On May 26, 1828, Kasper Hauser, an unknown teenager stumbled into the streets of Nuremberg, Germany. He claimed to have lived in a darkened house since infancy. Historians have disputed many details of his story, but it’s interesting to read about nonetheless.
- How To Rescue 20 Million Angry Bees – “What do you do when a truck hauling 20 million bees crashes on the highway? NPR’s Rachel Martin talks to Deborah Delaney, bee researcher and professor at the University of Delaware, to find out.”
- Pope Francis’s secret fear means boom times for exorcists – “Pope Francis is seen as a modern, moderate pope. But he is rekindling the supernatural spectre of Satan.” From cerberus40.
- Women in Secularism Explained… by David Brooks? – “There seems to be a certain amount of confusion and disagreement about the purpose of the Center for Inquiry’s Women in Secularism (WIS) conference, the third annual of which was held this past weekend in Alexandria, Virginia.” Also, this article features many current Skepchicks!
- #YesAllWomen responds to violence against women and the Isla Vista tragedy – “The hashtag is an alternately painful and empowering way to call attention to rampant misogyny”
- Slightly More Than 100 Fantastic Pieces of Journalism – Bookmark this for a rainy day (preferably with a hot tea).
- “Sir, that is your penis!” – “How a lifetime habit of people pleasing came to a head on one truly hideous first date.” (Content Warning: Unwanted Penis Alert.)
I … don’t actually like that last story. Here’s what jumped out at me:
“It wasn’t my fault that David was so aggressive, but I knew that my need to please others — strangers, even, and guys I didn’t like — is what had gotten me into the situation.”
It’s victim-blaming, and that the victim is the author herself doesn’t make it better.
It actually sounds to me like her people-pleasing, while a behavior that is detrimental to her own well-being, is not what got her into that situation. What got her into that situation was a dude who read “Above the Game” and was trying to implement it. His behaviors are all PUA cranked to 11.
It’s good that she recognizes that looking out for herself is important and is a skill she should work on perfecting, but that is a completely separate issue from the root cause of a dude sticking his dick in her hand, and I don’t like the elision of these two issues.
I agree, that story has a lot to pick apart.
I feel like she was blaming the situation she was in on herself (being in a car with a guy she didn’t even remotely like, and not leaving while she had the chance). I don’t think she puts the blame on herself regarding the man pulling his penis out like that, there’s no way she could’ve known he was going to go that far.
As someone who has been in a very similar situation, I identified strongly with her story. And yeah, she shouldn’t blame herself. But I blamed myself too, even though I would NEVER blame someone else. But it is so, so difficult not to. Saying her feelings are wrong feelings makes me uncomfortable.
I think unfortunately a lot of women have this experience :( It takes a long time to recognize that you may be blaming youself for something that was not your fault.