Oh No, Not Again
I wasn't going to comment any more on Clint Heine, but his comment threads get worse. SimonD said:
I want to offer a job for Maia in K'Rd. My massage parlor needs 2 women to dance nude on stage.For those who don't know the NZ benefit system, if you turn down a job you can go on a benefit stand-down for up to 13 weeks. So people on benefits can't turn down work.
Does anyone know Maia's full name? I want to forward the job offer to WINZ, so they can get registered unemployed people like Maia to apply. I know WINZ doesn't like unemployed people who are registered with them to decline a job offer (any jobs really). So, there is a chance that Maia will take my offer.
SimonD wants to coerce me into sex-work by cutting off my other forms of income.*
Clint Heine's objection to this isn't based on my right to my own body:
If her blog is accurate I do believe she is already well known to the WINZ staff in her area. I somewhat doubt you'd want somebody like her in with your lovely girls. :)I'm proud to say that he's right. If I was to work on K'Rd I'd educate, agitate and organise, and SimonD wouldn't know what hit him.
But the point here is that coercing a woman to work in the sex industry by cutting off her other forms of income is rape. These clearly men view women as objects to be used by them, and my desire is irrelevant. This is the second time a man on Clint Heine's blog has expressed a desire to punish me with sex, and Clint Heine has no problem with that at all.
* In reality WINZ do not require women to accept jobs in the sex industry.
But the point here is that coercing a woman to work in the sex industry by cutting off her other forms of income is rape.
ReplyDeleteHell yes. And excellent post. In solidarity - V.
Clint may be encouraging this on the basis of "any publicity is good publicity".
ReplyDeleteWhy did you not publish my comment Maia? It is fair you show some balance don't you think?
ReplyDeleteAs a feminist myself I am appalled by your attitude to pick and choose who you publish comments from.
Also with you in solidarity.
ReplyDeleteEmma.
angelfish - I accidentally deleted your comment during moderation. If you repost it I will let it through
ReplyDeleteSorry Maia, I was upset as my last comment was upsetting as I wrote it.
ReplyDeleteI said that the subject of rape is extremely sensitive to me and I cannot find at any stretch of the imagination any coercion or desire to punish you with sex/rape with that comment.
I just feel that by you calling everything rape lately you are taking away the real seriousness of the issue. I think Clint Heine showed he has learned through that restrained reply to that smut peddler too.
I don't know - I just feel rape has become a cheap expression over here and that makes me sad.
Anglefish - that's OK - I was going to repost your comment from my e-mail, but I ran out of time before I left the house.
ReplyDeleteI guess we'll have to disagree. I think that by setting high standards, by saying that all sexual acts must have meaningful consent - then we are fighting rape. Rape doesn't just exist in dark alleyways, it happens everytime a man ignores 'no' or doesn't wait for 'yes'. More particularly I think that men who write about their fantasies to force women into sexual acts based on the men's desires, rather than the women's does contribute to a culture where rape is acceptable.
In your original post you said something about SimonD not even mentioning coercion - which I thoguht completely missed the point. He did say that he wanted to cut off my other income so I'd have to take up sex work - that is coercive whether he thought of it like that or not.
High standards -- damn straight. It's about time men got called on their stupid, sexist comments, whether they intended to intimidate women with them or not. I'd have been fucking terrified if someone had attacked me the way Maia's been terrified, even if the perpetrators were obviously total jerks like this lot are. Why will this sort of guy refuse to understand that women fear rape? We have pretty damn good reasons for fearing it - the fact that most reported rapes that go to trial result in acquittal, the fact that a great proportion of women who report rape aren't believed, the fact that rape is really, really common. So excuse us for being freaked out when a guy makes what he claims to be an off-the-cuff joke about wanting to administer a dildo to my friend.
ReplyDeleteRape is not, and never will be, a "cheap expression" in Maia's blog and to use those words shows a profound misunderstanding of the seriousness of the issue at hand. As long as sexual violation is a funny joke to some men, we need her voice, loud and clear.
Clint Heine wouldn't be any connection to Mike Heine would he?
ReplyDeleteThese guys are such jumped-up complete nonentities, they've been dribbling sexism and misogyny all over the place, egged on by none other than kiwiblog's own DPF. Not neccessary to mentor misogyny, DPF!
It's time that women stood up and pointed out that some behaviour, such as the threats made to Maia (and however weasely worded, these were threats!), is totally unacceptable, and not worth allowing to be promulgated in any forum.
Rape thinking encompasses the casual miogyny of the bar-room sexist joke, the putdowns that female staff have to cope with in everyday employment, and the fear that exists for some women, that their bodies are at risk any time from sexually-harrassing work peers or supervisors.
That this is becoming rife in Journalistic circles is an outflow of 80's thinking that has not been stamped out in the journalism schools or newsrooms of this country.
These are the guys who create the public perceptions about feminists, by their positioning of salacious or slanderous stories in media, attacking any woman whose prominence begins to threaten their hegemonic control of the media. That it's spread to blogs is no wonder - the freedom of the web is a two-edged sword for these men, as they cannot bear the prospect of a woman who behaves as freely as they do.
Good on you, Maia, for continuing to speak out. I am proud to stand at your shoulder, when such opportunities present themselves. Kia kaha, e wahine toa.
Sofiya, I think you'll find nobody said they wanted to administer anything to Maia - thank god.
ReplyDeletebut 'joking' about it is still fucked up, whether or not they were going to follow up on it. If someone told you they were going to rape you would you be scared even if they were kidding? I sure as hell would.
ReplyDelete"In reality WINZ do not require women to accept jobs in the sex industry."
ReplyDeleteI wonder if changing this is an official ACT policy?
Re- the likelihood of these twerps posing any sort of real rape threat... well, from reading their faux-tough-guy witterings, I'd wager that these pee-wees consistently 'spend' themselves into the old gym sock lying under their computer desk, so I reckon they're not particularly dangerous in that regard - they just like to pretend that they are on the internet.
Are you being deliberately obtuse, Angelfish? Smutty jokes like those made by Clint Heine's friends are part of the pervasive rape culture in this country, even if some self-styled feminists such as yourself would like to deny it.
ReplyDelete*shakes head in dismay*
ReplyDeleteThere is something seriously wrong with some people. They would never say these things in real life, but give them an interweb to hide behind and they're quite happy to spin their bile in public.
big hugs to you Maia and good on you for calling them on it too.
anarkaytie,
ReplyDeleteI think if you take a step back and see the comment by James (not Clint) as him saying that Maia should participate in a voluntary sexual act to herself and not what you are talking about here.
Yes James and Clint were stupid and immature, but if you just think about what was said, instead of launching into personal attacks on people, you will see the error of your ways. I have made my grievances clear on Clints blog and if you feel the same I suggest you do the same.
Ah so James was merely politely suggesting a sexual act that he thought Maia might enjoy? In the context of a blog, and a blog post, that is all about attacking and generally expressing contempt for Maia? Hmm, that sounds credible. Not.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you Mia - Hein et, al are a bunch of sleazy misogynist arseholes, and they need people to show them how their behaviour is contributing to a collective social context in which rape is seen as acceptable. Good on you for having the courage to take the bastards on :-)
ReplyDeleteAnd angelfish - I can see where you are coming from. The rape crisis statistics show that rape is an extremely serious problem in this country, and it should never be trivialized in any way. However I don't see Mia's approach as diminishing the seriousness of the issue. Rather she is bring to the fore, the deeper misogynist attitudes within our society that serve to "legitimse" rape.