Tag: rape mention

5 Odd Facts About the Difficult, Tortured History of Virginia Indians – Indian Country Media Network

Featuring Carrie Buck, yeah. (Why the State of Virginia Sterilized Carrie Buck — The Eugenics Movement and Buck vs. Bell)

My great-grandmother knew her when she was in a “foster care” placement in our town. (Read: farming out poor kids as domestic servants.) Not sure if it was the same placement where she got pregnant by rape, or not.

They were about the same age, and Granny Lu was lucky she didn’t end up as the big eugenics test case herself after my Papaw was born when she was 14. (Also from rape.) Having family backup and no state involvement was the big difference there, AFAICT. But, this hits pretty close to home in multiple ways.

(More on Virginia’s history of eugenics, with laws on the books up into the ‘70s. )

5 Odd Facts About the Difficult, Tortured History of Virginia Indians – Indian Country Media Network

New research shows 0.6% of rape allegations are false.

babyslime:

skyliting:

rememberyes:

boldmatter:

jadelyn:

likeadeadchinadoll:

and for those interested, you can find the report HERE

Just in case any dudebros are unclear on what this means: it means that your buddy who totally just had some bitch trying to ruin his life by accusing him of rape…almost certainly actually did rape her.  

Just keep that in mind.

Yeah man, imagine that, bitches don’t be lying.

Can we put this into context? It means that 99.4% of rape allegations are true. 

It means that 99.4% of rape allegations are true.

When you read through and learn about those 0.6% who did make false allegations, there are some seriously important things to note. Firstly :

“Furthermore, the report shows that a significant number of these cases involved young, often vulnerable people. About half of the cases involved people aged 21 years old and under, and some involved people with mental health difficulties. In some cases, the person alleged to have made the false report had undoubtedly been the victim of some kind of offence (sic), even if not the one which he or she had reported.”
And then, when you get into the case studies you find things like a 14 year old girl sleeping with an 18 year old. When discovered, she claimed the sex was non-consensual in fear of her father’s disapproval, but investigation of texts and emails found that to be untrue. THAT SAID, the 18 year old was found to have a history of pursuing and seducing many very young girls, and once he was counseled he expressed not only regret over his actions, but the knowledge that he was purposefully picking vulnerable girls who could be easily manipulated into consent.

Another case was a married couple, where the wife claimed rape and domestic violence, so the husband was arrested and held. After some contact between the two while he was incarcerated, she went back to him and wanted the charges dropped. It’s okay because she still loves him. When the DA decided to keep going, she suddenly said that she made it up and he never raped her at all.
Further counseling revealed that the allegations were true, but she didn’t want to be without him so she lied about the allegations being false.
I don’t know about you, but this kind of sounds like classic domestic violence, and the kind of patterns you get into after living with an abuser.
The point I’m trying to make is that even though there are 0.6% false claims… when you break them down you find that there’s generally a lot of skeevy shit going on, and like the above quote, many of the alleged rape victims are actual victims of other abuses. For some of them, I’m guessing that an allegation of rape was the only way to bring enough attention to their abuse to finally get protection by law enforcement, or enough care from family to be freed from their abusive situations and moved somewhere safe. Some are mentally ill and have been taken advantage of, or are victims of statutory rape because they are not even remotely mature enough to truly consent to a sexual relationship with an adult.
These cases aren’t just as simple as, “some bitch regretted sex and cried rape”.

New research shows 0.6% of rape allegations are false.

Can my followers tell me about any Canadian women’s shelters, women’s groups, gofundme’s for rape survivors, etc that need donations?

dorkymeadowes:

kavaliier:

aka-maggie:

nopeachesforme:

allthecanadianpolitics:

I was thinking of doing more than just condemn misogyny today on The National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women (aka the anniversary of the Montreal Massacre).

Ideally I would have liked to donate to women’s groups, or women directly who have been victims of domestic violence, rape, etc.

Unfortunately at the moment my student loans are almost down to nothing, to the extent that I need to ration my money to afford food, so I can’t really do it now.

