Let the raping begin

So I have not been paying much attention to the former IMF chief who has been charged with raping a woman in New York. Oh, wait, did I say he was charged with raping a woman?

Oh, please, I am so sorry. I forgot I am part of the main stream media. Hang on a second. Former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn will face a trial for rape allegations stemming from an encounter at a pricy New York City hotel with a maid.

Oh, that is much better. See, first, let's make clear that the suspect is a wealthy international business leader, who by the way, has a reputation with the ladies, if you know what I mean. Can you see me winking?

The key to this media abuse though is dehumanizing the victim. I was laying in bed this morning, listening to National Public Radio and they had a full story on Dominique Strauss-Kahn's sex scandal. The very first thing I noticed was how formal they made the suspect sound, you know, former head of the IMF, possible candidate for the French presidency, on and on. Oh, and he probably raped a maid. A maid? Yes, a maid, a lowly maid. Heck, the reporter seemed to be saying, a maid is not really even considered a real human, so the charges might not even stick, so to speak, wink wink, all that stuff, back to you.

What I found appalling is they could not bring themselves to describe her as, oh I don't know, a woman? No, they could not say she was a woman at her workplace. That I think might upset a lot of women. Imagine all the women in their workplaces today, thinking that the sweet middle aged banker with the adorable French accent was actually hoping to rape them later. No, see, that is just unpleasant.

As long as we can discount the incident by almost praising Dominique Strauss-Kahn's lifetime of leadership and success and discount the, chambermaid I believe she is called in European news accounts. Maybe if Dominique Strauss-Kahn had been giving a speech at Harvard and raped a professor backstage, then this would be a story that focuses more on the crime and less on the victims job or resume. The headlines would read "out of control French banker rapes educated professional woman." Of course, maybe she was a new professor, an interim professor, or even just a graduate student. I wonder on what rung of society a graduate student would land, certainly much higher than maid, but certainly not yet at the value of full professor, or secretary of state or something. Heck, this makes me wonder what a yokel like Sarah Palin would rate on the news reporters rape value indicator. I mean, certainly she portrays herself as a bumbling idiot, so a lot of people would assume she is often in rapes danger zone, then she does meet with well know business men, like a recent classy dinner with Donald Trump for pizza in New York. Maybe a rape occurred there. "Hair challenged megalomaniac charged with raping empty headed unemployed politician"

Maybe Dominique Strauss-Kahn will find some opportunity to rape a lawyer at his defense firm. Oh, that would be interesting. What if he raped a junior partner. Not a full partner, the headlines would be brutal. But a junior partner? Heck, " Dominique Strauss-Kahn charged with sexual assaulting junior partner in American law firm." We could diminish all rape victims, if the old "she had it coming" defense won't stick, then how about, "dude, she is only a maid." That seems kind of OK. Right?

Then all we have to do is really define the value of the victim. It seems the media has determined that a maid is probably OK to rape, so I called a friend at Fox News to see if I could get some information on just how rape victim's are valued.

Me; So, tell me again how this maid woman was devalued.

Fox; Are you recording this? You know it's illegal to record anyone without their permission.

Me; Dude, you work for Fox News.

Fox; So?

Me; Right. So, why is this woman always described as a maid, and not, you know, the woman who was allegedly raped by Dominique Strauss-Kahn?

Fox; Well, first, she is a maid.

Me; Right, but I can not remember the last time a rape victims occupation was her sole description.

Fox; Our policy is never to name the victim.

Me; Right, but in this case, all we hear is that she was a maid.

Fox; So?

Me; Well, every day in this country, there are a lot of women who are raped, and there are sometimes news stories about them, they may have been jogging, or walking in a park, or home alone, they are always described as "the victim in this case" or "a woman who was..." but this case is different, the suspect is always described as the IMF leader and all this other wonderful stuff, and the victim is always described as a maid.

Fox; And?

Me; And? And I say fuck you. I think you are trying to devalue this woman.

Fox; No, we are pointing out how they may have had contact.

Me; Bullshit. A rapist has contact with their victims where ever the crime takes place. Just because a woman was raped in her workplace does not mean that is how you should describe her. What if the maid was raped on her way to work, in the subway, would she have been described as a maid in the subway?

Fox; Possibly.

Me; Who makes these decisions?

Fox; I do not see your point.

Me; You media fucks have devalued this woman. A powerful man is accused of rape and all I keep hearing is maid this, maid that. The problem is, if she were a doctor, I am not sure you would not have been describing her only by her professional name.

Fox; I am pretty sure if the head of the IMF raped a doctor, that is exactly how we would have reported it.

Me; I wonder.

Then I hung up the phone.

Here is what I hate about our media. First, there will be a trial, so the media should leave this alone. Instead, from a quick google search, the media is digging into the background of the maid. Now, that does not happen often. It is frustrating to witness this particular crime, because what we are seeing is wealthy white man possibly taking advantage of his position, while a poor woman with no option is being made to look evil.

What I would appreciate from the business community, especially the raping banker community, is that from now on, before they rape their maids and other lowly staff, maybe they could rape one of their lawyers, hopefully a junior partner type, just so I can sit back and watch my Fox News TV device and listen as they describe the new IMF president, who has possibly been accused of somehow raping a lowly ivy league educated married mother of 3 junior partner at a law firm in a major city. Or they could just call her a victim of sexual assault.