Not the only one who cares about sexual exploitation

I received an email from the Marijuana Policy Project the other day inviting me to an upcoming fund raiser at the Playboy Mansion. I wrote them an email saying that while I support their work to decriminalize marijuana, I was leaving their mailing list and would no longer be supporting their organization because of the affiliation with Playboy.

I got a reply email from a woman who works at the MPP saying that she understood that Playboy wasn't "everyone's cup of tea" but that important leaders like Martin Luther King and Jimmy Carter had sat for interviews with Playboy...and MPP had a lot of success raising money at the event in past years. Wow. I found it fascinating that she would assume that telling me MLK did an interview for the magazine was going to make me feel better about the event. And if that wasn't her intent, why say it at all? Why not just stick with the dismissive "cup of tea?"

I forwarded the response to a like-minded friend who said, "Sometimes I think we are the only two people in the entire world who think that sexual exploitation is wrong."

That comment has stuck with me--I know it's not true, but I feel that way a lot myself. I work at a non-profit. I have friends who are against war, racism, injustice and yet I feel like when it comes to issues of sexual exploitation/degradation/assault, there isn't the same level of outrage. I hear excuses and acceptance far more than I would expect to among my friends and acquaintances. I know sometimes people's silence comes from being uncomfortable with the topic, but I think it's more than that...

Anyway, I'm on a mission now, to find the people who, as Jackson Katz would put it, want to stop men's violence against women.

Below is a music video from my first find. Thank you Mr. J. Medeiros.

"It’s not illegal to use raping as a cash crop / As long as it says she’s 18 on your laptop.” (See all lyrics here)






I am Constance