Microstory 365: The Right to Not Be Raped

Click here for a list of every step.
Basic Romantic Involvement

I can’t remember what was supposed to go in this slot, but I removed it because it wasn’t that important, and because this is. I’m not going to worry about word count with this one, not as a joke, but because I just need to say what I need to say. Earlier this week, I was watching Nikki Glaser’s Not Safe. The whole premise of the show is to discuss sex openly. The program is informative, humorous, and a welcome relief after a week in a world like this. During one segment of this latest episode, she and a fellow personality took a small break from comedy to discuss rape as it pertains to current events. They still cracked a few jokes, but all in all, it was rather serious. They laid out some staggering statistics concerning recent court circuses—I’m sorry, I mean “cases”. But I guess that’s the real joke. Our adjudicative system is one big first draft that should be thrown out and rewritten. Seriously, if I tried to turn in a paper of the same caliber as the judicial branch, I would receive the only F I never had for writing. Instead of finding the truth, we only care about what can be proved, and if a woman comes forward with an accusation of rape or sexual assault, the first thing people do is try to figure out how to make her look like she’s lying. Victim-blaming should be a concept reserved for academic arguments, right at the top of the fallacy section in your debate handbook. Though I guess it’s already in there with ad hominem, isn’t it? It’s probably in a few more places too.

Rape is real. And it alone is a huge problem, I’ll give you that. But one rape survivor that Nikki interviewed made an insightful point when she said that a majorly overlooked problem is how everyone treats the situation following a rape. Judges, college authorities, and others are constantly telling women what they should wear, or how they should act, or what else they can do to keep from being raped. One dumbass politician even made the completely unscientific supposition that rape victims with ovaries have some sort of visceral “feature” capable of preventing unwanted pregnancies. These are baseless and ridiculous claims that so many idiots believe, if only to justify their own apathy or fear of dealing with the issue. It’s a lot easier to throw out a case and pretend the survivor is lying than it is to punish some stupid fucking football player because he brings in money. That nonsense makes me want to cheer for the Joker in the scene in The Dark Knight where he burns a giant pile of cash. Rapists need to be imprisoned, not just to punish them, and not just to keep them away from society, but so that maybe they can learn that rape is, ya know, wrong? They can’t do that if they get to move on with their lives. In fact, it encourages recidivism. And I know, rape is happening in prison as well, and it sounds like my suggestion wouldn’t work, but that’s an entirely different area where the judicial system has failed us.

Assume the fact of rape is a given, and just about everybody will—at least publicly—agree that rapists should pay for their crimes, but there’s one thing you may not agree with. Judges, and other people who actively support the “rape culture” should too be punished. Every school dean who sweeps the accusation under the rug, every judge who finds a very clear rapists innocent, every defense attorney who conducts oppo research on accusers just to defame their character and detract from the issue; they all deserve jail time. Judges, in particular, have far too much power over what the fuck happens in my country, and I for one am sick and goddamn tired of it. Where in your precious constitution does it say that they’re immune to the law? Why is it that, if a judge has a bias against someone, they get to do whatever they want, because they can always make the claim that they’re not really biased? Oh, they can’t lie? What a relief. If it is in the constitution somehow, then I implore you to get rid of it, because it’s a bullshit document anyway. I’m not sure why we’re still basing our lives on an old document that had no way of predicting present-day society. You don’t put so much trust in the bible, do you? Oh. That’s right. Now it all makes sense. I’m bested again by religion. Women have a history of being subjugated and objectified, so why should I expect things to be any different today? There’s gotta be some way for us to fix things, though. These are your religions...any ideas?

Intellectual Stimulation

Microstory 364: Basic Romantic Involvement

Click here for a list of every step.
Sexual Propagation

Not everyone who is alone is also lonely. Everyone requires different things out of life, and your drive towards human connection is not automatically universal. Hermits, as they are called, still depend on other people, just in indirect ways. Even if they live out in the wild, they weren’t always like that. But those are rare cases anyway. Even throughout the rest of the population, there are different types of relationships. There are as many kinds of people as there are people. Some are male, some female, some are somewhere in between, and some identify as genderless. There are even people out there who identify as asexual. As with anything, this is a gradient, but the basic idea is that they don’t experience the same kind of pleasure or satisfaction from sexual encounters. Some of these people are sociopaths, like the titular character from the series Dexter, but that’s not the only reason to reject societal traditions of sexual partnership. Once again, I believe I need to remind you that these “steps” I’ve laid out for you not only do not necessarily arrive in order, but also do not apply to everyone. Like asexuality, some people don’t enjoy or appreciate romantic relationships. They may remain alone, or they may lead sexually active single lives. Some people may even prefer the level of anonymity or detachment one might find in an association with a professional sex worker. Sidenote: I’ve not mentioned this in my nonfiction; prostitution should not be illegal. All of your reasonable objections to the sex industry don’t have to apply to it. You’re against violence, drug abuse, and kidnapping. So is everyone who doesn’t participate in those things. Anyway, the primary takeaway from this entry, and any other related essay, is how important it is to train yourself to avoid being judgmental. Just because someone doesn’t live the same way you do, doesn’t mean they’re wrong. Interracial marriages, okay. Open relationships, okay. Polyamory, okay. If you’re ever unsure whether a relationship is moral or not, just recall The Three C’s: consent, consent, consent. One, two, or more people are allowed to do what they please, as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone.

The Right to Not Be Raped

Microstory 35: Cellar Door

In the entire universe, there are only two species. There are many different kinds of humans, some of them “originating” from their own planets. If you ever encounter someone you believe to be an alien, they’re probably just a descendant of a genetically altered human. These come in the form of subspecies (vampires, elves, etc.), tangent species (e.g. dragons), and superspecies (e.g. Martians). The only true alien in the universe is called the Slrdr, and they are a complete evolutionary mistake. God is human, and made us in her image. So how the Slrdr evolved is something we don’t quite understand. But the most interesting part about them is that there are eight genders.

The male and female copulate through a combination of both liquid and pheromone secretion, stimulation, and song. The male deposits his sperm into one opening of the carrier while the female deposits a brood of several hundred ova into the other opening. Most of the several hundred ova will form zygotes, but usually only eight will survive after absorbing other zygotes. The carrier consumes blood orally from the sustainer. The eggs develop over the course of a half year during which the male, female, and carrier will sing. The carrier lays a clutch of eight eggs into a mudflat nest. If there are more or less than eight eggs, a defect or mutation may have occurred. It is not necessarily a problem; any number of things could have happened. The fertilizer sprays a growth hormone onto the clutch. The determiner injects enzymes into each egg that will mix the genes, leading to each individual scion’s gender and general genetic configuration. Each litter will contain one of each gender. All six genetic parents will be accounted for in the genes of the young. The fertilizer and determiner share the responsibility of protecting and watering the nest while singing.

The eggs will hatch after a half year. The young, considered to be one year old, will crawl into the pouch of the marsupial, which gives antibodies and other immunity boosters through its nipples for one year while singing. Marsupials are the largest of the genders, capable of sustaining the lives of two litters (if need be), but only if they consume blood from the sustainer as well. After the scions are fully developed, they will consistently receive milk containing protein, calcium, and other nutrients from the nipples of the giver who will teach them how to sing. Scions begin eating regular adult food after one more year (when they’re three years old). Scions are raised by all of their parents, along with their respective spouses, for five more years during which they will sing together. At eight years of age, children begin more independent lives. The parents will move on to conceive more children. At sixteen years of age, the scions restart the cycle.