The Overblown Coverage of Lara Logan's Alleged Sexual Assault

coryballs · 2011-02-17T22:53:13+00:00

I agree there is space for a healthy discussion about the over-emphasis on the possible sexual nature of her assault and the role (if any) her gender played in it. The down votes, I'm guessing, are in reaction to the provocative wording of the post. Given our modern time's overwhelmingly accepted narrative of women as constantly marginalized rape victims (suffering male sexual assault, then being ignored by male authorities when seeking help), the title immediately plays into that assumption. "Overblown" being said first makes it sound like Pierce accepts there is an incident, but that maybe he feels it's no big deal. Then the "alleged sexual assault" plays into people's assumptions that he (Pierce, or any male for that matter), probably secretly believes that if she was sexually assaulted, she was somehow asking for it.

To be clear, I don't believe OP intended to transmit any of that with his post. I would've said something along the lines of:

"Lara Logan's Sexual Assault Unconfirmed; Is Coverage Overblown?"

Bobsutan · 2011-02-17T16:43:57+00:00

I’m seeing “rape”, “sex attack”, etc reported, but when interviewed she makes it pretty clear that her team was simply mobbed and beaten. She wasn’t forced to the ground by 200 people and ganged raped, fondled, or even groped, but the way some of the articles read you’d think that’s what happened.

Furthermore, why is she news besides the fact it’s a “she” who was assaulted? What about the other members of her team who were also mobbed and beaten? IMO this is just another case of making news out of a molehill because the victim happened to include a Pretty White Girl.

BolshevikMuppet · 2011-02-17T16:27:25+00:00

women, by virtue of their gender, should be immune from harm even though men aren't

Neither men nor women should be at risk of being sexually assaulted, that simply must be a given. If a male reporter had been sexually assaulted in Egypt, I would expect the same sort of "holy shit" response from the news media. All people should be protected from sexual assault/rape, but the simple truth is that (especially in Africa) women are more likely to be on the receiving end off that kind of abuse. Physical assault (while certainly bad) is decidedly of a different nature. If you're telling me you'd rather be raped (and possibly beaten) than physically attacked (short of murder), I'd be shocked.

Did you get that? Women reporters are at lower risk of being killed, according to a woman who should know, yet, a headline screams: "Logan Attack Highlights Women's Plight."

The fact that there is a plight for women does not render there no plight for men. Men are more likely to be killed (which is very bad), and women are more likely to be raped (which is very bad). The two are not mutually exclusive.

What concerns me is that it seems like you're saying that rape isn't that bad because it isn't murder, as though we can only have one "really bad thing", and rape just doesn't measure up. That's quite disconcerting. Rape is very bad, even if murder is worse (by whatever amount it may be worse)

CremasterGuy · 2011-02-17T14:06:10+00:00

I'm curious: what do the down voters disagree with here? It's actually a women-affirming piece, and female reporters in warzones probably would agree with it.

Title	The Overblown Coverage of Lara Logan's Alleged Sexual Assault
Author	[deleted]
Upvotes	0
Comments	29
Date	February 17, 2011 1:51 PM UTC (15 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/fn6tg/the_overblown_coverage_of_lara_logans_alleged/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/the-overblown-coverage-of-lara-logans-alleged.1043048 https://theredarchive.com/post/1043048

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