You can thank the mayor of London for this cruel joke:
“Know what you’re getting into.” Yeah.
The trend is a modern one, and it signifies the pathetic depths to which we will now plummet so we can sneer at victims. Public Service Campaigns like this one now rely more than ever on ‘shocking’ their audiences more than instructing them. That is, reproducing trauma in the most realistic way.
In theory, it’s a well-meaning cautionary piece of advice delivered in the most visceral and engaging of formats. In practice, it’s misogynistic trash designed by the worst kind of people you can imagine.
The poster not only mocks the language of the victim, “stop, no please stop,” it hi-jacks it. The resistive efforts of the assaulted become the instructive dogmas of the patriarchal voice. And what’s worse is that it’s jocular in execution. It’s a pun. They’re making a language joke out of abuse. And it’s as cruel as fairytale logic: your plea against rape is worth nothing more than a ‘shocking’ precaution for others.
So, this is it. This is rape culture in JPEG format.
This is how we treat and respect the voices of the most vulnerable. We alienate them. We shroud them in darkness and we make them an example of themselves. These are the women we hate. These are the deserving tears of the one who got what was coming to her. So take a long hard look at the face of the tormented other, the fool who wouldn’t listen, and say it out loud: “Told you so. Bitch. I fucking told you so.”
Don’t frown. They knew what they were getting into.
