This erasure

Comments

3 responses to “This erasure”

1. 

   Mostly Cloudy

   Mar 11, 2026 12:07 PM

   Funny how the Nation magazine (which Pollitt writes for) will happily publish a “don’t put rapists in prison” * article, but it won’t publish even the most polite and tactful criticism of gender ideology, like this Pollitt piece.

   * https://archive.ph/5AgDv
2. 

   iknklast

   Mar 11, 2026 2:14 PM

   Mostly Cloudy, that piece was…disturbing. She doesn’t want to put someone in jail even though they hurt her. She doesn’t want to think of people incarcerated at her expense. As a result, there are likely other women who have been raped by them in the years since. What she thinks is a virtuous stance (abolish prisons) is instead a selfish stance (don’t let my experience help other women avoid my experience).

   I can think of a lot of reasons not to report rape, most of which involve the attitudes of others toward the victim: the police, the press, the judges, the juries, and anyone else who gets a chance to take a swipe at her, and also the fact that reporting it means living through it over and over in testimony as people drag your name through the mud. I never reported mine; of course, I was only nine at the time and didn’t fully understand any of this.

   But to allow other women to be hurt because you don’t want to put someone in jail? That’s…well, frankly, that almost makes sense, but then, when you think about it, it doesn’t. Men (or women) who harm others may need to be placed away from others for a while.

   The answer isn’t doing away with prisons; it’s reforming them. I am a huge advocate of not incarcerating people for crimes that don’t endanger others, or for those who are mentally ill, who need to be treated. I do believe there are some people who must be done something with for the good of society. The real answer is to make our prisons more humane, and our prison guards more human. That’s tough to do, because so many taxpayers want to punish perpetrators to the max. Rehabilitation should be a goal, where it’s possible. Prisons should be clean, the food should be decent, the toilets should not be open to the public, etc etc etc, but I am afraid there are always going to be some who cannot be allowed to roam free until we can be sure they won’t hurt anyone else.
3. 

   Mostly Cloudy

   Mar 11, 2026 2:53 PM

   Iknklast – I’m sorry about the terrible thing that happened to you. You have my deepest sympathy.