Metaphor Approval Form
by digby
Is it really true that you can’t use rape as a metaphor or even descriptively anymore? When I started to read this I assumed that Kristen Stewart had said something truly dumb and demeaning to rape victims. But here’s what she said:
The actress previously compared her life in the Hollywood spotlight and the constant hounding by the paparazzi to a sexual assault, telling Britain’s ELLE magazine in its July issue, “The photos are so … I feel like I’m looking at someone being raped. A lot of the time I can’t handle it. I never expected that this would be my life.”
Perhaps I don’t understand the true nature of the crime here and I’m willing to be convinced otherwise, but that seems like a reasonable statement to me — and quite an evocative one, well expressed and illustrative.
This, on the other hand, strikes me as pretty ridiculous:
On Wednesday, Harriet Lessel, the executive director of the New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault, told Radar Online, “Clearly that kind of violation is not the same as rape… it’s just not the same… understand that Kristen Stewart was expressing that she feels violated. Sure violation is a form of sexual assault, but it’s the most serious and the most personal. It’s clearly a poor choice of words.”
Well Stewart certainly came thorough with the big mea culpa so I guess everything’s ok:
The 20-year-old star said her regretful comments have torn her apart.
“People thinking that I’m insensitive about this subject rips my guts out. I made a big mistake,” she added.
I guess I’m just getting old. This whole thing is just too literal for me. I understand that demeaning language has to be called out, but I’m afraid I just don’t see it this time. And I hate the idea that someone is telling others what words they are allowed to use as a substitution. It’s beyond political correctness.
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