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An open letter to FA, RE: THE RAPE SCANDAL...
14 years ago
"MORELS taste good in omelettes..."
This edition of the Misadventures Of My Ego is cut and pasted together from a number of comments I've posted all over regarding this latest revelation of Dragoneer's flip-floppy ethics because I simply don't have the time to re-write it all. Some editing and clean-up was necessary to join the disparate bits together. And, personally, who gives a flying FUCK about the hack that revealed all of this to begin with in light of the greater problem it exposes?
Dear FA:
I don't think you get it. This isn't just some fur getting in a twist over somebody making a nasty comment about their Pokemon collection. This is a serious allegation against a major artist here. Whether or not the man did it, whether or not the victim is lying or telling the truth, the fact remains that Dragoneer advised her to keep quiet about it rather than deal with the "backlash of rabid fans". Fuck the fans- in this one case, I say, fuck 'em- the only people who matter in this are the two adults involved. She should charge him, if she feels she can, and he should have the opportunity to prove his innocence. Cover-ups of things like this never go well, in the long run.
A lot of folks are weighing in on one side or the other and this could mean a mass-exodus of people from this site for ethical reasons. Honestly, would you wish to remain a member of a site where the admins routinely "cover up" stuff like possible rapists and crimes of bestiality? The fact that they sheltered cub-porn for so long was a red-flag for me (that they got rid of it for financial reasons was shady, but at least the shit is gone). As a result of this insanity, I'm seriously considering dropping this place and finding another site to post my work on. I'll lose many of the contacts I had here- until I find them all and let them know where I've gone- and my business will drop through the floor, but I'd rather find a site run by more ethical, thoughtful people who understand that you do not tell a possible rape victim to keep quiet...
This issue is non-trivial- this is affecting anyone who does business on this site, and it affects the site itself. This whole thing is THAT repulsive. I can only hope that the admins will realize they fucked up, hard, and do what they can to improve their ethics in how they're running this site.
RE: Bawwing that FA might "go away".
Way to make this all about yourselves and your fucking pronz, you selfish, clueless nitwits. If anything, we should be thinking about the fact that FA has harboured a possible rapist, and that the victim was given the stupidest "advice" I can imagine for anyone in that situation, has advocated that person's silence in the matter, covered up (and warned them of investigations) the actions of bestiality-practitioners- and finally, the icing on that spectacularly ugly cake- that the admins are so hypocritical that they could think covering any of that up is a good idea. (Note: I stress "possible rapist" for a reason: innocent until proven guilty. I do hope Zaush is innocent, but damn, it's not looking good, so far.)
RE: "It's not rape- she let him have sex with her". "She's probably lying to get at a guy she hates". "Jealous, 'cuz he's a popufur". "You only believe her because you hate/are jealous of him". "You only defend him because yer a fan".
WTF? Are you people honestly THAT fucking naive or stupid? If this accusation is true, if coercion was involved, harassment over months (by the lady's own admission) intimidation, verbal bullying and what have you- it was rape. The fact that she eventually gave in means fuck all- she was STILL COERCED, YOU MORONS. Maybe not the highest rating (dunno if there are "1st, 2nd and 3rd degree" rules as there are in murder), but still rape- sexual harassment at the very least- still a chargeable offense. I'm not a lawyer, but I'm pretty sure of my opinion on this one (yes, I'm that rarity who doesn't confuse her opinion with fact).
I "take the victims' side" in as much as anyone should: any allegations of abuse are too serious to ignore. It doesn't fucking matter who might be lying. The accusation has been made and it NEEDS to be dealt with, hopefully in a court of law. Unfortunately, unless Ferality is willing to formally charge the man, she'll have to deal with this in her own way and maybe chock it up as a learning-experience.
I don't hate Zaush- I don't even personally know the guy. I thought his art was cool, if blandly the same thing over and over again. In short, he's not really on my radar as anything more than yet another porn artist, and I'm honestly surprised he has that many watchers (over 25, 000 at last glance). I don't fave much porn, honestly. I'd heard a number of ugly rumours about him over the few years I've been formally part of the Fandom, but I take all rumours with a big grain of salt.
I'm not gonna weigh in on whether he did it or not- that isn't my right.
The standard operating procedure all police use (in North America, anyway) when an accusation of abuse or rape comes up: zero tolerance- take it seriously. Find out, afterward, if the situation is so by going through the evidence. Again, it does not fucking matter if the accuser later turns out to be lying- you still deal with the matter as if it were real. Would you assume a child was lying if they said they were being molested by a parent? No, you'd fucking CHECK on it! You do not brush the poor girl off with bullshit like "be quiet because the backlash will be heavy".
