As always, the ads change, but the message remains the same: If you're a woman, you're never safe: You're a potential victim; you shouldn't trust anyone, and if you act now, a prince will save you from your tower hunky security guys - or policemen - will rescue you from any scary situation.

Sarah Haskins in Target Women: Broadview Security [Current]
Target Women: Broadview Security [HuffPo]

Earlier: We Hate It When That Happens
Security Systems And The Culture Of Fear
Brinks: Home Security For Modern Day Damsels In Distress

As in the first part, Sawyer is in full portentousness mode, and Rihanna herself seems to be struggling to keep her emotions in check. Though she doesn''t blame herself for the attack, she does seem to think that she and Brown were both contributors to a toxic relationship. She says, "the more in love we became, the more dangerous we became for each other — equally as dangerous, because it was a bit of an obsession, almost." She also casts herself as an equal partner in the argument that preceded the abuse, saying, "I couldn't take that he kept lying to me and he couldn't take that I wouldn't drop it." And when she describes the actual violence, she speaks almost as though Brown was possessed by some other entity. "He had no soul in his eyes," she says, and "he was clearly blacked-out."

It may be true that Brown entered some sort of blackout when he began attacking Rihanna, but thinking of it in this way also probably helps her to forgive him — something she seems to have done. When Sawyer asks if she hates him, she replied,

I don't hate him at all, I actually love and care about him and [...] I want him to do well, have a great career, have a great life, and grow up, and just take this as something you had to go through to grow up and learn.

It's a generous statement, coming from someone who was not only abused but then forced to deal publicly with the aftermath of that abuse. It's also a morally complicated one — because abuse is so often trivialized and abusers often excused, it's tempting to cast them as wholly evil people who cannot be redeemed. Rihanna is clearly unwilling to do this — she says Brown was once her "best friend," and clearly she still wants to see some good in him. In a way it's disturbing to see this, because Rihanna doesn't have any responsibility to forgive or think well of Brown. At the same time, it can be hard to hate someone you used to love, and Rihanna's expressing emotions that many other abuse victims have probably felt.

More upsetting is her assessment of the "danger" they posed one another. She may be right that the intensity of their relationship was bad for both of them, but an overly intense relationship doesn't cause abuse. And while she's kind to say that "this" — presumably, the attack and its aftermath — is something Brown "had to go through to grow up," beating someone isn't just a learning experience. It's a crime, and while it's possible that Brown will never hit another woman again, he still deserves more criticism for his act than Rihanna seems willing to give. Again, it's not her job to criticize him for our benefit. But if anything good comes from the public nature of Rihanna's pain, maybe it will be that viewers supply the judgment that Rihanna is unwilling to deliver, and recognize that neither "obsession" nor "black-out" is an excuse for violence.

The rally, held last night, included a candlelight vigil, as well as prayer, songs, and dancing. Pastor Jim Wheeler read the victim's statement, which said, in part,

Violence is always the wrong choice. We realize people are angry about this. But let the anger cause change, change that is necessary to keep our children, our neighbors and our friends safe.

It's an important message, especially given that according to the San Francisco Chronicle, some Richmond residents have been talking about "exacting vigilante violence" against both the rapists and onlookers. It's depressing that Richmond couldn't protect the young victim before the rape happened, and is instead responding with violent impulses after the fact — but calls for the bodily harm of perpetrators are understandably common after rape. The victim's statement shows surprising maturity given her age (she is 15) and all she's been through — she's right that her neighbors should let the justice system handle her attackers, and channel their anger into making sure nothing like this happens again.

School officials are now working to improve security with cameras, improved lighting, and fences. According to West Contra Costa School District superintendent Bruce Harter, these measures have been in the works for a long time, but administrators "couldn't find the money until now." Some in the community are calling for volunteers to help with campus security. And students are treating the rape as a wake-up call — says junior Janet Gutierrez, "I'm not scared to be in school. But I'm not going to walk around outside, especially when it's dark." Rev. Andre Shumake, who issued the call for volunteers, says he hopes the rape can be a "teachable moment."