However I think it would be a good opportunity to share places that Canadians can donate to and help out women, and maybe next month when my student loans come back in I can donate some money to these groups too.

The very least I can do is give social media exposure for women and women’s groups that need help.

Please reblog this, and add your recommendations and I’ll be happy to share them.

The only one I’m personally aware of is Three Oaks.

http://threeoaksshelterandservices.ca/

Bryony House is a long standing shelter in Halifax

http://www.bryonyhouse.ca/about-us/

My Sister’s Place in London, ON addresses women’s homelessness, mental health, addiction, and trauma

https://cmhamiddlesex.ca/about-cmha/msp/

Women’s Shelters Canada has created an interactive map of women’s shelters and transition houses across Canada which you can find here: http://www.sheltersafe.ca/

oxfordcommaforever:

han-syolo-shot-first:

bubblegumsith:

cosmic-noir:

twowandsandadrink:

ashkinator:

politicalsexmaskitten:

hooraychelle:

yellowxperil:

srsly tho this is absolutely a thing that dudes do all the f***ing time

like where if he knows a girl doesn’t necessarily want to give him a hug, he will trap her in this position in front of witnesses where she has 2 options- both of which are undesirable for her, while simultaneously desirable for him

if she doesn’t want to hug him, whatever she does, it will suck for her.

she can 1. say nah and be the fucking asshole in front of other ppl or 2. forsake her corporeal boundaries and allow unwanted intimate contact

it’s a f***ing trap

F***ing hate dudes forreal.

too many f***ing times ugh

Story time.

One day I was on the MAX (basically a giant street car that goes all over the metro area) on my way to meet up with a few friends. I didn’t look at anyone, I didn’t speak to anyone, I just stood to the side on my phone making sure I wasn’t going to be late to my meeting.

Out of no where, this guy comes up to me and starts to chat me up. Me, being who I am, am absolutely terrified to tell this guy to f*** off. He was at least half a foot taller than me, and was way too bulky for me to fight back. So I suck it up at humor him, say hello. Before introducing himself or asking me for my name, he asks me out on a date. Not wanting to piss him off I try to make light of the situation and I laugh, telling him that my boyfriend wouldn’t like the idea, but thank you for the offer. He just shrugs and says, “He doesn’t need to know.”

At this point I’m scared out of my mind. There’s this guy who, after seeing me run two blocks to catch the train, comes up to me and has made it perfectly clear that he wasn’t going to leave without getting something out of me.

I deny him a second time, saying, “I don’t even know you’re name. We’re strangers, I don’t know you.” He finally introduces himself and asks me for my phone number. I tell him I don’t give my number out to people I’ve just met and he says, “Fine, but at least take mine so we can meet up later.” So he watches me plug his number into my phone (which I deleted as soon as I knew I was safe and away from him) as we’re pulling up to my stop. I tell him I need to leave and switch trains and he tells me, “Oh, I’ll wait with you. I don’t have any plans, so I’m in no rush.” It’s important to note what at this point he had previously told me that he was late to a job interview, but he has all the time in the world because he still hasn’t gotten what he wanted from me; a yes.

I get off of the train and he follows me, and waits at the platform with me for over ten minutes until my train arrives, asking me all sorts of personal questions about where I live and where I was going that day. As soon as the train pulls up he grabs for me and says, “Do I at least get a hug before you go?”

I was terrified. I was embarrassed. This dude, who before even asking me for my name asks me out on a date and then continues to harass me after I tell him I have a boyfriend, asks me for a hug only fifteen minutes after meeting. People around us were staring at me, as if I was being rude for denying him, and every inch of me was mortified. I wanted to run, but I felt like if I had done that he would have chased after me and things would have gotten worse. So I did, and he squeezed me so tight I felt like I was going to burst. It took me a good ten seconds to get him to let go and I ran to the train car just as the doors were closing. He was trying to get me to miss my train so I would have to wait with him even longer. I would have been stuck there for over a half an hour until the next train came by, and the platform (aside from the few buses coming by) was now COMPLETELY EMPTY. He knew EXACTLY what he was doing and he knew EXACTLY how to get me alone with him.