Yes, she "should" have gone to the police instead of FA's admin staff- maybe she was hoping for some encouragement to do so. Hindsight being 20-20 and all, we don't know the kind of emotional halting-of-action this kind of situation might set up in her. She's said in her notes that she was emotionally vulnerable at the time of the incident, already having problems dealing with sexual matters from a previous situation and, yes, she might have been frightened that the social repercussions within the Fandom would ruin her, here.
But, how many women, over the years, stayed silent because they were afraid of losing their careers to the wrath of an abusive, harassing boss? Or stayed with an abusive boyfriend/husband for similar reasons? Similar situation: a person of "power" abuses someone, that someone is then afraid to speak out for fear of further attack. Sadly, it's a very common situation, which is why we have sexual harassment/abuse laws. If she can't make the rape allegation stick, her lawyer might still be able to sue for harassment.
I'm reasonably certain she wasn't so naive as to think a site admin could "fix everything and make it all better" for her- she was most likely looking for a reason, ANY reason to come forward, and got shot down!
I'm rooting for the victim, myself, if only because the accusation is simply too serious to ignore or brush aside as if it were some flighty Furry getting their panties in a twist over something trivial.
Something almost no one has pointed out (that I've seen so far): none of us has any say in what happens regarding this, not even Dragoneer. The ONLY people who have a say in this situation are those who were involved. If she feels she can, Ferality should go to the police, so Zaush could at least be able to prove his innocence. He has the right to face this accusation with honour. If he did do it, he's scum I would happily destroy, but I'm at least willing to wait to find out if he is that sort of cad, first.
RE: "keep quiet, because of the potential backlash":
BIG FUCKING DEAL, backlash. Who fucking cares if there's a "backlash"? No matter what Dragoneer decided, there would have been a "backlash" (yeah, he was kinda stuck, unfortunately)- look at the shit going down, now. I think Dragoneer chose the wrong brand of "backlash" to weather, but that's for him to wrestle with in his own conscience.
True, a couple of notes don't mean a whole lot in the sense of proof, but it's still an allegation that needs to be checked on, not "counseled" to remain quiet because of "backlash". FUCK the backlash, and fuck Zaush's fans. I repeat, they have NO say in this situation, and NEITHER DO WE. Nor does Dragoneer. The ONLY people who legitimately have a say in this are Ferality and Zaush (and any other women who may or may not have been involved). PERIOD.
THIS BIT IS MY OWN OPINION AND SPECULATION ON THE MATTER, AND, AS SUCH, CAN BE WRONG: If 'Neer had been worried more about her safety (and that of other women this person may or may not have pressured into having unprotected sex with him) instead of whether or not the fucking FANS would flip, I'd have more respect for his action. You NEVER tell a possible rape-victim to be quiet. I'll repeat this- because it obviously needs to be- it doesn't fucking MATTER if you believe them or not, or if they're even lying- you act as though the situation were true, period.
People react to being attacked in different ways- not all "victims" (gawdz, I hate that word) will be reduced to blubbering wrecks afterwards! I certainly wasn't. You tell her to go to the police, if she's able to! You tell her to find counseling and maybe even suggest some places she could go! You give her a shoulder to lean on. YOU DON'T FUCKING TELL HER TO BE QUIET ABOUT IT.
*sighs* I'm as disgusted with this as most seem to be. Rape, even the allegation of rape, is a serious business that you don't just sweep under the rug with stupidities like "it's better if you didn't say anything, because you might get harassed". How many women have been exploited over the years by high-profile people and ended up staying silent because of such advice, and suffer for the rest of their lives with regret because they weren't powerful, but their attacker was? Or worse, didn't speak up- "advice" or not- for fear of such repercussions as the ruining of their lives or careers?
Less than half of all rapes are ever reported because of fears like that: fear of their attacker coming back, fear of losing their job, fear of ridicule, fear of ostracism for daring to speak out against someone with more power... Fucking FEAR is at the bottom of shit like this, and it's gotta fucking stop.
Zaush has little power out in the mainstream world, but he's "popular", here, and so has "power" of a sort- opinions are gonna be all over the place. But, I would think it would be more fair to him if he could face the allegations head-on and, if he's innocent, prove them false, than to have the rumour-mill going at full blast as it is now.
