There are studies that say that the PTSD sexual assault survivors experience is 4x greater than soldiers in combat.
But you don’t see sexual assault survivors raping men. The excuse of he had PTSD and that’s why he did a bad thing, should not provide cover for banal misogyny or sexual assault.
Women soldiers assaulted by their fellow soldiers while in combat… how are they doing?
And you certainly don’t get to run for Senate on your redemption tour when a) you have no political experience, b) you aren’t rehabilitated yet c) you lie and obfuscate about your past hoping you’re golden enough to slip through d) you’ve raped and assaulted women and you think anyone should trust you to keep our bodies and our hatchet wounds safe?
Only a man can beat susan Collins—really? Isn’t it strange that she has all this power and won her election even though she has a vagina? How did a woman do it? How does she keep her seat? It’s almost as if a woman could win an election.
Excellent piece Jessica. On their watch, the "Establishment Dems" have lost us reporductive rights, voting rights, affordabble care act, separation of church and state, etc etc. It is no wonder Democratic voters want a change of leadership, totally understandable. But desperation need not make us blind and, as it turns out, Platner was not the change we need or want. The take-away point from your post, that his prior misogynistic behavior was perceived as NOT SO BAD, not bad enough to be disqualifying at any rate, is the key to understanding where we still are. Not very far from Collins confirming Kavanaugh.
Thanks for wrapping this issue up. Alas, poor Democrats. First Eric Swalwell here in California and now this guy out East in Maine.
About the Totenkopf tattoo. The symbol is an old one in the German military predating the NSDAP and the SS who adapted it for itself. If it ever had any kind of martial meaning outside the SS, this has all been eclipsed by the march of history, much like the swastika itself which had a well established history before being coopted by AH as a NSDAP symbol.
Pratner might have been excused for the tattoo because of its history before the SS. Unfortunately he got the tattoo while in Croatia on leave while serving in the military and Croations are ardent admirers of the NSDAP, and continue to extoll the historical connections between Croatia and the Third Reich, much like the Ukrainians are doing now. It is pretty unlikely he got it out of some old Prussian association.
Which brings to mind another reason for his popularity among the Democrats in his ardent displeasure with Israel, making bizarre accusations not unlike we see here at AED.
I have said from the beginning of his campaign that he’s an extremist and thus dangerous. No matter what side they claim, extremists are always dangerous. He’s a liar, a racist, and a rapist. I was pissed that as usual, he didn’t pay for his actions and LIVID that the Democrats are okay with a little racism and misogyny, as Jessica says, if we get a win. NO. No No No No. I’m a Progressive, not a Democrat but usually must vote D because we don’t have a Progressive party (yet). But I will not be told to accept the white guy or the moderate as our choice bc we have to appeal to the white “working” class. They hate us. They’re not voting for progressives anyway so let’s stop the nonsense and let’s start working again towards a Progressive platform, with or without the Democrats support.
I am so disappointed that Platner has turned out to be such a jerk. Well, he was before but it can’t be overlooked now. We need a candidate with his policies but not his disgusting past. Totally agree with you Jessica on all of it.
I feel like the Lone Ranger being skeptical of the outrage after that woman revealed that her sex with him was "non consensual." For so many reasons. 1. Timing. She could've taken his keys and reported him the night it happened. 2.) Timing. The GOP is terrified that Platner would beat Collins and they needed her to stay in place. The timing of this is a speed bump and a 3 foot wide and 8 inch deep pothole all at once. 3.) The Party Machine has been wrong before and all the outrage against Platner's past behavior masks their misjudgements. I have first hand knowledge of at least 2 candidates who are running to defeat an R incumbent. These candidates were told not to run: they had already sunk a lot of money into their 'preferred' candidate. In that regard, Platner's 'farewell' speech was correct. Maine voters are the only ones who should select THEIR preferred candidate. It was Platner. When he got too popular, I think the gop found a crack and exploited it with a "non consensual" sex event with a woman who already had a consensual relationship with him. 5 years ago. I think time will tell that the one who got screwed in this debacle was Platner. And ultimately US. Clutching your pearls and condemming a "rapist' (not tried OR convicted) ? Y'all elected and keep in office a demented man who actually WAS TRIED and CONVICTED OF BOTH RAPE AND DEFAMATION. This is Mount Everest versus a mole hill. Yup, a lone ranger who normally agrees with everything Jessica posts. But like I said: timing.
