• Hot Saucerman@lemmy.mlEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      It was believed to be a gay disease and that belief came from the CDC and other health organizations.

      Wow, shocker. In a period of history where queerness was regularly met with violence for being queer, straight people in positions of power were making crude assumptions about the queer community. I’m pretty sure the discrimination came first, and that’s where assumptions, even from scientists who are fallible human beings like anyone else, came from. I mean hell, this was barely 30 years after Alan Turing, a fucking war hero was chemically castrated for being gay. Doctors signed off on that, too.

      It doesn’t mean it wasn’t an issue that traveled through the entire administration. You can dump it all on Fauci’s feet if you want, but it was painfully obviously much bigger than that, with the dominant straight community pretending it wasn’t an issue, or an issue to be joked about since they didn’t think it would affect them.

            • Hot Saucerman@lemmy.mlEnglish
              1·
              1 year ago

              Yeah, we have different feelings on that. A much older man taking advantage of a younger woman when he is in a professional position of power over her is skeevy as fuck, no matter how you slice it. The Republicans were full of shit and just trying to discredit him, but the fact of the matter is he is a scummy old pervert philanderer. Honestly, a lot of my personal issues with Hillary Clinton center around her not divorcing his ass and having a great political career without him. She should have, I would have a lot more respect for her today if she had. She covered for his creepy ass in public.

              That isn’t to say that other President’s didn’t do similar things and just didn’t have them publicized, but those were wrong, too.

              Also, I will say that Bill Clinton at least admits when he fucked up.

              https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bill-clinton-we-blew-it-on-global-food/

              Today’s global food crisis shows “we all blew it, including me when I was president,” by treating food crops as commodities instead of as a vital right of the world’s poor, Bill Clinton told a U.N. gathering on Thursday.

                • Hot Saucerman@lemmy.mlEnglish
                  1·
                  1 year ago

                  Sorry I gotta run for work, don’t have time to say much other than “Yeah, the impeachment was total bullshit.” I think it makes Clinton trashy person, not that it impacted how he ran the country. It was a grift, but that’s all they’ve ever got.

                  Also might want to read this over, too.

                  https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/02/monica-lewinsky-in-the-age-of-metoo

                  Given my PTSD and my understanding of trauma, it’s very likely that my thinking would not necessarily be changing at this time had it not been for the #MeToo movement—not only because of the new lens it has provided but also because of how it has offered new avenues toward the safety that comes from solidarity. Just four years ago, in an essay for this magazine, I wrote the following: “Sure, my boss took advantage of me, but I will always remain firm on this point: it was a consensual relationship. Any ‘abuse’ came in the aftermath, when I was made a scapegoat in order to protect his powerful position.” I now see how problematic it was that the two of us even got to a place where there was a question of consent. Instead, the road that led there was littered with inappropriate abuse of authority, station, and privilege. (Full stop.)

                  Now, at 44, I’m beginning (just beginning) to consider the implications of the power differentials that were so vast between a president and a White House intern. I’m beginning to entertain the notion that in such a circumstance the idea of consent might well be rendered moot. (Although power imbalances—and the ability to abuse them—do exist even when the sex has been consensual.)

                  But it’s also complicated. Very, very complicated. The dictionary definition of “consent”? “To give permission for something to happen.” And yet what did the “something” mean in this instance, given the power dynamics, his position, and my age? Was the “something” just about crossing a line of sexual (and later emotional) intimacy? (An intimacy I wanted—with a 22-year-old’s limited understanding of the consequences.) He was my boss. He was the most powerful man on the planet. He was 27 years my senior, with enough life experience to know better. He was, at the time, at the pinnacle of his career, while I was in my first job out of college. (Note to the trolls, both Democratic and Republican: none of the above excuses me for my responsibility for what happened. I meet Regret every day.)

                  “This” (sigh) is as far as I’ve gotten in my re-evaluation; I want to be thoughtful. But I know one thing for certain: part of what has allowed me to shift is knowing I’m not alone anymore. And for that I am grateful.

                  I—we—owe a huge debt of gratitude to the #MeToo and Time’s Up heroines. They are speaking volumes against the pernicious conspiracies of silence that have long protected powerful men when it comes to sexual assault, sexual harassment, and abuse of power.