OY GEVALT. *eyeroll*
Dragoneer fucked up. He fucked up BIG. YOU NEVER TELL A POSSIBLE RAPE-VICTIM TO KEEP QUIET. EVER. He should have suggested she go to the police. He should have suggested she find counseling and maybe sent her some info on places she could go. He SHOULD have given her a shoulder to lean on, whether he believed her or not, whether they were friends or not. A human being comes to you in pain, you don't just brush them off with bullshit like "keep quiet on this, the backlash will be more than you can handle". No offer to help, no offer to step on any potential harassment, just that mealy-mouthed brush-off.
Silence is a killer- rape is such a personal, touchy subject that more people fear the potential ridicule, the stupid assumptions by sexist jerks ("she was askin' for it, look how she was dressed!", or "she went to his place willingly! How was he supposed to know she didn't want it"), loss of a career (how many women over the years risked losing their jobs because they wanted to report their boss for harassment or rape?) than they desire justice for themselves.
But, all it takes is ONE person to come forward to give the other victims the courage to step up. Until someone finally speaks up, anyone who might have been attacked might not be ABLE to say anything out of simple fear! Read the papers: cases like this pop up all the time (sadly so), where one person comes forward and their testimony releases the flood of other victims at last coming out to reveal what had happened to them, sometimes after DECADES of silence.
I was one of those people- when I was eight years old, a local pedophile molested me over the course of a year. When signs began to point to a more violent situation, I got scared and ran to the cops. If anyone even DARES to ask why I was visiting this guy more than once, I'll know they're a fucking tool who knows ZERO about how abusers like this operate. At the trial, it turned out that I was THE FIRST of 54 children who came forward to report this guy. FIFTY-FOUR KIDS that MY testimony freed up enough to speak out. If I hadn't come out and led the police right to the perv's door, he might have gotten away with it- he'd apparently been doing this for so long that the local playground was called "molester park"...
What is a rapist? Someone who doesn't understand the word "no". Turning your back means "no". Flipping you the bird means "no". Slapping your stupid fucking face means "no". Saying "no", means no. Kicking you in the balls means "no". Pushing you away when you try to kiss me means "no". Saying "get off of me!" means "no". Crying means "no". Biting and kicking means "no". Screaming means "no". Saying "Fuck off" means "no". Rape means not understanding "no".
So, if this lady is speaking the truth, then Zaush is in for a lot of trouble. If the people she names come forward, and I hope they do, maybe morons like the twats of FA will at last SHUT THE FUCK UP.
I'm'a go and foam a dragon head and maybe get stoned on glue, now. (it's been raining for four straight days- too humid to spray the glue outside and hope it will set.)
Dear FA:
I don't think you get it. This isn't just some fur getting in a twist over somebody making a nasty comment about their Pokemon collection. This is a serious allegation against a major artist here. Whether or not the man did it, whether or not the victim is lying or telling the truth, the fact remains that Dragoneer advised her to keep quiet about it rather than deal with the "backlash of rabid fans". Fuck the fans- in this one case, I say, fuck 'em- the only people who matter in this are the two adults involved. She should charge him, if she feels she can, and he should have the opportunity to prove his innocence. Cover-ups of things like this never go well, in the long run.
A lot of folks are weighing in on one side or the other and this could mean a mass-exodus of people from this site for ethical reasons. Honestly, would you wish to remain a member of a site where the admins routinely "cover up" stuff like possible rapists and crimes of bestiality? The fact that they sheltered cub-porn for so long was a red-flag for me (that they got rid of it for financial reasons was shady, but at least the shit is gone). As a result of this insanity, I'm seriously considering dropping this place and finding another site to post my work on. I'll lose many of the contacts I had here- until I find them all and let them know where I've gone- and my business will drop through the floor, but I'd rather find a site run by more ethical, thoughtful people who understand that you do not tell a possible rape victim to keep quiet...
This issue is non-trivial- this is affecting anyone who does business on this site, and it affects the site itself. This whole thing is THAT repulsive. I can only hope that the admins will realize they fucked up, hard, and do what they can to improve their ethics in how they're running this site.
RE: Bawwing that FA might "go away".
Way to make this all about yourselves and your fucking pronz, you selfish, clueless nitwits. If anything, we should be thinking about the fact that FA has harboured a possible rapist, and that the victim was given the stupidest "advice" I can imagine for anyone in that situation, has advocated that person's silence in the matter, covered up (and warned them of investigations) the actions of bestiality-practitioners- and finally, the icing on that spectacularly ugly cake- that the admins are so hypocritical that they could think covering any of that up is a good idea. (Note: I stress "possible rapist" for a reason: innocent until proven guilty. I do hope Zaush is innocent, but damn, it's not looking good, so far.)