While it's good that Richmond is taking steps to make its children safer, a better time for teaching would have been before a 15-year-old girl was brutally gang-raped after her homecoming dance. It's sad that school officials couldn't "find" the money for security until after a heinous crime took place, and sad that students have begun "talking intently about how to combat violence toward women" only after a terrifying example of such violence took place. The victim didn't deserve to be an object lesson in the need for better security and community values, and her statement is especially admirable given that she has every right to be enraged. The fact that she still has to speak out against violence should be a sobering rebuke to a community that failed her.

Rape Victim: Violence 'Always The Wrong Choice' [SF Chronicle]
School Tries To Tighten Security After Gang Rape [AP, via MSNBC]

The victim was leaving the dance in Richmond, CA — a suburb of San Francisco, not too far from Antioch, where Phillip Garrido held Jaycee Dugard — when a classmate invited her to drink with him in a secluded area near the school. She agreed, becoming so inebriated that she fell over, at which point as many as seven young men raped her, beat her, took photographs, and stole her jewelry. They assaulted her for two-and-a-half hours, injuring her so badly that she had to be flown from the scene in critical condition.

A gang rape always has the added awfulness that the rapists are comfortable enough with their crime to commit it in front of others. This case is especially bad because the girl's attackers continued in front of multiple witnesses, assuming that they would do nothing. That assumption was correct. In fact, it was someone hearing about the assault at a local house party who called the cops. Richmond police lieutenant Mark Gagan said, "What makes it even more disturbing is the presence of others. People came by, saw what was happening, and failed to report it."

At first I thought this was a Kitty Genovese situation, in which indifferent bystanders failed to help a crime victim. In fact, it's worse. CNN's Nick Valencia writes that, "as many as 15 people, all males, stood around watching the assault, but did not call police or help the victim." Gagan adds, "As people announced over time that this was going on, more people came to see, and some actually participated." This isn't a case of people turning their heads away and saying "none of my business." It's a situation in which 15 boys and men (one suspect in custody is 19, the other 15) treating public, brutal assault as a form of entertainment.

Anyone who went to a big, rough high school has seen this happen with a fight — everybody in the school rushes to the scene, cheering, booing, and even joining in as kids beat each other up. This practice is bad enough, exposing teen bloodlust and lack of compassion, but adding sexual assault to the mix makes the onlookers' situation all the more heinous. That all said onlookers were male seems important here — were they so afraid of having their masculinity questioned that they couldn't say anything? Or, more disturbingly, were they enthusiastic about the event, participating, however vicariously, in some kind of conquest? Whatever the case, not one, not two, but fifteen young men watched a gang-rape take place and essentially chose to side with the rapists — as Yes Means Yes would say, "that's rape culture."

Image via CNN.

Witnesses Did Not Report Gang Rape [UPI.com]
Police: Gang Rape Outside School Dance Lasted Over Two Hours [CNN]
Teens held over homecoming dance gang rape [AP, via MSNBC]
Police Arrest Second Teen In Connection With Vicious Assault On 15-Year-Old Girl [Contra Costa Times]

McNulty says that when Roethlisberger was staying at Harrah's, he called her to his room claiming his TV was broken. When she got there, the TV was fine, and he pushed her onto the bed and raped her. When she reported the assault to security chief Guy Hyder, he said that the president of the casino was friends with the quarterback and that "most girls would feel lucky to get to have sex with someone like Ben Roethlisberger." McNulty was afraid to report the assault to the police, for fear that Harrah's higher-ups would side with Roethlisberger and she would be fired. She fell into a depression, and while she was hospitalized, Hyder got keys to her house from her parents, and deleted files from her computer. Needless to say, no one from Harrah's ever investigated the rape.