People, if you are in a situation like this do not feel obligated to give in. If someone is making you uncomfortable and asks to touch you in any way, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO SAY YES. Make excuses, be blunt, just straight up say ‘no’. If possible, go to someone else near by who you think can help you and ask them to help you. It’s important for guys to learn that they can’t get what they want just by asking over and over again.

I got lucky. But not everyone does. Please, everyone, Be Safe.

SECOND STORY TIME

So I was on the transit bus alone one time. This was my first time riding, and so already I was PETRIFIED. I sit down, pull out my ipod, and begin to play some games. This guy sits down next to me, and begins trying to have a conversation. I don’t really respond, I don’t even look at him, just give half-hearted “mhm”s and “oh”s, as I don’t want to be rude if he was just striking up a friendly conversation. He then asks me on a date.

Now, as I stated before, I already was absolutely petrified. My heart stopped and I didn’t know how to answer. So I just didn’t. He didn’t let up and I could feel his eyes on me. I quietly stammer out a “no thanks” and my stop HAPPENS to be coming up, so I pull the string thing to let the driver know I want to stop there, and once we stop and the doors open I get up and he asks me, “Well, can I at least have a hug before you go if you won’t go on a date with me?” 

This makes me break. There are now people staring, as we are the only people standing up and not getting off… So I just start crying. Hell, I am bawling almost instantly. He looks so fucking freaked out and people are now getting up to come over and comfort me/question him. I don’t stop crying, and he keeps trying to comfort me by touching me, and people are yelling at him for that. 

AND THEN. AND. FUCKING. THEN. THE GOD DAMN BUS DRIVER. A VERY EASILY 6 FOOT BURLY MAN. COMES OVER TO US. PULLS THE GUY AWAY. AND KNEELS DOWN. HE THEN ASKS, IN THE MOST CALM VOICE, “Did you request the stop?” I very slowly and shakily nod, as I am still crying my eyes out. He then asks, “Do you want to get off?” I give a quiet “mhm” and nod once again, and he offers me his hand. I take it, he stands up, and he escorts me off the bus. He asks me questions such as where I was going next, if I was going to meet someone shortly, if I was going to transfer buses from there. He was very polite and waited for me to answer the entire time, and my friend (who I was going to be meeting there) showed up. He asked me if this was someone I knew, I said yes, and he said alright, have a good day. He then told me- and this is something stuck in my mind forever, so it is word for word-

“If some guy EVER starts harassing you like that again, do exactly what you did there. Cry. Cry and scream and have a temper tantrum. Not only will it throw him off, but it will get others to notice. They might not interfere, they might, but you will have gotten their attention and if you happen to go missing the next day the search for you will be a hell of a lot easier because everyone in that location will have seen you screaming and crying with a guy now very awkward with his actions. They will know. That is what my daughter did, and three days after she went missing she was back in my arms. I pray for you and every other person like you who has this done. You stay safe now, okay?” And after I began blubbering again, I nodded and he left.

So this is the second lesson for yall. If you can not have the courage to say no or make an excuse, cry. Let out those sobs and tears and cry your heart out. Because it is going to make people notice and make people aware.

Reblogging for that second story. This might save a life.

I just wanna note that bus drivers can be really amazing and good ones do look out for their riders.

Also, as an additional tip (in case you cannot cry on command or such), you can say, “No, because you’re creepy/creeping me out” and if he persists or tries to laugh it off, say “I do not want to be touched” and look at one of the strangers/persons that is watching.