RE: "It's not rape- she let him have sex with her". "She's probably lying to get at a guy she hates". "Jealous, 'cuz he's a popufur". "You only believe her because you hate/are jealous of him". "You only defend him because yer a fan".
WTF? Are you people honestly THAT fucking naive or stupid? If this accusation is true, if coercion was involved, harassment over months (by the lady's own admission) intimidation, verbal bullying and what have you- it was rape. The fact that she eventually gave in means fuck all- she was STILL COERCED, YOU MORONS. Maybe not the highest rating (dunno if there are "1st, 2nd and 3rd degree" rules as there are in murder), but still rape- sexual harassment at the very least- still a chargeable offense. I'm not a lawyer, but I'm pretty sure of my opinion on this one (yes, I'm that rarity who doesn't confuse her opinion with fact).
I "take the victims' side" in as much as anyone should: any allegations of abuse are too serious to ignore. It doesn't fucking matter who might be lying. The accusation has been made and it NEEDS to be dealt with, hopefully in a court of law. Unfortunately, unless Ferality is willing to formally charge the man, she'll have to deal with this in her own way and maybe chock it up as a learning-experience.
I don't hate Zaush- I don't even personally know the guy. I thought his art was cool, if blandly the same thing over and over again. In short, he's not really on my radar as anything more than yet another porn artist, and I'm honestly surprised he has that many watchers (over 25, 000 at last glance). I don't fave much porn, honestly. I'd heard a number of ugly rumours about him over the few years I've been formally part of the Fandom, but I take all rumours with a big grain of salt.
I'm not gonna weigh in on whether he did it or not- that isn't my right.
The standard operating procedure all police use (in North America, anyway) when an accusation of abuse or rape comes up: zero tolerance- take it seriously. Find out, afterward, if the situation is so by going through the evidence. Again, it does not fucking matter if the accuser later turns out to be lying- you still deal with the matter as if it were real. Would you assume a child was lying if they said they were being molested by a parent? No, you'd fucking CHECK on it! You do not brush the poor girl off with bullshit like "be quiet because the backlash will be heavy".
Yes, she "should" have gone to the police instead of FA's admin staff- maybe she was hoping for some encouragement to do so. Hindsight being 20-20 and all, we don't know the kind of emotional halting-of-action this kind of situation might set up in her. She's said in her notes that she was emotionally vulnerable at the time of the incident, already having problems dealing with sexual matters from a previous situation and, yes, she might have been frightened that the social repercussions within the Fandom would ruin her, here.
But, how many women, over the years, stayed silent because they were afraid of losing their careers to the wrath of an abusive, harassing boss? Or stayed with an abusive boyfriend/husband for similar reasons? Similar situation: a person of "power" abuses someone, that someone is then afraid to speak out for fear of further attack. Sadly, it's a very common situation, which is why we have sexual harassment/abuse laws. If she can't make the rape allegation stick, her lawyer might still be able to sue for harassment.
I'm reasonably certain she wasn't so naive as to think a site admin could "fix everything and make it all better" for her- she was most likely looking for a reason, ANY reason to come forward, and got shot down!
I'm rooting for the victim, myself, if only because the accusation is simply too serious to ignore or brush aside as if it were some flighty Furry getting their panties in a twist over something trivial.
Something almost no one has pointed out (that I've seen so far): none of us has any say in what happens regarding this, not even Dragoneer. The ONLY people who have a say in this situation are those who were involved. If she feels she can, Ferality should go to the police, so Zaush could at least be able to prove his innocence. He has the right to face this accusation with honour. If he did do it, he's scum I would happily destroy, but I'm at least willing to wait to find out if he is that sort of cad, first.
RE: "keep quiet, because of the potential backlash":
BIG FUCKING DEAL, backlash. Who fucking cares if there's a "backlash"? No matter what Dragoneer decided, there would have been a "backlash" (yeah, he was kinda stuck, unfortunately)- look at the shit going down, now. I think Dragoneer chose the wrong brand of "backlash" to weather, but that's for him to wrestle with in his own conscience.
True, a couple of notes don't mean a whole lot in the sense of proof, but it's still an allegation that needs to be checked on, not "counseled" to remain quiet because of "backlash". FUCK the backlash, and fuck Zaush's fans. I repeat, they have NO say in this situation, and NEITHER DO WE. Nor does Dragoneer. The ONLY people who legitimately have a say in this are Ferality and Zaush (and any other women who may or may not have been involved). PERIOD.