After the AP reported on McNulty's lawsuit, ESPN told reporters not to pick up the story, ostensibly because criminal charges had not been filed. ESPN news director Vince Doria said, "We don't think it meets our standard of reporting." But Mike Florio from NBC Sports says, "we're convinced that the Roethlisberger story initially was ignored due to concerns that ESPN would be jeopardizing its access to the two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback, who also happens to play for the team with the most loyal and rabid fan base in America."

Eventually ESPN did report on the civil suit, but at every step of the way, Ben Roethlisberger had friends with a vested interest in keeping McNulty's story quiet. And that, says Jaclyn Friedman of Yes Means Yes, "is what rape culture looks like." She points out that ESPN is "the same network whose sideline reporter is currently being exploited all over the ‘net in a peeping tom video." She continues,

You'd think that would make them more sympathetic to the sexual exploitation of women just trying to do their job, but they're too focused on protecting access to the star athletes who are their cash cows to even do their basic job as journalists. That's rape culture. When our media won't talk about rape, people think it doesn't happen, and the rapists face no consequences. That emboldens rapists.

Friedman also calls out Perez Hilton, who classily hints, "It is a little strange that she didn't press criminal charges and waited for a year (and a Superbowl win) before taking action," and says, "Eh, you'll probably just have to give her some money to shut her up." Friedman writes, "When women are too afraid of being re-victimized by the courts and the media to come forward, and when the public gets the message that women who accuse men of rape are lying or did something to deserve it, the cycle continues."

Oddly, G.D. at Feministe sees the media as having the opposite effect:

Obviously, the "accuser is crazy/an extortionist" defense will be made by plenty of fans and people with a vested interest in the suspect's exoneration, regardless of the facts (or a dearth of them). But the coverage is often unavoidably prejudicial the other way. While the accuser's identity is (understandably and necessarily) protected, we see b-roll of the defendant solemnly arriving at the courthouse in an understated suit and being mobbed by a throng of reporters while the charges against him are outlined by the newscaster. He doesn't speak on his lawyer's orders. Mug shots surface. He seems…guilty.

It's true that being accused of a crime, even if you're later acquitted, can tarnish a celebrity's image. But remember when Kobe Bryant's accuser was found to have another man's semen in in her body (which wasn't directly relevant, since Bryant had admitted to sleeping with her)? Women who accuse powerful men of rape basically have to consent to public scrutiny of their sexual histories, and often get branded as sluts or golddiggers in the process. The media is hardly "unavoidably prejudicial" in their favor.

Kate Harding at Broadsheet has a disturbing prediction about how the rest of this case will go down:

Meanwhile, Roethlisberger's lawyer is telling journalists, "Ben has never sexually assaulted anyone; especially Andrea McNulty." Especially her? How the hell do you especially not rape someone? "These other women, I merely did not rape, but that one I extra super double did not rape!" Huh? Oh wait, I think I get it. I've got a dollar that says we're about to find out that he doesn't deny having sex with her, but she wanted it. And we all know most girls would feel lucky to get to have sex with Ben Roethlisberger, and men totally only rape when they can't otherwise get laid, so why would he need to rape this one? Another dollar says the "especially" means we're also about to hear that dude, she's not even that hot — the same defense Kobe Bryant used — and nobody ever rapes ugly women, so there you go. It's her word against his, and really, who are you going to believe?

Unfortunately, many rape cases are "her word against his," and when the defendant is famous, a lot of people spend a lot of energy trying to discredit "her word." "Say it with me, folks," says Harding, "That's rape culture."

ESPN Finally Acknowledges Accusations Against Ben Roethlisberger [USA Today]
Suit Contends Hotel Covered Up Rape By Ben Roethlisberger [RGJ.com]
When Sports Culture Meets Rape Culture [Broadsheet]
This Is What Rape Culture Looks Like [Yes Means Yes]
Covering Rape [Feministe]
Last Word On ESPN's Civil Lawsuit Policy [NBC Sports]

His eyebrows lifted in an expression of pathos and contrition, Brown says he's sorry about "those few moments," about "what I've done," about "the situation," about "what happened," and about "my mistake." Only once does he actually use the term "domestic violence," and this when he is mentioning the domestic violence that he witnessed growing up. Whether or not his apology is simply a calculated "ploy to encourage parents to let their children buy his records again," as entertainment.ie puts it, someone in Brown's camp clearly knows that if he said, "I'm sorry that I beat Rihanna," the apology would go down a lot less smoothly.