It:
1. Gives them a sense of urgency in the situation, as the eye contact is a way to make them feel as though you are personally asking for their help and it is now their obligation to help.
2. Contains words so that if you’re in a public place but people aren’t necessarily watching, then they (as natural evesdroppers) can overhear the attention-grabbing words and then notice the situation. Note, this does NOT mean that they will come for help, but you might be able to look someone in the eye (as previously mentioned) or just get some people’s attention.
3. It shows that you have fight in you. As with rapists, those who are physically aggressive (ie. these huggers) choose women they see as an easy target. The moment you show them you are going/willing to fight them, they are less likely to continue. Sadly, this is not always the case, but every little bit helps.

Hopes this also helps, guys, and I’m so sad that this has to even be a post we need.

Dudes who follow me: 1) reblog this 2) don’t be the creepy guy who asks random women for hugs 3) be aware of your friends or random creepy dudes and call them out if they act gross towards girls/womem

3. It shows that you have fight in you. As with rapists, those who are physically aggressive (ie. these huggers) choose women they see as an easy target. The moment you show them you are going/willing to fight them, they are less likely to continue. Sadly, this is not always the case, but every little bit helps.

Just to expand on this point: a certain subset of the more aggressive creeps are basically just looking for any excuse to take out more aggression on someone. Far from backing down, they will sometimes target people whose response they expect to give them that excuse.

Which is not to say that nobody should confront them anyway.

But, it is probably good to keep in mind that they may well try to escalate instead of backing off, and be prepared for that eventuality.

(Personally, I seem to be constitutionally incapable of not getting into it with people like that, which is kinda how I know. )

Source: yellowxperil

lavenderenergy:

haiweewicci:

nativeamericannews:

Sacajawea: If Not For Her, We Could Be Saluting the British Flag

Few women in U.S. history have had more influence on the nation’s history than the young Lemhi Shoshone woman, Sacajawea. It’s very likely that Lewis and Clark would never have reached the Pacific Ocean had it not been for her help. White settlement would have been different. Indian wars throughout the western half of the country would have been altered. We might even be saluting the British flag rather than the American flag. Sacajawea’s role was gigantic.

MY GIRL. She is of our tribe and we are so proud of her out in Inyo County. The Lewis and Clark thing was just a small part of her epic life.

She was actually born with the name Poi Naipi (Little Grass Maiden). She and two of her friends (Nai Nukkwi, Patsu Naipi) were kidnapped by a hostile band of Hidatsa, who had a strange practice of replacing their own dead children with the children of other tribes.

Poi Naipi’s “adopted” parents didn’t like her much so instead of sending her home they freaking sold her to a drunken French guy named Charbonneau. This man was bastard incarnate. To put this into perspective: He had once been stabbed in the face in Manitoba when he was caught raping a young girl there. At this time, being forced to marry him, Poi Naipi was about 9 years old. And, he already had one other child bride.

He was very abusive, he drank a lot, and at some point Poi Naipi started calling herself Tsaikka Tsa Wea. It means in our language, “One Who Carries a Burden.” You see how this got corrupted to Sacajawea over time.

At one point on the L&C expedition Clark caught Charbonneau beating Tsaikka Tsa Wea and her newborn son. Well, Clark and Lewis beat the crap out of Charbonneau and told him to knock it off. Later, after the expedition, Clark paid for Tsaikka Tsa Wea’s son to go to school and live in his home.

That’s not even the cool part though. As an older woman Tsaikka Tsa Wea said “To hell with this, I’m going home.” This was a pretty big thing to do, understand that she had practically been raised by her abusive scumbag husband and it is very hard for women who have been systematically abused since childhood to learn to stand up for themselves, especially against their aggressors. But, she did it. Traveling all by herself, she found the Northern Shoshone encampment on Wind River, where Chief Wusik-He was with some Eastern Shoshone (and some Western at the time) (this would later go on to be the permanent Eastern settlement, those guys are still out there today). She was reunited with her brother, who by that point had been named Daigwani of the Northern Shoshone. Everybody welcomed her home, her friends, her family, and she broke down crying to hear them call her their “Lost Woman” (Wadze Waipu). For her resilience and cunning she was appointed the personal advisor to Wusik-He. As a very old woman was buried with the name “Chief Woman,” later her son and her nephew were buried on either side of her. Those graves are still there on Wind River today.

