Read my latest flash, Venison, at 52|250.

1. This could have been me, though my whiteness reduces the odds somewhat. I’ve experienced men closing in on my space while puffing their chests out and trying to use their size to intimidate me because I told them off for catcalls or advances. I’ve experienced men closing in on my space while puffing their chests out and trying to use their size to intimidate me because I ignored them. As the story of 18-year-old Mildred Beaubrun shows, men don’t always stop at threats. The brutality that occurs in these cases is not, unfortunately, of a wholly different species from the more mundane eventualities of verbal altercations or commands to smile when a man feels that he is not being shown appropriate attention by a woman. All of these are attempts to assert power and to reinscribe submissiveness in the psyches of women.
2. This could easily have been me. I know there were years when, given the opportunity, the class would have voted me out; this is not unusual for Aspies. While the teacher actually allowing such a vote may be extreme, it is worth remembering that young children pick up adult attitudes about their peers. They see who can and can’t be bullied.
3. This could not have been me. I had the good fortune to grow up in an area that did not suffer from war or its aftermath. (I nearly wrote “a peaceful country” but that cannot describe an aggressor nation no matter how the home front looks.) However, sexual abuse by those who possess any kind of power is far too common in this world. As Cara writes
   

   I’m unsurprised by the results of this study not because I think that peacekeeping forces are, as a general rule, evil rapist assholes. I’m unsurprised because they are in a position of very great power over a group of people who have been put in a vulnerable situation. Rape is a crime committed out of lust for power, not for sex. Though it’s most appalling when those in a position to protect end up doing incredible harm themselves, and though it greatly saddens and offends me, it doesn’t shock me in the least. The very reason why people in this kind of position (peacekeepers, soldiers, police officers, etc.) need the most monitoring, despite the fact that most peacekeepers are good people doing their jobs, is because theirs is a position to which rapists will naturally be drawn due to the increased opportunities and access to potential victims.

I’ve put these three stories together because they all involve a despicable assertion of power over others, and in all of these cases hierarchies are being taught and reinforced.

EDIT: Mildred Beaubrun has been taken off life support.

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