By going the vague route, Brown allows fans to forget the visceral reality of what he did — assaulting Rihanna until her face was swollen and bruised — and instead focus on all the nice things he says about his mother, his "spiritual advisors," and his commitment to change. By saying he's sorry he didn't "handle the situation better," he casts the beating as a response to a bad "situation" — and instance of poor conflict resolution, not of flying off the handle. And by implying there was something that needed to be "handled" in some way, this statement subtly implicates Rihanna too.

Brown (or whoever wrote this apology) comes off as very shrewd. He not only uses vagueness to his advantage, he makes vagueness sound like a virtue. Brown says,

I wish I had the chance to live those few moments again, but unfortunately I can't. I'm not gonna sit here and make any excuses!

He's not talking about the crime itself because it's impossible to go back and change things, and because to do so would be to excuse himself. It's a neat rhetorical trick, as it makes doing the right thing — coming clean about exactly what he did — sound wrong. So does all this shrewdness mean Brown is insincere? It's hard to tell. Brown does follow AskMen's four steps to making a sincere apology (apparently men now need a step-by-step guide to emotional authenticity), all except a key part of step one, "address what you did in concise terms." Sincerity aside, one thing is clear: Brown's apology is unsatisfying. And the bad thing about an unsatisfying apology is it sometimes compels the perpetrator to apologize again. In a 2006 essay on the evolutionary underpinnings of apologies, Richard Conniff writes,

The half-baked apology ("I'm sorry it happened" or "I'm sorry if I offended you" instead of "I'm sorry I did it") also fails to elicit the visceral reconciliation response. Resentment and retribution often follow, in the form of lawsuits, boycotts, ridicule and even physical retaliation. The individual often winds up becoming a serial apologizer, trying one approach after another in a vain search for the reconciliation for which victim and transgressor alike feel a deep biological hunger.

Let's hope that doesn't happen — and that instead Brown follows AskMen's step four — "Shut up and let it end."

Chris Brown Apologizes For Rihanna Assault [TMZ]
Chris Brown Apology (Transcript) [RnB Music Blog]
Chris Brown Makes An Apology... Via YouTube [entertainmet.ie]
The Power Of ‘Sorry' [NYT]
4 Steps: Make A Sincere Apology [AskMen]

• Kiefer Sutherland may be looking at a minor assault charge in NYC for headbutting designer Jack McCollough. The real problem?

He may have violated the probation of his L.A. DUI conviction. If so, it's back to the slammer. [People]

