Vile: Mother Raped; Video Posted on YouTube

That's the only word I've got: Vile.

The words of the mother:

Three boys aged 14 to 16 did it and it was set up by two girls. They came round with a neighbour I trusted and I had no problems with them coming in for a while.

I opened a bottle of champagne I had, to be social. We were drinking and I had one glass, then in seconds I began to feel weird.

They had spiked my drink and then they raped me.

I was totally paralysed. They were really hurting me and I knew something was seriously wrong but couldn’t do anything.

I was raped all night. It was torture. They raped me in front of my daughter who was screaming for me, but I couldn’t move.

They took turns one after another and carried on all the way through the night until the morning. Afterwards they called me a slag and a bitch.

It was dark when they started and light by the time they filmed me.

I was shocked when I saw the YouTube video a couple of weeks ago to see it was light.

Putting it on the internet was an abomination. I was raped on the film and you could hear my daughter and four-year-old son crying.

Myths that this incident debunks:

1) Rapes are committed in dark places. This woman was raped at home.

2) People only rape strangers. This rape was set up BY A TRUSTED NEIGHBOUR.

3) Rapists are dirty old perverted men. These rapists were a group of TEEN BOYS, and the video was filmed by TEEN GIRLS.

4) Rape only happens to sluts who ask for it. This woman was merely greeting a neighbour and socializing. It doesn't matter what she was drinking - it would've been spiked anyway. It doesn't matter what she was wearing, it doesn't matter what she was saying or doing - she didn't deserve to have this happen to her, in her own home, IN FRONT OF HER OWN CHILDREN.


I have no words to express my horror. Just no words.

And people think we don't need feminism anymore. Give me a break.

It's A Singlet

Okay. So tonight we were in the midst of rehearsal and discussing what our Bottom should wear for his final scene. My director said, "well, I'm hoping he'll be wearing a singlet."

Everyone else, mostly girls, went all, "it's called a wife-beater!"

And my director said, "well, I don't like that name." At this point, he had to talk over the entire crowd. "Anyway, when you pick it up at the store! It is not called a wifebeater! The label says SINGLET!"

I don't understand why it's called a wife-beater in the first place. Is it because the men who wear it all beat their wives?

That sort of makes no sense. Growing up, singlets were a part of life; my dad wore them under his dress shirts, and my brother and I wore them around the house because they were sleeveless and, well, cheap to buy. We certainly didn't beat any wives.

I understand that they're associated with the image of "trailer trash" men who wore them and boxer shorts, sit around all day and smack people around whom they don't like, particularly drunk. But I don't think it's fair to label it "wife beater" when perfectly good men, who have never lifted a finger in violence in their lives, also wear the same thing.

Quick Thought: The Economy

Okay, I was actually thinking about this last night while doing some grooming (yes, a lot of things can go through one's mind while waiting for depilatory creams to do their work). I was thinking about how we refer to certain things that I suppose are alive in their own way, but to me, they seem driven towards goals that I'm not sure are sustainable.

Like, the economy.

I see a lot of this. "This is good for the economy."

"Economic growth is good."

"The economy is currently in recession."

"The economy is unstable right now."

It's like the economy has a personality of its own. I'm surprised we haven't said things like "the economy's really cranky today" or even "the economy is currently taking a pee break." (Okay, I'm joking. I know why we don't say stuff like that.)

Sometimes, though, it feels like we're talking about the economy as something separate from human beings, but last I checked, isn't the economy driven by human beings?

So why do I feel that when something's "good for the economy" it's not necessarily "good for the people"?