that one can’t see the trigger warning until they click on the image.
depression comix I understand completely! Thank you for taking time to respond 🙂
???
Applause!
“Becoming Unbecoming” by Una is a great comic covering this topic. Thank you for your work.
It should go without saying, but it has to be said anyway: “Believe survivors”
“…even when they have no evidence.”
Sexual assault leaves a witness — the person assaulted. Their memory and testimony is evidence. The fact that people overlook this as evidence shows how little we regard the experiences of survivors.
Whilst I agree that testimony can be admitted as evidence, lack of physical exhibits, as well demonstrative evidence, in combination with testimonies against the accuser (as had happened with Blasey Ford) is not enough to rightfully jail someone. Rape and sexual assault are disgusting, but preparing to lie in a court of law when you clearly have an agenda? Just as bad.
Uhh… the whole point of what Ford went through was not to jail someone, but determine someone’s fitness for the highest court. It wasn’t a court of law in the sense of someone being tried for a crime, it was for a job. If it were a court of law, there would have been a greater attempt to gather evidence. And while being lied to isn’t a good thing, I’m sure anyone I know would rather be lied to than raped. I think you’re mixed up as to the difference between a criminal proceeding and what Ford went through, regardless of your claim of “clearly having an agenda”, as you most certainly did by posting that. Please note that while you’re attempting to hide under an alias, this software does record all information about you when you send a message such your IP address. I don’t publish people’s IPs but people often have a false sense of confidence in their anonymity when they state their opinions that they wouldn’t dare state with their name attached.
Ford was still accusing someone of a crime that rightly carries a harsh sentence. I am not sure about American law but in Germany a public accusation like that would have forced the state attorney to investigate by law. In any case it is not something you want hanging over you.
If you seriously think that no woman would lie about something like that, I invite you to study the case of Horst Arnold, a German teacher who was sentenced to 5 years for a rape that never happened, lost his job and pension, served his sentence in full because he would never “admit” his guilt and is now dead. As it turned out, his “victim” invented the whole thing even without an agenda.
Not sure what your point is about your first paragraph, since it did not force anyone to investigate in the US. Germany law does not apply to American law. However, it should be noted that lying to the FBI IS a crime. Ford wanted to talk to the FBI during the subsequent investigation, and if she was lying it would have meant jail time for her. Brett did not talk to the FBI and did not request it.
In the second paragraph, cherry picking examples that are very uncommon does not help your case. Whether it not I think someone would lie about that is irrelevant, I’m sure there are people who misconstrue the facts but I believe of the 250000 people who are sexually assaulted annually, the false accusations are outliers rather than any kind of trend. Just because one person is a pickpocket doesn’t mean everyone is a pickpocket. And one person lying doesn’t necessarily mean everyone lies. You’ll have to do better against a person with a psychology and stats background, I’m afraid.
While the cherry picking may be true, you can’t seriously say that false accusations are remaining an outlier? Maybe a year, a year and a half ago, sure, but with the influx of false-rape accusations that clearly have an agenda (which isn’t to impose consequences on actual sexual assault perpetrators) using the platform of social media, not only are people like Dr. Ford diluting the credibility of real rape victims, and actual survivors, but they are instilling this thought in the aforementioned survivors’ heads that they wont be believed, because of public cases like this. It empowers only one type of people: liars, those who would falsely accuse, and see false rape accusations be followed through for some amoral personal gain. One person may not be a pickpocket, but the easy-going mindset that “it’s just one person” is what lets more pockets be picked.
P.S. I included my name, because you have the foolish assumption I don’t want to be associated with my opinions.
You’ve made the “foolish” assumption that Dr, Ford is lying and ran with this assumption. There is no evidence that this person is lying, there is no evidence that this person has “an agenda” beyond not wanting to see someone who tried to rape her have influence on her life by becoming a supreme court judge, which is fair.
Basically you are calling someone a liar without evidence, essentially the same thing you are claiming she is doing. You are a hypocrite.
The rest of what you are saying is nonsensical bullshit.
As for my “foolish assumption”, you initially took the time to type in “Anonymous” so it wasn’t that much of an assumption — you just got called out on it.
Or you could consider it’s because society doesn’t do much about rapists that many victims never come forth. Anita Hill was treated similarly when it came to Justice Clarence Thomas. This problem has been happening, to all sexes, for far longer than social media has existed. Just look at the Vatican…
Just to clarify, Anita Hill stated that Judge Thomas was inappropriate (sexual harassment.) I mentioned her, because now things have escalated to where being a potential rapist isn’t enough to give politicians pause. No one listens when the victim is trying to explain, all they can do is doubt immediately without even knowing them, so why speak? Rajveer Singh is just as complicit in the circle of silence that allows rapists to continue assaulting people.
This came to my inbox at such a relevant time for me. It was only a few days ago I was explaining to someone why I’m haven’t reported my assault
“Did you consider taking them to court?” Fuckin’ hell… I couldn’t have taken a kitten to milk. I couldn’t have avoided a panic attack in a courtroom. Deer in headlights would be more capable of action.
Reminds me of the story, about the guy who removed his own appendix because he was the only doctor… and people look at *that* and go “wow. I would have died.” and that’s what it looks like to us when we see someone stand up and testify. And I wish the rank & file could grasp that… the ones standing up there are like the guy that chose to cut himself open to get out that infected little squiggle… when any of the rest of us would have just died.
Its shocking how well you managed to illustrate this topic in one strip….
Great post ❤️
Sorry for being laconic…I just don’t have the energy and wanted to thank you anyway.
This is not a new rule, but a reiteration that dismissing someone’s suffering –whether the suffering be a trauma, depression, an assault, etc, is just not tolerated here. Also, this applies to calling people liars without evidence for talking about their suffering. This is a safe place for survivors, and those who want to spread their hate will have to do it elsewhere.
I really needed this.. Recently was the date of the time I was sexually assaulted, it’s been 7 years since it happened, and it’s been 4 years since I came out about it. It makes me feel less alone knowing there are people that actually understand.. Makes me feel like more of a survivor than a victim..