• According to this report, Kiefer Sutherland will surrender today and be charged with with third-degree assault for his "attack" on Jack McCollough. [NY Daily News, TMZ, E!]
• Kiefer will get a desk ticket for the headbutt — meaning he won't be jailed and he's free to travel. [NY Daily News, NY Post]
• Donald Trump intends to make a decision about Miss California Carrie Prejean very soon; additionally, the guy from the website which has been releasing "controversial" photos of her says he has more, and he intends to post them. [E!]
• The Carrie Prejean semi-nude pictures will "roll out" slowly. [CNN]
• Chris Brown's lawyer, Mark Geragos, has filed legal papers asking the LAPD to state how the picture of Rihanna was leaked to TMZ. If there was misconduct by law enforcement, Geragos will file a motion to have the case dismissed. [TMZ]
• Oprah wrote her Time 100 essay about Michelle Obama on her BlackBerry: "And then I went to hit the wrong button and the whole thing deleted! I went to hit 'Save' and instead I hit ... 'Oh my God! Oh my God! It's gone!' That ever happened to you? And then you can't remember - not one sentence you wrote." What did she do? "I couldn't even think for two days… I couldn't even, like, think of a sentence. I stared at the BlackBerry, then I hit every button trying to make it come back. I hit 'Options.' I did everything!" Then she started over. [New York Mag, Gatecrasher]
• Lindsay and Sam: Romantic relapse? A source says Sam might take LL back. They've been texting and "having visits." But another source says: "Lindsay plays stupid mind games saying she is being pursued by major celebrity actors. She has a lot of free time to play all these childish games. Sam knows in her head, life is truly better off without Lindsay." [People]
• This paper claims that Lindsay Lohan "chased her ex-lover across LA yesterday before finally tracking her down at 2am and demanding one of those horrible late-night discussions." [Daily Mail]
• Steve Zahn had to touch Jennifer Aniston's ass for the new flick, The Management, and says: "We had to do it so many times. It's so weird, very awkward and bizarre. [But] she's a pro, a gifted actor, humble, modest, a genuinely kind person. She has no agenda. She's just a really beautiful person." So wait: she's not desperate and lonely, sobbing over an empty uterus? Huh. [People]
• Jennifer Aniston says if there's gonna be a Friends movie, "they should hurry up." [Mirror]
• Jennifer Aniston and Bradley Cooper: Flirting??!?!?!?! [Page Six]
• In the new Marie Claire, Beyoncé says that when she was singing for the Obamas in January, she was almost overcome: "I had to tell myself, 'They asked you to do this. You have to do a great job. This is their history. Calm down. Calm down… I barely made it. Literally seconds before the song started, I was crying like a 5-year-old." [People]
• In this video, some dude who works security at a Pennsylvania motel says Jon Gosselin from Jon & Kate Plus 8 shows up frequently and was seen "romantically kissing" a woman who was not his wife. [Radar Online]
• "Twilight fans fell in love with Robert Pattinson as a vampire who makes girls swoon. But in Little Ashes, which opens on Friday, the actor explores a relationship that could reshape his heartthrob image." No one wants you to forget that he sexes a dude in this flick. No one. [Reuters>]
• Another day, another Michael Jackson lawsuit; this one involves a former publicist who claims, "Mr. Jackson has elected not to honor the financial obligations of our contractual relationship." She wants $44 million. [TMZ, Reuters]
• Reese Witherspoon is thought to be connected to a man named John Witherspoon, who left Scotland in 1768 and went on to witness the signing of the Declaration of Independence. A BBC series, A History Of Scotland, will tell his story. [Daily Express]
• Guess who's started working out with Tracy Anderson — Gwyneth and Madonna's trainer? Emma Thompson. [Daily Express]
• Are cops in Massachusetts targeting celebs in Massachusetts? What's with all the searches on Tom Brady and Matt Damon? [E!]
• Dr. Phil has fired 15 members of his staff. "It was a bloodbath… People who had worked together for years suddenly were unemployed," says a source. Ouch! Someone call Oprah. [Perez]
• WTF headline of the day: "When Harry Met Tranny." (Daniel Radcliffe had dinner with a drag queen.) [The Sun]
• JJ Abrams says of the original TV series Star Trek: "I remember appreciating it, but feeling like I didn't get it." He was not a Trekkie! "I had no idea there had been 10 movies! I still haven't seen them all." [Guardian]
• Speaking of Trek, Zachary Quinto couldn't do Vulcan fingers while filming and JJ Abrams had to glue his fingers together. [Page Six]
• Director Robert Rodriguez was working on an adaptation of Barbarella — with Rose McGowan playing the Jane Fonda role, naturally — but the project is now dead. No orgasmatron! [MTV]
• Jennifer Aniston, Holly Hunter, Elizabeth Banks, Catherine Hardwicke and cinematographer Petra Korner will be honored at the 2009 Crystal + Lucy Awards, presented by Women in Film. [The Hollywood Reporter]