Where have I heard this argument before? Ah yes. Christine Blasey Ford. Anita Hill.
Consider the possibility that women, knowing they will be disbelieved and dragged through the mud, choose to keep their trauma private until they realize their assailant is on the verge of being handed tremendous power, and then feel compelled as citizens to speak up so the public can see who he really is.
Reports of Platner’s sexual and physical abuse were known well before this woman gave her name. The media knew. His campaign knew, I knew. But the Democrats saw a chance to grab a Senate seat and were, once again, willing to throw women, minorities and actual progressives under the bus to get it. And I have never been disappointed in Bernie Sanders u til this candidate. I saw his extremism and past as problematic at best. Certainly not behavior worthy of a Senate seat. It doesn’t matter that their side is shit. We must always fight for equality, justice, and truth, no matter what. Even if we lose, sadly.
Men as a whole and regardless of party still aren’t ready yet to dismantle the patriarchy. They may never be. They also think the negative aspects of the patriarchy only affect them (being sent off to war and on and on). Why aren’t they willing to put in the work to change or better themselves? Because they still benefit greatly from it. At this time when different candidates are rising up in different states, we should realize that not all will make it. Some will disappear quietly, some will go out with a bang, and some will succeed. It’s going to be a messy process. At least it is no longer stagnant. End rant
Thank you, Jessica, this was an important piece that really puts the whole Platner saga in perspective. As a 78 year old progressive man, I have often asked in anger and frustration, "What will it take to get the white working class to vote in their own self-interest?" The answer seemed to be "someone like Graham Platner." Then the drip drip of disgusting revelations, to which for a while I responded, well, we're not going to get perfect candidates, and the white Maine working class identifies with this guy. He's them, with his tats and bad choices and plaintive recovery from "brokenness" (that pseudo-compassionate Christian weasel word). After all, I shouldn't be elitist and superimpose my values and standards on them, right? Wrong - that's exactly what I should do. Anything less amounts to the soft bigotry of low expectations. I have loved and been faithful and loyal to the same woman, the woman who gave me my children, for more than a half century. I've learned over these years the reality of how women sacrifice their bodies in bearing children, of their unique existential challenge of trying to retain the core of themselves while giving so much, of how each girl and woman is precious and immeasurably enriches human society, and has the inalienable rights of self-determination and dignity. If it's elitist to hold these values, fine. The Graham Platners of the world simply don't measure up. He can be an oyster farmer, but not a U.S. senator. Ditto for Eric Swalwell, and the countless others. Are there any real working class men out there, strong enough to respect women and mature enough to keep their junk in their pants? Maybe not, in which case could we possibly find working class women to run? Maine Democratic Party, please take note...
In a NY Times article querying whether sexual assault accusations derail political careers, Lauren McGaughy writes about the way Democrats expel abusive men while Republicans stand by them: “…the different approaches have cost Democrats talent and energy, and allowed some of the nation’s most powerful conservative figures to flourish.” I haven’t been able to read past that sentence. What pundits never seem to grasp is the talent and energy lost when women just walk away exhausted by having to constantly fight for their equal human dignity.
I am so tired of all the excuse making for men while women are held to impossibly high and arbitrary standards. There were quite a few women who flagged this early on and didn't endorse Platner, but I doubt we will hear any recognition of that from the podcast guys who bought into a story about a grown man not understanding the tattoo he was getting.
I think the Democratic Party has failed women, and not just with the endorsement of Platner despite all the sick, sordid warning signs that were already there. The larger failure is treating women's equality as something that can be blown off whenever it becomes politically inconvenient.
As AED so excellently reports on, the Republican-controlled states continue introducing increasingly punitive restrictions on reproductive rights, yet where is the Democratic Party's equivalent sense of urgency? Where is the long-term legal strategy to restore rights that have been stripped away by corrupt, far right courts and fascist red states? Why isn't the Equal Rights Amendment a top priority? Why aren't democratic leaders raising hell on our behalf? Women are half the population, yet our equality often feels like a pain in the ass to them instead of a foundational priority.
