The Nature Of Conservatism-- A Sick And Deranged War Against Women

The stories coming out of India and Pakistan about the murders of women last week have been gut-wrenching. Both were primitive and barbaric acts within the context of conservative and patriarchal culture that deem women less than human. Mulayam Singh Yadav, from Uttar Pradesh's governing party, was widely quoted in the media as saying "Boys will be boys" in response to the brutal gang rapes and murders of two girls from a poor family. The police tried covering the whole incident up. When I heard about it on the radio, I nearly threw up.

And, make no mistake, this kind of brutality and terrorism against women is very much a part of sick conservative politics. Ramsevak Paikra, a minister from the new far right Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party has said rapes happen "accidentally."

"Such incidents (rapes) do not happen deliberately. These kind of incidents happen accidentally," Paikra, of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which also rules at the national level, told reporters.

Paikra, who was asked for his thoughts on the gang-rape and lynching of two girls in a neighbouring state, later said he had been misquoted. His original remarks were broadcast on television networks.

The remarks come just days after the home minister of the BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh state said rapes were "sometimes right, sometimes wrong."

The minister, Babulal Gaur, gave the remarks on Thursday amid growing anger over the gang-rape and murder of the girls, aged 12 and 14, in northern Uttar Pradesh state late last month.

Modi, whose party came to power in a landslide election victory, has so far stayed silent over the rapes.

…Several politicians have sought to blame tight jeans, short skirts and other Western influences for the country's rise in rapes, while the head of a village council pointed to chowmein which he claimed led to hormone imbalances among men.

This isn't about Hinduism or the Muslim religion. This is about a primitive, patriarchal, conservative worldview-- one shared, if usually tempered-- by conservatives in our own country as well. Friday, Racine billionaire and sociopath, Samuel Curtis Johnson III, pleaded guilt to sexually assaulting-- for years-- his young stepdaughter. He got off with a slap on the wrist. He'll serve a few weeks in jail and pay a $6,000 fine.

His daughter was 15 in 2011 when she accused Johnson of being a sex addict.

The girl says Johnson would enter her bedroom at night and fondle her breasts, buttocks and vaginal area, the court documents state. According to the documents, the girl told investigators that Johnson "used his mouth to molest her," exposing himself through his pajama pants and frequently asking her for intercourse.

According to court documents the girl told her mother about the abuse in November in an effort to protect her younger sister.

Johnson's company manufactures household cleaning products like Fantastik, Windex and Draino and his personal net worth is $2.2 billion. Aviva Shen, writing for Think Progress digs into how Johnson got off so easy. The felony he was originally charged with could have led to 40 years in prison, Billionaires don't get 40 years in prison, so the prosecutor downgraded the charges to a misdemeanor, claiming the girl and her mother would not cooperate.

Johnson’s lawyers insisted the girl’s medical records be released to see if she had reported the abuse to her therapist, and a court held that the girl could not testify unless she released the records. The girl and her mother refused to release them, so the girl was barred from taking the stand. The case essentially fell apart without her as a witness, the prosecution said.

“Refusal to cooperate” is a common reason rapists go free, and obscures the difficult situations and complex power dynamics victims face when they come forward. Victims, especially children, are often traumatized and unable to navigate the rigid legal maze. They are penalized harshly if their stories change or if they don’t seem emotional enough. Sometimes they are even arrested if they try to back out. When the abuser is a family member, victims often feel conflicted about exposing them to a legal battle and face more pressure to back down. Indeed, prosecutors say the girl and her mother did not want to press charges against Johnson, whom they are likely dependent on financially and socially.

When the accused rapist is a powerful community leader, like Johnson, the costs to “cooperating” are even higher. In the now infamous Maryville case, prosecutors said they initially dropped charges against a football star because the victim refused to cooperate. That justification didn’t address that the victim had been ruthlessly bullied for months, her mother was fired from her job, and that the family ultimately felt the need to leave town.

Johnson is the latest symbol of how the justice system works differently for the super-rich. One wealthy heir who raped his 3-year-old daughter was recently sentenced to probation because the judge decided he “will not fare well” in prison. In another high profile case, a wealthy teenager successfully avoided jail time for killing four people in a drunk driving incident by arguing he had “affluenza”-- that his rich parents had never taught him how to make moral choices.

Is this is a good time to mention that it is the official policy of DWT that, while rapists should be castrated, all billionaires should be taxed out of existence?



UPDATE: Legal Notice

This e-mail, reasonable enough, came from someone representing SC Johnson (the company) who seems quite eager to disassociate the company from the billionaire/child sex predator, SC Johnson.

Hi Howie,

Wanted to reach out to you and kindly request a minor correction on your June 8 blog, “The Nature Of Conservatism-- A Sick And Deranged War Against Women.”

Specifically, where it notes that “Johnson's company manufactures household cleaning products like Fantastik, Windex and Draino and his personal net worth is $2.2 billion,” we’d like to request the underlined here/first half of this sentence is updated to “Johnson is an heir to the Johnson family fortune”-- removing the part that suggests he owns the company.

Curt Johnson has no formal relationship to SC Johnson; he has not worked for or served SC Johnson in any capacity for more than 18 years.

Thanks very much for your help-- please let me know of any questions.