• Katie Holmes will star in a thriller called Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, scripted by Guillermo del Toro. Xenu knows she could use a hit flick. [Variety]
• Robert De Niro and Edward Norton will star in an indie psychological thriller Stone, about a a correctional officer (De Niro) who is seduced by the wife of a convicted arsonist (Norton) up for parole. [Variety]
• Susan Boyle is now in the top 5 list of most watched viral videos, right under Soulja Boy and something called Achmed the Dead Terrorist. [NY Daily News]
• Megan Fox wants to be like George Clooney: "He's sarcastic, and he has a different girlfriend constantly. It's considered charismatic. He's like this James Bond, sexy dude. The older he gets, the better he gets. It's a double standard. To be outspoken, or different at all, is a problem for women. As soon as you curse or, God forbid, make some sort of sexual reference that's a joke, you're (labelled a party girl). They don't do that with men, so I feel it would be a lot easier." [Mirror]
• This was in Midweek Madness, but here it is again: Sarah Jessica Parker's surrogate is a "tattooed bisexual." The horrors. [The Sun]
• Liz Hurley thinks people look sexier in the country than in the city. Also, she likes to have sex on sheepskin rugs in front of fireplaces. [Daily Mail]
• In 2000, Jemima Khan's plane was hijacked; she says her hair turned white after the incident and she's had to dye it ever since. [Daily Express]
• A new biography reveals that Stephen King "spent most of the Eighties on an extended drug and alcohol binge which so fogged his mind that even today he cannot remember working on many of the books he wrote during that period." [Daily Mail]
• Ryan O'Neal says Farrah Fawcett has "lost her famous hair" from battling cancer. [Daily Express]
• Ryan O'Neal also says: "It's a love story. I just don't know how to play this one. I won't know this world without her." [People]
• Trent Reznor is pissed at Apple, because a Nine Inch Nails iPhone app was rejected for having 'objectionable content." [NY Daily News]
• RIP Stanley Tucci's wife, Kate. [Page Six]
• Olympic silver medalist Sasha Cohen is returning to competitive figure skating. Will we see her in Vancouver for the winter Olympics? [AP]
• Stephanie Tanner Jodie Sweetin is being sued for not paying her Home Owner's Association fees. How rude! [Perez]
• James McAvoy, Elizabeth Banks, Laura Linney and Anna Friel will star in The Details, a flick about a a couple who discover an infestation of raccoons in their back yard. [Variety]
• Rare Marilyn Monroe photographs for sale — on eBay. [UPI]
• Blind item! "Which film director could give Robert Pattinson a run for his money in the odor department? The big-time movie man smelled so badly during a recent shoot that even his actors couldn't stand to be around him!" [Gatecrasher]
• "Would I run for public office? A delegation of Democrats from Ohio asked me if I wanted to run for a Senate seat in 2004, and I said it was a tempting offer, but no. We already had an old actor in national politics, and it didn't work out so well. He shall remain nameless." — Martin Sheen. [Mirror]
• "The rumours aren't true. We aren't moving. So many people come up to me and say 'I hear you're moving.' We love America. We've been very happy here." — Victoria Beckham. [Mirror]
• "I've never changed my name officially. I never have and I never will. In my heart, I am still Ramon. I love the name. I would never give it up." — Martin Sheen. [Mirror]
• "I'd like to see Benson and Stabler get together...but I can't let that happen. Mariska [Hargitay] and I have been a wonderful, solid married couple now for 10 years-we see each other more than our families. It's just nice to get a different dynamic in there every once in a while." — Chris Meloni. [E!]
• "I'm looking for an encyclopaedia and a dictionary. A bit of the Boy Scouts Handbook. A person who is conscientious about the trail he leaves behind him. I'm attracted to intelligence and creativity and passion — and not necessarily the romantic kind. I want to learn from someone who is greedy for information and light and laughter and the whole world." — Renée Zellweger, on what she looks for in a man. [Mirror via Glamour]
• "We know the people whose lives are on the line-those who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender-will be there. But we need everyone there. Especially straight people." — Charlize Theron, who is encouraging Californians to attend a Meet In The Middle For Equality rally in Fresno. [E!]
• "I'm a big fan of Tyra's! She is sexy. I mean, I don't really get obsessed with anyone, but Tyra is definitely hot." — Idris Elba. [Gatecrasher]
• "I'm not fiddling about with myself. We're in this awful youth-driven thing now where everybody needs to look 30 at 60 . This is the law of diminishing returns. The trick is to age honestly and gracefully and make it look great so that everyone looks forward to it." — Emma Thompson. [Daily Express]