I'm also concerned that Democrats seem overly confident about the midterms, as though Republican dysfunction and corruption will be enough to carry them back into power. I don't think that's a strategy. Voters deserve more than "the other party is worse." They deserve a clear, ambitious vision that gives women and all Democratic voters a compelling reason to vote for something good, not just a vote against Trump.
We shouldn't have to keep proving our political value. We're half the country and one of the Democratic Party's most reliable voting blocs. Why are our rights are treated as negotiable while the party chases a small slice of male voters who may never support them anyway? The democratic party should be kissing our asses and following the mandate we've repeatedly given them.
Democrats always want you to think we are one vote or election away from changing things. We are not. I’ve always blamed them more than anyone for the fall of Roe and for doing absolutely nothing while a freight train was seen coming from miles away. The fact is that this country is deeply misogynistic. We have White Evangelicals (racists) who overthrew the government and wish to turn us into a theocracy. Meanwhile, everyone is afraid to criticize them out of fear. I’m tired of not addressing the religious psychosis in the room with us.
When his comments about women were first publicized, I immediately dismissed him as unworthy of leadership. My upper-middle-class Democratic friends, desperate to regain control, dismissed my dismissal and pointed to his PTSD as the source of his misogyny.
I have worked in neighborhood bars, fancy hotel bars, restaurants, and for 20 years in higher education, and have listened to thousands of conversations. Here's the truth: many men talk shit about women all the time. They view them as pieces of ass, ball & chains, nags, fuckable, ugly, bitches, whores, gold diggers, liars, etc. It mattered little if they wore three-piece suits or grimy t-shirts & jeans; women are objects to be used and abused.
Not all men, but many men. The others silently laugh along. Patriarchy has trained both men and women to believe this is ok.
I haven't seen it written about but I can't stop thinking about the fact that ICE didn't dial back operations until a man was killed. Even a gay man's life is still more valuable than any woman's. I remember Jessica commenting on the ICE agent calling her a bitch to her face as he shot her, and clearly to many, that is acceptable behavior. We have a long way to go.
There are studies that say that the PTSD sexual assault survivors experience is 4x greater than soldiers in combat.
But you don’t see sexual assault survivors raping men. The excuse of he had PTSD and that’s why he did a bad thing, should not provide cover for banal misogyny or sexual assault.
Women soldiers assaulted by their fellow soldiers while in combat… how are they doing?
And you certainly don’t get to run for Senate on your redemption tour when a) you have no political experience, b) you aren’t rehabilitated yet c) you lie and obfuscate about your past hoping you’re golden enough to slip through d) you’ve raped and assaulted women and you think anyone should trust you to keep our bodies and our hatchet wounds safe?
Only a man can beat susan Collins—really? Isn’t it strange that she has all this power and won her election even though she has a vagina? How did a woman do it? How does she keep her seat? It’s almost as if a woman could win an election.
It just shouldn’t be that woman.
My dad is a veteran and took deep offense to Platner blaming his bad conduct on PTSD.
Must watch from Stuart Stevens to Platner!!
duck://player/to3P7E1B07g
Excellent piece Jessica. On their watch, the "Establishment Dems" have lost us reporductive rights, voting rights, affordabble care act, separation of church and state, etc etc. It is no wonder Democratic voters want a change of leadership, totally understandable. But desperation need not make us blind and, as it turns out, Platner was not the change we need or want. The take-away point from your post, that his prior misogynistic behavior was perceived as NOT SO BAD, not bad enough to be disqualifying at any rate, is the key to understanding where we still are. Not very far from Collins confirming Kavanaugh.
Thanks for wrapping this issue up. Alas, poor Democrats. First Eric Swalwell here in California and now this guy out East in Maine.
About the Totenkopf tattoo. The symbol is an old one in the German military predating the NSDAP and the SS who adapted it for itself. If it ever had any kind of martial meaning outside the SS, this has all been eclipsed by the march of history, much like the swastika itself which had a well established history before being coopted by AH as a NSDAP symbol.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totenkopf
Pratner might have been excused for the tattoo because of its history before the SS. Unfortunately he got the tattoo while in Croatia on leave while serving in the military and Croations are ardent admirers of the NSDAP, and continue to extoll the historical connections between Croatia and the Third Reich, much like the Ukrainians are doing now. It is pretty unlikely he got it out of some old Prussian association.
Which brings to mind another reason for his popularity among the Democrats in his ardent displeasure with Israel, making bizarre accusations not unlike we see here at AED.