Poi Naipi and the Wide Ridge Clan, never forget you, your story is always being told. Miikwa katukan, tunna wunupuhantu tung’atiwan naangwunupuhantu

Source: indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com

queerly-tony:

iwilleatyourenglish:

sassdowflame:

yassmines:

aziz4m:

fuckwhoyoucamewith:

You’re doing amazing sweetie

yasssss queeenn

kill them baby!

I think she just made herself my new best friend

these comments are so fucking inappropriate and honestly trivialize a tragic situation.

this girl was sold by her parents into what is sexual slavery dressed up as a marriage, so she tried to kill her husband to escape his abuse, but accidentally poisoned 27 people instead. 17 people died, with at least one victim being a child. Bibi has openly expressed deep regret over having accidentally killed innocent people.

she was sold by her parents, the very people meant to protect her, and made into a sex slave. in her desperation, she made a mistake that cost innocent people their lives. she was then arrested by a legal system that could have prevented all of this by protecting women from sexual slavery in the first place, but won’t. 

she will likely be abused in prison and sentenced to death.

she’s not “queen” or your “new best friend.” she’s a young woman who has been subjected to horrors and, in an effort to fight back, accidentally committed one, a fact that is likely destroying her.

Since no one – even the person above – decided to link a fucking article, here we go:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/11/02/pakistani-bride-kills-17-people-with-poison-milk-to-escape-arranged-marriage/

She tried to poison the milk she was giving to her husband, and he refused to drink it. Some time later, the mother-in-law used it to make food for the extended family, and THAT is how they became ill. 27 people ate food made with the poisoned milk, and 17 died. 

Bibi has expressed regret, I don’t know why the original post says she was remorseless. 

I’d like to note that she used Islam as her defense against forced marriage, because Islam gives her the right to choose her own husband. 

Source: fuckwhoyoucamewith

reverseideologie:

fozmeadows:

tessacrowley:

lily-peet:

nevertrustamanwho:

femmebosskoopa:

imamisfittoy:

sardonicblisters:

yayfeminism:

A New Hampshire Republican State Representative anonymously created the “Red Pill” subreddit.

Wow.

these aren’t just bullshitter dweebs in their mom’s basements trolling the internet, these are men who formulate the way we implement laws and who govern the way we live our lives.

^^^ Hello, yes, everyone needs to see this. It’s not always a bunch of nobodies trolling around on 4chan. It’s, doctors, lawyers, judges, businessmen, bankers, law enforcement, etc. People who have pulls on society. They literally don’t see other groups besides themselves as human or equal

…holy shit like this is bad really really bad but so much clearly so if you’ve ever read the scum that floats to the top of the Red Pill. Like basically he was just outed as the creator of a neo-nazi misogynist pro-rape forum explicitly to recruit online loners and groom them like it’s EVERYTHING we’ve been saying these people do but this is like, the hive.

For the anon asking why not trust red pill guys

Fuck Conservatives

Fun fact: the Red Pill was 90% of the reason I left reddit. I think it’s important everyone understands why, without having to subject yourselves to actually looking at the subreddit.

The Red Pill is a confluence of gross misogyny, rape culture, and vile social darwinism, all tied up under the banner of it being the “truth” behind some grand lie that is PC culture; that is to say, taking the red pill to withdraw yourself from the Matrix, a metaphor nearly as dated as the ideals they espouse.

If you think I’m exaggerating, I’m not. I spent nearly two years on reddit before toxic bullshit like this drove me out. These people build an elaborate construct about treating women like property and sexualizing children because ~evolution~ programmed them to like it, and ~evolution~ can’t possibly be wrong, as though club-wielding Neanderthal brutes are something to aspire to and not something we left behind millennia ago.

