It was just after 2 a.m. on a pitch-black Friday morning when Bernadette Greene-Placentia’s life changed. The Democratic candidate for Congressional District 8 strolled across a parking lot to repair a damaged campaign sign. It was a routine she’d followed all summer. This time, she only made it a few yards.
An attacker smashed her over the head. She blacked out. She woke up to find a strange man on top of her.
Greene-Placentia struggled to open her eyes. She felt a sharp pain below her waist. The attacker was pulling his penis out of her.
She heard him mumble something like, “-ic bitch, not a very good fuck,” which her mind filled in as “Democratic bitch,” she recalled. She wasn’t sure that was exactly what he said.
One leg was out of her jean capris. She wore brand-new tennis shoes and a campaign t-shirt. Another man came over. Greene-Placentia felt his weight nudging her left leg further apart. She began swinging her foot at him. “Not even worth it,” she heard the man say as he moved away. He wore black boots and had small feet, she recalled.
The two men left Greene-Placentia face down in the parking lot. The hatch of her silver Jeep Grand Cherokee was still open. The car was still running. She heard music.
She doesn’t remember pulling up her pants or picking herself off the asphalt parking lot. She doesn’t remember closing her Jeep’s hatch and putting her foot on the gas. She doesn’t remember pulling her car into the driveway and collapsing into her bed.
“It’s just these little tiny flashes of things that I do remember,” Greene-Placentia said in an interview with Phoenix New Times. “As much as I don’t want to remember, I’ve tried very, very hard to remember more stuff. But that’s where I’m at.”
Another horrible crime, and makes me question how people become abusive and controlling criminals, and research points to the theory of “cycle of shitty people”, punching down on others, taking their turn, and this is normalized as macho, but it’s toxic. The abuse in homes, military, sports, frats, politics, it’s all related. Yes, not all turn out abusive and help to break the dysfunctional cycle is needed. Some people will read this and let their egos flare up and insist the healthy ways are “woke”. They’ll vote for the violent types again, and their female loved ones are worse off for all this toxic pollution. This is not an excuse, but hurt people need therapy, healthy community and healthcare to recover.
We need better sex education in this country as well. We need to teach our youth what consent looks like and what lack of consent looks like. There’s so much that goes into this that is ignored for the status quo.
That would certainly help in some cases, but in this particular one there’s a 0% chance these guys were confused about consent. They simply didn’t care.
We need to be doing this moving forward to help reduce these situations.
We don’t disagree that consent education is super important. There are a lot of cases where it will help. This one, though, they knew. They were going to rape this woman regardless. From her account it sounds like the rape was the point.
I just think we can do both at the same time. Appropriate punishment for rapists and education for our youth.
I absolutely agree.
You’re missing the point. Some folks are just monsters. Whether you believe in a soul or not some folks are just missing that piece that makes them human. They are pure evil. There is no education to help with this. What we need is better security for women and people who can become victims.
Unfortunately I’m not sure if anything would have helped here, other than a bodyguard. They knocked her out from behind, before she even knew anyone was there. She had no opportunity to run or fight back. Scary shit.
You’re missing the point that we have a vibrant rape culture in this country and educating our youth will help reduce the amount of rape and sexual assault.
When people know more about consent, people respect it more.
We can do both. We can target current rapists and punish them appropriately and educate our youth to help reduce the amount of misogyny that’s encouraged in our society.
I agree we can and should. I’m saying there is folks who don’t give a damn. Some folks are just evil.
That is true, but I don’t want to discourage anyone. It is possible to create a better world for all of us.
Fair enough. That is where we disagree. But I do hope for your idea of a future. I also feel that from your wording, you understand how cruel the universe can be sometimes.
Glad we could reach this without being idiots. Have a good day my friend.