I have said from the beginning of his campaign that he’s an extremist and thus dangerous. No matter what side they claim, extremists are always dangerous. He’s a liar, a racist, and a rapist. I was pissed that as usual, he didn’t pay for his actions and LIVID that the Democrats are okay with a little racism and misogyny, as Jessica says, if we get a win. NO. No No No No. I’m a Progressive, not a Democrat but usually must vote D because we don’t have a Progressive party (yet). But I will not be told to accept the white guy or the moderate as our choice bc we have to appeal to the white “working” class. They hate us. They’re not voting for progressives anyway so let’s stop the nonsense and let’s start working again towards a Progressive platform, with or without the Democrats support.
The right out crowing about how they take care of their trash while enabling nothing but abusers and rapists is some of the grossest propaganda yet.
I am so disappointed that Platner has turned out to be such a jerk. Well, he was before but it can’t be overlooked now. We need a candidate with his policies but not his disgusting past. Totally agree with you Jessica on all of it.
I feel like the Lone Ranger being skeptical of the outrage after that woman revealed that her sex with him was "non consensual." For so many reasons. 1. Timing. She could've taken his keys and reported him the night it happened. 2.) Timing. The GOP is terrified that Platner would beat Collins and they needed her to stay in place. The timing of this is a speed bump and a 3 foot wide and 8 inch deep pothole all at once. 3.) The Party Machine has been wrong before and all the outrage against Platner's past behavior masks their misjudgements. I have first hand knowledge of at least 2 candidates who are running to defeat an R incumbent. These candidates were told not to run: they had already sunk a lot of money into their 'preferred' candidate. In that regard, Platner's 'farewell' speech was correct. Maine voters are the only ones who should select THEIR preferred candidate. It was Platner. When he got too popular, I think the gop found a crack and exploited it with a "non consensual" sex event with a woman who already had a consensual relationship with him. 5 years ago. I think time will tell that the one who got screwed in this debacle was Platner. And ultimately US. Clutching your pearls and condemming a "rapist' (not tried OR convicted) ? Y'all elected and keep in office a demented man who actually WAS TRIED and CONVICTED OF BOTH RAPE AND DEFAMATION. This is Mount Everest versus a mole hill. Yup, a lone ranger who normally agrees with everything Jessica posts. But like I said: timing.
Where have I heard this argument before? Ah yes. Christine Blasey Ford. Anita Hill.
Consider the possibility that women, knowing they will be disbelieved and dragged through the mud, choose to keep their trauma private until they realize their assailant is on the verge of being handed tremendous power, and then feel compelled as citizens to speak up so the public can see who he really is.
Reports of Platner’s sexual and physical abuse were known well before this woman gave her name. The media knew. His campaign knew, I knew. But the Democrats saw a chance to grab a Senate seat and were, once again, willing to throw women, minorities and actual progressives under the bus to get it. And I have never been disappointed in Bernie Sanders u til this candidate. I saw his extremism and past as problematic at best. Certainly not behavior worthy of a Senate seat. It doesn’t matter that their side is shit. We must always fight for equality, justice, and truth, no matter what. Even if we lose, sadly.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5572407-platner-nazi-tattoo-controversy/
Men as a whole and regardless of party still aren’t ready yet to dismantle the patriarchy. They may never be. They also think the negative aspects of the patriarchy only affect them (being sent off to war and on and on). Why aren’t they willing to put in the work to change or better themselves? Because they still benefit greatly from it. At this time when different candidates are rising up in different states, we should realize that not all will make it. Some will disappear quietly, some will go out with a bang, and some will succeed. It’s going to be a messy process. At least it is no longer stagnant. End rant
Thank you, Jessica, this was an important piece that really puts the whole Platner saga in perspective. As a 78 year old progressive man, I have often asked in anger and frustration, "What will it take to get the white working class to vote in their own self-interest?" The answer seemed to be "someone like Graham Platner." Then the drip drip of disgusting revelations, to which for a while I responded, well, we're not going to get perfect candidates, and the white Maine working class identifies with this guy. He's them, with his tats and bad choices and plaintive recovery from "brokenness" (that pseudo-compassionate Christian weasel word). After all, I shouldn't be elitist and superimpose my values and standards on them, right? Wrong - that's exactly what I should do. Anything less amounts to the soft bigotry of low expectations. I have loved and been faithful and loyal to the same woman, the woman who gave me my children, for more than a half century. I've learned over these years the reality of how women sacrifice their bodies in bearing children, of their unique existential challenge of trying to retain the core of themselves while giving so much, of how each girl and woman is precious and immeasurably enriches human society, and has the inalienable rights of self-determination and dignity. If it's elitist to hold these values, fine. The Graham Platners of the world simply don't measure up. He can be an oyster farmer, but not a U.S. senator. Ditto for Eric Swalwell, and the countless others. Are there any real working class men out there, strong enough to respect women and mature enough to keep their junk in their pants? Maybe not, in which case could we possibly find working class women to run? Maine Democratic Party, please take note...