They’ve created an incredibly detailed fantasy about how women are evolutionarily predisposed to react to certain behaviors of “alpha males” (another false equivalence; the theory of the alpha male comes from a since-disproved theory about wolf behavior), and how the trick to success in sex is about taking on these characteristics which, spoiler alert, explicitly encourage treating women like garbage.

I cannot overstate how incredibly toxic the Red Pill is and how disgustingly large the community became by the time I left reddit. I wish I could say I was surprised that a Republican senator founded it, but this is the kind of shit they’ve been legislating for years.

Why am I not surprised?

For all you god damn motherfucking doubters, this is not fake, sources include:

Time Magazine: http://time.com/4756308/robert-fisher-new-hampshire-mens-rights/

CBS: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-hampshire-rep-revealed-as-founder-of-misogynistic-website-refuses-to-resign/

Boston Globe (Behind a Paywall): https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/04/26/lawmaker-accused-starting-red-pill-forum-reddit-won-resign/RD057SBlGTwLoOMC9lLVLM/story.html

Local News Stations (as they are tended to be considered most credible)

WMUR (Local news station): http://www.wmur.com/article/state-lawmaker-admits-saying-some-injudicious-things-about-women/9562347

WRAL (also local news station): http://www.wral.com/the-latest-governor-wants-lawmaker-to-resign-over-comments/16666205/

and of course

Snopes Confirms: http://www.snopes.com/2017/04/25/legislator-reddit-redpill-forum/

Source: yayfeminism

Man Describes Alleged Sexual Relationship With Kevin Spacey at 14

sullengirlalmlghty:

Did you ever tell your parents?
Nope. But then I remember talking to my friends in my early 20s about it, as he started to get prizes and be in plays and later win a Tony. In the late ’80s, I remember seeing him in the movie Heartburn, playing the thief, and this rage that he was rising up in the world and that I was going to have to look at this person for the rest of my life.

How did you feel about him when you were 14?
I was obsessed with him.

And how do you feel about those feelings now?
You feel things full body, in a way, when you’re adolescent, right? And some people never learn, but in adolescence, you certainly don’t know yet that a very powerful sexual feeling is not love. You haven’t found that out yet, and some people don’t ever find that out. I was just full of this lust. And that’s why, one year later, even after he tried to rape me, some part of me wanted to see him again.

When did your thinking around what had happened start to change?
When do I start to think of him as a sexual predator?

Yeah. I assume you would call him that now.
I would call him that to his face. I would call him a pedophile and a sexual predator. When I turned 25, I looked at every 14-year-old boy I could see, to try to understand what those men had seen, because I still on some level thought I had been a tiny adult. That whole year I was 25, I tried to just see the ones who were like six-foot-two, and 200 pounds — they all looked like children. They all looked like somebody who was 10 years old four years ago. Nobody looks fuckable. Nobody … I couldn’t conjure it up. I couldn’t conjure up the desire. It was nauseating to think of having sex with them, and that was, I think, certainly when I understood, on a very deep level, these men were fucked up. Up until then, I just thought about him as somebody who had really done me wrong and tried to rape me, but not as somebody who had functioned as a predator. And then, if you’re interested in sexual predation, you start to read about it, and you realize all these patterns and techniques, and it all kind of falls within a set of practices.

Man Describes Alleged Sexual Relationship With Kevin Spacey at 14

jessica-messica:

glossylalia:

tehriz:

deadcatwithaflamethrower:

talesofthestarshipregeneration:

dsudis:

thelingerieaddict:

lesbiai:

elizabitchtaylor:

I learned about the murder of Kitty Genovese in two separate psychology classes, at two separate universities. It was studied as an example of the “bystander effect”, which is a phenomenon that occurs when witnesses do not offer help to a victim when there are other people present.

I was told by my professors that Kitty Genovese was a 28-year-old unmarried woman who was attacked, raped, and brutally murdered on her way home from her shift as manager of a bar. I was told that numerous people witnessed the attack and her cries for help but didn’t do anything because they “assumed someone else would”. Nobody intervened until it was too late. 