THIS BIT IS MY OWN OPINION AND SPECULATION ON THE MATTER, AND, AS SUCH, CAN BE WRONG: If 'Neer had been worried more about her safety (and that of other women this person may or may not have pressured into having unprotected sex with him) instead of whether or not the fucking FANS would flip, I'd have more respect for his action. You NEVER tell a possible rape-victim to be quiet. I'll repeat this- because it obviously needs to be- it doesn't fucking MATTER if you believe them or not, or if they're even lying- you act as though the situation were true, period.
People react to being attacked in different ways- not all "victims" (gawdz, I hate that word) will be reduced to blubbering wrecks afterwards! I certainly wasn't. You tell her to go to the police, if she's able to! You tell her to find counseling and maybe even suggest some places she could go! You give her a shoulder to lean on. YOU DON'T FUCKING TELL HER TO BE QUIET ABOUT IT.
*sighs* I'm as disgusted with this as most seem to be. Rape, even the allegation of rape, is a serious business that you don't just sweep under the rug with stupidities like "it's better if you didn't say anything, because you might get harassed". How many women have been exploited over the years by high-profile people and ended up staying silent because of such advice, and suffer for the rest of their lives with regret because they weren't powerful, but their attacker was? Or worse, didn't speak up- "advice" or not- for fear of such repercussions as the ruining of their lives or careers?
Less than half of all rapes are ever reported because of fears like that: fear of their attacker coming back, fear of losing their job, fear of ridicule, fear of ostracism for daring to speak out against someone with more power... Fucking FEAR is at the bottom of shit like this, and it's gotta fucking stop.
Zaush has little power out in the mainstream world, but he's "popular", here, and so has "power" of a sort- opinions are gonna be all over the place. But, I would think it would be more fair to him if he could face the allegations head-on and, if he's innocent, prove them false, than to have the rumour-mill going at full blast as it is now.
OY GEVALT. *eyeroll*
Dragoneer fucked up. He fucked up BIG. YOU NEVER TELL A POSSIBLE RAPE-VICTIM TO KEEP QUIET. EVER. He should have suggested she go to the police. He should have suggested she find counseling and maybe sent her some info on places she could go. He SHOULD have given her a shoulder to lean on, whether he believed her or not, whether they were friends or not. A human being comes to you in pain, you don't just brush them off with bullshit like "keep quiet on this, the backlash will be more than you can handle". No offer to help, no offer to step on any potential harassment, just that mealy-mouthed brush-off.
Silence is a killer- rape is such a personal, touchy subject that more people fear the potential ridicule, the stupid assumptions by sexist jerks ("she was askin' for it, look how she was dressed!", or "she went to his place willingly! How was he supposed to know she didn't want it"), loss of a career (how many women over the years risked losing their jobs because they wanted to report their boss for harassment or rape?) than they desire justice for themselves.
But, all it takes is ONE person to come forward to give the other victims the courage to step up. Until someone finally speaks up, anyone who might have been attacked might not be ABLE to say anything out of simple fear! Read the papers: cases like this pop up all the time (sadly so), where one person comes forward and their testimony releases the flood of other victims at last coming out to reveal what had happened to them, sometimes after DECADES of silence.
I was one of those people- when I was eight years old, a local pedophile molested me over the course of a year. When signs began to point to a more violent situation, I got scared and ran to the cops. If anyone even DARES to ask why I was visiting this guy more than once, I'll know they're a fucking tool who knows ZERO about how abusers like this operate. At the trial, it turned out that I was THE FIRST of 54 children who came forward to report this guy. FIFTY-FOUR KIDS that MY testimony freed up enough to speak out. If I hadn't come out and led the police right to the perv's door, he might have gotten away with it- he'd apparently been doing this for so long that the local playground was called "molester park"...
What is a rapist? Someone who doesn't understand the word "no". Turning your back means "no". Flipping you the bird means "no". Slapping your stupid fucking face means "no". Saying "no", means no. Kicking you in the balls means "no". Pushing you away when you try to kiss me means "no". Saying "get off of me!" means "no". Crying means "no". Biting and kicking means "no". Screaming means "no". Saying "Fuck off" means "no". Rape means not understanding "no".
So, if this lady is speaking the truth, then Zaush is in for a lot of trouble. If the people she names come forward, and I hope they do, maybe morons like the twats of FA will at last SHUT THE FUCK UP.
I'm'a go and foam a dragon head and maybe get stoned on glue, now. (it's been raining for four straight days- too humid to spray the glue outside and hope it will set.)