In a NY Times article querying whether sexual assault accusations derail political careers, Lauren McGaughy writes about the way Democrats expel abusive men while Republicans stand by them: “…the different approaches have cost Democrats talent and energy, and allowed some of the nation’s most powerful conservative figures to flourish.” I haven’t been able to read past that sentence. What pundits never seem to grasp is the talent and energy lost when women just walk away exhausted by having to constantly fight for their equal human dignity.
I am so tired of all the excuse making for men while women are held to impossibly high and arbitrary standards. There were quite a few women who flagged this early on and didn't endorse Platner, but I doubt we will hear any recognition of that from the podcast guys who bought into a story about a grown man not understanding the tattoo he was getting.
I think the Democratic Party has failed women, and not just with the endorsement of Platner despite all the sick, sordid warning signs that were already there. The larger failure is treating women's equality as something that can be blown off whenever it becomes politically inconvenient.
As AED so excellently reports on, the Republican-controlled states continue introducing increasingly punitive restrictions on reproductive rights, yet where is the Democratic Party's equivalent sense of urgency? Where is the long-term legal strategy to restore rights that have been stripped away by corrupt, far right courts and fascist red states? Why isn't the Equal Rights Amendment a top priority? Why aren't democratic leaders raising hell on our behalf? Women are half the population, yet our equality often feels like a pain in the ass to them instead of a foundational priority.
I'm also concerned that Democrats seem overly confident about the midterms, as though Republican dysfunction and corruption will be enough to carry them back into power. I don't think that's a strategy. Voters deserve more than "the other party is worse." They deserve a clear, ambitious vision that gives women and all Democratic voters a compelling reason to vote for something good, not just a vote against Trump.
We shouldn't have to keep proving our political value. We're half the country and one of the Democratic Party's most reliable voting blocs. Why are our rights are treated as negotiable while the party chases a small slice of male voters who may never support them anyway? The democratic party should be kissing our asses and following the mandate we've repeatedly given them.
Democrats always want you to think we are one vote or election away from changing things. We are not. I’ve always blamed them more than anyone for the fall of Roe and for doing absolutely nothing while a freight train was seen coming from miles away. The fact is that this country is deeply misogynistic. We have White Evangelicals (racists) who overthrew the government and wish to turn us into a theocracy. Meanwhile, everyone is afraid to criticize them out of fear. I’m tired of not addressing the religious psychosis in the room with us.
When his comments about women were first publicized, I immediately dismissed him as unworthy of leadership. My upper-middle-class Democratic friends, desperate to regain control, dismissed my dismissal and pointed to his PTSD as the source of his misogyny.
I have worked in neighborhood bars, fancy hotel bars, restaurants, and for 20 years in higher education, and have listened to thousands of conversations. Here's the truth: many men talk shit about women all the time. They view them as pieces of ass, ball & chains, nags, fuckable, ugly, bitches, whores, gold diggers, liars, etc. It mattered little if they wore three-piece suits or grimy t-shirts & jeans; women are objects to be used and abused.
Not all men, but many men. The others silently laugh along. Patriarchy has trained both men and women to believe this is ok.
I haven't seen it written about but I can't stop thinking about the fact that ICE didn't dial back operations until a man was killed. Even a gay man's life is still more valuable than any woman's. I remember Jessica commenting on the ICE agent calling her a bitch to her face as he shot her, and clearly to many, that is acceptable behavior. We have a long way to go.
Female Lives Matter (FLM). Why isn't it a thing?
you nailed it with this piece.