Comrades: how do you handle sexual predators in your community? When sexual predators target vulnerable populations, including but not limited to: lgbtq+, single moms, children and animals, what are the tactics used to keep our communities safe? I don't believe warning strangers is effective, bc covert, calculated, gradual, abuse isn't always obvious until the damage is calculable. Sometimes the victims are children, or sleeping, or animals without voice. Other than sharing victim statements and legal documents with as many people as possible, how do you handle this type of situation? How do you feel safe and help protect the vulnerable, when predators freely walk the streets? Asking for a #child #victim who doesn't want others to go through what they went through.
#abuse #ptsd #wekeepussafe #care #mutualaid #justice #metoo
Let's talk about community accountability and transformative justice if what you want is safe communities and mutual aid support systems.
https://nyscasa.org/get-info/transformative-justice/#:~:text=WHAT%20IS%20COMMUNITY%20ACCOUNTABILITY?,actions%20and%20transform%20their%20behavior
Many predators choose their victims based on the likelihood of them calling the cops (including abolitionists, poc, drug users, lgbtq+), on likelihood of being believed (sw'rs, kids, women) installing plausible deniability (often seems "nice" in public) and gradual acceptance of unusual behavior over time (grooming), isolation (no witnesses), or people that could be easily criminalized if they do seek assistance and safety.
Predators will definitely throw you under the bus, when the shit goes down. Beware your perceived allies. It doesn't matter who you are: friends, coworkers, family, children. Predators protect themselves above all else. They choose their victims very specifically so they have someone(s) to throw under the bus when the spotlight turns to them. #WeKeepUsSafe #ptsd #cptsd #abuse #accountability
NGL it's hard to walk away from someone being "nice" to you. It's even hard to walk away from someone with a documented, LONG LIST OF VICTIMS; many of them children, if they are being nice to YOU.
Read that again.
Find their past, not what they tell you of the now, or the future.
The hardest lesson I ever learned is that for a predator, no one is off limits. NO ONE.
*rolls up sleeves*
Now. Who wants to talk about predatory behavior as an addiction?
Watching your kid find an old picture of a repeat offender and watch them throw it directly in the trash.
He didn't get away with anything other than literally away, to continue to assault innocent people. He created lasting, deep, heart-wrenching damage and distrust, to MORE THAN ONE CHILD, including his own.
Don't forget kids! Abusers and predators walk among us, and not all abusers and predators come banging out the gate as such! Some of them even look like allies!
Take your time, keep your eyes open. Abusers hate witnesses, and true connection and trust comes in not just time and deed, but in history. Look at their history. Is it privacy or secrecy? Is it quirkiness or is it actually sus behavior? Do they have hobbies? or do they just like *your* hobbies? Does any "changing of ways" or "healing" they've done, have a real path and verifiable progress? Watch how they process disappointment, especially over time. Do they seem distracted? In a hurry? Oddly attentive? Overly helpful?
Never ever EVER deny what your na'au (mind, heart, instinct) is telling you. Also: believe women and children.
#cptsd #healing #community #care #MutualAid #ptsd #abuse #journey
@saltphoenix This is going to sound uncomfortably glib and violent, but in the two situations where I came across this, me and a mate just beat the shit out of the predators in question.
We didn't go to any lengths to disguise who we were - maybe rightly, maybe wrongly, we were young and dumb at the time, but it got the message across.
@neonsnake I agree this is an effective tool that should be applied more often, and more quickly; then never take your eyes off of them going forward.
I've been pondering all this a lot. That's one of the conclusions in this very good article on the subject and it definitely makes sense.
It's a great article, and goes into a few different methods. Gillis also has the below, which *sort of* covers similar ground.
For the record, I'm not averse to violence. We're mostly au fait with the idea of punching a Nazi, I see no material difference.
Obviously, there's some nuance (how sure were we that the blokes we gave a kicking truly deserved it? - as sure as possible without actually witnessing the relevant events). Was it proportional? Meh, not my place to say. Did we check first with the victims that they were okay with what we were about to do? yes in one case, no in another (the "no" was, he turned up unexpectedly in a club, where I was with his victim and a bunch of friends. I reacted by giving him a shoe-ing. Should I have checked first - most likely yes)
And so on.
It ain't *nice*. I had the shakes for a while after each event, much like any instance of violence in my life; I'm not a "hard man". But I don't regret it, even though I've mulled over a few times whether it was right or wrong.
@neonsnake @violetmadder I finally had time to read that. Busy day. Excellent article! Thank you for sharing it! I love seeing these topics addressed with such clarity and consideration of some real nuance (and not so nuanced) I do think, by all accounts, swift, painfully inflicted action, and ostracization from communities where they predate, has proven to be the best deterrent for "bad guys" in our communities. And as quickly as they unite to deliver correction, they willingly dissolve back into the community, as power and hierarchies are clearly the source of so much suffering.
Again, I love that these articles have been written, with keen observation of social dynamics.
Yeah, I thought (and still think) it was great when I first read it. One of the few times personally that I've seen someone honestly grapple with "bad people", and not just handwave away "no, no, it's systemic, and once people have access to food and necessities, all crime will magically go away ".
It's a *hard* subject, and I think it *should* be hard to talk about. Violence is, well, violent. It's nasty, and incredibly uncomfortable, and *so it should be*.
But I'm not comfortable with ceding that particular course of action entirely to our enemies, be them on the "right" or of the state, and leaving ourselves defenseless.
The flip side (I'm aware of some current very unpleasant discourse around "a fascist worked out today, did you?") is that it shouldn't be fetishised either. People aren't Buffy or Dark Angel or Bruce Lee or Reacher or - insert your preferred folk/mythic hero here; and the "I studied the blade/Rorschach" thing needs to fucking die too.
@violetmadder @neonsnake this writing is exactly it. Mahalo nui loa for sharing it. I know these abuses aren't rare, sadly. IMAGINE being a predator, when genuine connection, and love is possible.
Make rapists afraid. Period.
We stop the big ones wrecking our planet the same way we stop the local ones wrecking our relationships and communities.