No doubt, most of you know - or soon will know - where to find the photo, but I will warn you that the injuries seen in it are upsetting, disturbing, heartbreaking, and, most importantly, not that uncommon. Assaults like this one are perpetrated on thousands of people - many of them women - every single day, the world over. Question: is posting such a photo exploitative or educational? (Is it both?) I honestly don't have an answer, except the one I feel in my gut - but readers can feel free to discuss the photograph, and the larger issues surrounding it, here.

This tee might actually be more offensive than the "Rihanna Deserved It" top that Cafe Press eventually removed from its site: not only does it make fun of the situation in a not-at-all-clever way (it didn't cross those comedic geniuses' minds to print it on a wife-beater?), it also positions domestic violence as something to brag about. [Moe Wampum]

The victim, who is 27 and has two children, ran back inside and was helped by other patrons. Police are searching for the two attackers for investigation of attempted murder. "Given the condition of this victim, they may be responsible for ultimately her murder," said Deputy Police Chief Michel Moore. "This is a terrible, terrible attack." [Associated Press]

Brinks commercials all follow the same basic plot: A defenseless woman is home alone (or with her young children). A male intruder sees that she is in the house and breaks in anyway, the alarm sounds, and he runs off. Then Brinks saves the day when the phone rings and a white male employee says he's "sending help."

To wit, Brinks demonstrates the dangers of exercising alone in your home (courtesy of last night's CNN programming):













And: Joggers in your neighborhood are probably just burglars waiting for your husband to leave for work!









Obviously all home security companies use affluent suburban homeowners' fear of burglars to sell security systems. But what's so infuriating about Brinks ads is that they aren't actually about securing the objects in your home. They all focus on protecting the one most important object in a man's castle: his woman.

Logically, if someone was just after your big screen TV, it would be easiest to break in when no one was home. But in Brinks commercials, the burglar often sees that there's a woman inside the home before he chooses to break in. Since there's no other reason for the burglar to break in while he knows someone's home, Brinks must be implying that the man intends to assault the woman. But we never find out exactly what he's planning to do, since the hardened criminal is easily scared off once he hears the alarm.

Then, the woman receives a phone call from one of the dashing he-men over at Brinks. Because when you're face to face with an attacker, you always want a strong, authoritative man on the other end of the line, sitting in an office hundreds of miles away.

If you stop to think about it, the entire point of the phone call is unclear. In every commercial the woman sees the burglar run away immediately with out coming near her, yet when the Brinks man asks if she's ok, she says no. In real life, "are you ok?" means, "do I need to call an ambulance?" to which the answer is no, unless she needs to be treated for hysteria. Though she does need to report the crime, since no one is hurt the only point of the police rushing over anyway seems to be so a strong protective force can comfort her until her husband comes home (unless the cops are going to repair her door). If the intruder was actually attacking her, she wouldn't be answering the phone, or she'd be telling Brinks it was a false alarm because the guy had her at gunpoint.

So, while we thank Brinks for the daily dose of irrational fear and for reminding us that as women we are vulnerable even when we're locked securely in our own homes, we must agree with the reader who tipped us off about these ads, that mostly they just bug the crap out of us. If you're really concerned about home security, rather than giving Brinks a couple hundred dollars to provide protection and "a quick link to the authorities 24 hours a day" why not take a few self-defense courses and figure out how to dial three numbers to call the police yourself?

