Sexual Assault or Feminist Wet Blanket?Follow

Were her lips bruised?

That's a long time to hold a grudge for a kiss.

I think he must move with the speed of a striking snake because she clearly hasn't had a chance to resist in anyway at all.

I had always assumed it was a sailor kissing some random nurse, not a "couple". I thought that was the point of the photo -- a random act of joy akin to kissing a stranger on New Year's Eve or something, only more so.

I wouldn't recommend anyone do it today but I don't see the point in litigating it against 1940's era mores. It doesn't change my opinion of the photo (such as I have one; it's not as though I own a framed copy).

She mentions in one of those she was just walking along and he came out from behind her, drunk on Victory and likely cheap 40s era mores and beer.

Oh, I'm not disagreeing, I'm just saying the guy was stronger and moved with lighting reflexes.

I will say that one spot where I was mistaken is that I assumed it was a sailor kissing a military nurse; a shared experience between people who had both been through the war. Sounds as though it was a civilian nurse from the articles.

I bet he didn't let her go because her breath was so minty fresh.

I watched the CBS video. Greta doesn't seem disturbed, she doesn't act as though it was fucked up, she doesn't say "He grabbed me" in any sort of violent context and she's been willing to meet up with him a couple times now for these human interest stories. While not all the quotes came from the video, I get the feeling that taken in context they'd be the same as the interview. I'd rather wait for her to proclaim how she was mistreated before getting indignant on her behalf.

Here's her Library of Congress interview from which the "I was just grabbed" remark comes from.

She's talking about how it would be uncomfortable to recreate the moment but not because she was assaulted or violated. She took it as a spontaneous act of joy and thought nothing else of it for years and years.

Mountains out of molehills.



Edited, Oct 4th 2012 5:20pm by Jophiel

Forgive my musings here, something that came to me after rereading the article. On the topic of fighting "rape culture" I'm not so sure it's something that's going to really succeed.

Why would you say such a thing?

Well, I think it's pretty hard-wired into the male mind.

What? That's sick. Obviously men should be able to control themselves, I'm sure they can.

I agree, and I would have whole-heartedly agreed with the statement a few years back, but I don't think self-control is the issue we should be looking at.

Humor me for a second...

I think the ability to ignore the pain and suffering of another is just part of who we are. Not only in the 'must kill to defend ourselves' mentality of nature, but also as part of ensuring reproduction.

Huh? You're ****** up...

Probably, but it's not like what you're thinking.

Consider this: have you ever watched someone go through a particularly painful childbirth? How did that make you feel? For myself it was horrifying. Knowing that a moment of passion could nearly cost another their life. Especially someone you care deeply about. Now imagine you lived in an era before things like drugs, c-sections, etc. where the process was often much more painful, and the risk of death from complications was much higher.

For myself, even today it was hard enough to get back into the swing of things afterwards so to speak. I mean, goodness gracious that was traumatic. Makes other suffering seem minor in comparison. Frankly if I wouldn't have been able to put the wife's pain out of my mind, we would have never had more than a single child, and I probably would have written off sex altogether. Not worth the risk, even with all those hormones pushing me.

Along those lines, why was it customary for men not to be present in the delivery room for many years?

Anyway, yes, icky stuff is icky. Not meaning to condone assault, make excuses, whatever, etc, just sharing a random perspective. Hopefully with the comparative ease of modern life, men can evolve away from that survival tactic picked up years ago. It'll take time though, I'd wager.

Anywho, it's probably all been said before, but it's something I didn't appreciate until more recently.

Random thoughts are done, and I'm headed home for the night.

Tootles.

Excepting the context I could give it 'assault'. The guy has his arm wrapped around her neck pretty good. To call it sexual assault you'd really have to define a kiss as being sexual. There's really nothing else steamy going on in the photo.

I find this potentially way more offensive than the kiss. I'm guessing you probably didn't mean it the way I took it.