What I was not told was that Kitty Genovese was a lesbian who lived more or less openly with her partner in the Upper West Side and managed a gay bar. 

Now… is it likely that people overheard Kitty’s cries for help and ignored them because they thought someone else would deal with it? Or, perhaps, did they ignore her because they knew she was a lesbian and just didn’t care?

Maybe that’s not the case. Maybe it was just a random attack. Maybe her neighbours didn’t know she was gay, or didn’t care.

But it’s a huge chunk of information to leave out about her in a supposedly scientific study of events, since her sexuality made her much more vulnerable to violent crimes than the average person. And it’s a dishonour to her memory.

RIP Kitty Genovese. Society may only remember you for how you died, but I will remember you for who who were.

this was one of the first lessons I had in psych too and we were never told about this either nor was it in any of the reading materials

I never knew this.

I also never knew this about Kitty Genovese, but I do know that, in fact, many of the dozen (not thirty-eight) people who witnessed some part of the attack (which took place after 3AM, on a chilly night in March when most people’s windows were closed) tried to help in some way.

One shouted out his window for the attacker to leave her alone, which did successfully scare the man off temporarily.

Another called the police but, seeing her still on her feet, said only that there had been a fight but the woman seemed to be okay.

And when Kitty Genovese was finally attacked in a vestibule where she couldn’t be seen from outside, Karl Ross, a neighbor, saw what was happening but was too frightened himself to go to her rescue–so he started calling other neighbors to ask what he should do. Eventually one of them told him to call the police, which he did, and the woman he called, Sophie Farrar, rushed out to help Kitty even though she didn’t know whether the attacker was gone.

Kitty Genovese died in the arms of a neighbor who tired to help and comfort her while they waited for the police and ambulance to arrive. Kitty was in fact still alive, although mortally wounded, when the ambulance reached the scene.

The man who saw the final stabbing? Who panicked and called other neighbors first instead of the police? The man who said, infamously, that he “didn’t want to get involved” because he was reluctant to turn to the police for help? He was thought to be gay himself. He was a friend of Kitty and Mary Ann’s. After being interviewed by the police he took a bottle of vodka to Mary Ann and sat with her, trying to comfort her.

So, no. I don’t think the evidence indicates that Kitty Genovese’s neighbors let her die because she was a lesbian, because Kitty Genovese’s neighbors tried to help.

See also: Debunking the Myth of Kitty Genovese (The New York Post)

A Call for Help (The New Yorker)

(Also, going by the content of the murderer’s confession, it was indeed a random attack.)

how on EARTH was this “scientifically” studied but the details gotten so wrong and the wrong as hell conclusion published and taught in schools?!?!?! where were those scientists observation skills?! on vacation?!

How to take facts and turn them into an urban legend that gets taught in schools: Make a bad made-for-t.v.-movie about it, watch it, believe everything the movie says, annnnnnnd go!  That’s how it gets taught as this supposed “scientific study.”  Someone got fucking lazy.

Spread the real deal, kids.

A book about this, “No One Helped”: Kitty Genovese, New York City, and the Myth of Urban Apathy, won the Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Nonfiction this year! if anyone wants to check it out try your local library!

There’s also a doc on Netflix made by her brother, which doesn’t get into her orientation or romantic life but you do get to hear from Sophie herself as well as other living witnesses and you get more background on the killer (who was just a straight up sociopath who’s only goal was to murder someone that night). This case is taught in SO many psychology and sociology classes to prove that like altruism isn’t real or some BS. 

Professor’s should NOT be telling people that this case was “SCIENTIFICALLY STUDIED.” It’s true that this case inspired some studies to look into the bystander effect, but the popular story of “no one helped,” was actually created by the New York Times; the current police commissioner, allegedly to deflect some heat around other issues the police were dealing with, mentioned the story including the inflated “38 witnesses” number to a NYT reporter over dinner. (The suspected number of actual witnesses is thought to be much lower.) No one has ever interviewed those imaginary 38 people as part of a study.