Clark-Flory writes about to a case where a 34-year-old man took a picture up a 16-year-old girl's skirt but saw his case dismissed because she was in public — and she was practically flashing her cooter by standing in such a way that a man could dive across a floor, and shove a camera between her thighs, so she wasn't entitled to any legal remedy:

Rep. Pam Peterson, R-Tulsa, introduced a bill making it illegal in Oklahoma to take unauthorized photos of someone's private areas in public; it went into effect earlier this month. For the same reason, nearly half the states have had to enact similar laws

The men who take and wank to these pictures like to claim that these are "unsuspecting" or "accidental" photos of women — and most, apparently, don't like the ones to which women have actually consented because it's all about the force involved.

Susan Gallagher, a professor of political science at University of Massachusetts Lowell who teaches classes on gender, privacy and politics, points out, "One of the tricks in pornography is that the target is unaware, because then you have power." She says upskirting presents a lesser sexual challenge than, for instance, the "Girls Gone Wild" franchise, that indefatigable chronicler of the spring break rite of boobs and booze. The essential difference here is that candid photographers — rather than the female subjects, in the case of breast-flashing coeds — are able to be the sexual aggressor but without actually having to confront a woman.

Ever feel like a guy was undressing you with his eyes and felt nauseated at the thought? This is that but with pictures to share, taken without your knowledge or consent just because you happened to be in the proximity of one of these freaks.

Amanda Marcotte at Pandagon doesn't pull any punches in responding to the subject Clark-Flory's article: she calls it tantamount to assault, and she's right.

No, upskirt shots are about appealing to something else, and there’s no other way to state this, but it’s the desire to force yourself on a woman. Without coercion, the upskirt shot means nothing. Fans not only admit this, but in the company of what they assume are only men who share their loathing of women (and women’s autonomy), they revel in it.

Because, let's be honest, these aren't unsuspecting women who don't know that they are inadvertently showing something they ought not to show; these aren't accidental nip slips; these aren't whatever bullshit justification these perverts try to claim when discussing their coercive fetishes. These are women who went out in public fully and decently clothed and, because creepy fuckers can twist themselves into knots to look up skirts or down blouses, have been forcibly made into sex objects. Upskirting isn't just some dude noticing something that gives him a hard-on, these are organized groups of men who are, in effect, forcibly undressing unconsenting women in public and posting pictures of the assault. And, in half the states, they have every right to do it to you.

Porn In A Flash [Salon]
Creative Misogynists Still Unable To Imagine Letting Go Of The Hate [Pandagon]

• Men become less fertile after the age of 24 and a risk of bipolar disorder is increased in children who are fathered by a man age 55 or older. • A North Korean woman is on trial for allegedly sleeping with South Korean military officials in exchange for classified military information. • A sociologist from Canada says that single fathers should not be prevented from seeing their children, even in cases of incest or abuse, because normal contact will help the fathers cope. • A circuit court judge in Florida has ruled that the state's 31-year-old ban on openly gay men and women adopting children is unconstitutional. • Should we encourage senior citizens that are regulated to nursery homes to have sex with each other? Oh, why not. • Hurt in the line of duty! A Florida sheriff's deputy suffered a serious injury after a storm drain grate fell on his arm after he was done rescuing a kitten who was caught in the drain. • Round things that appear next to each other will be chronicled in a these-things-look-like-boobs book (aptly) called One-Track Mind. • A 16-year-old girl in India killed herself after she became consumed with fear that small-scale "Big Bang" experiments in Europe would cause the end of the world. • A man from Santa Clara, California has been authorized to drive around with a vanity plate reading "HIV POZ," showing other motorists that he shouldn't feel ashamed (or keep secret) his HIV status. • An Australian woman was fined yesterday after she sent letters to a convicted sex offender's neighbors telling them that he is a child molester. • The Royal College of Midwives in England is claiming that "freebirths," or births without any medical assistance, are on the rise in America. • Graeme Reeves, the Australian OB-GYN who assaulted and inflicted genital mutilation on his patients, has been arrested and charged with 17 offenses against 10 women, with more coming in. •