HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_018570.jpg

to directly talk to him about what happened, because -- even though we never talked directly about it -- I saw evidence that he felt terrible about it, and I was sure that I could devastate him by talking about it more. But still... I should have talked to him.

I also feel as though I should have supported her more, but I don't know what I could have said. There were people who told her that she shouldn't be having a consensual relationship with her rapist. It seemed wrong to tell her that -- I felt like it eroded her agency, attacked her right to choose -- so I didn't say it. If I had said it, though, would that have been helpful to her? What could I have done to be a better resource for her? Especially given that I was such close friends with him?

I was young(er), but that's no excuse. Then again, what am I excusing? I did nothing. But I should have done more.

Now, again, I have a friend, a good friend, who assaulted someone. It's a friend in the local S&M community. I don't know the survivor at all. I have to talk to my friend about it, but what do I say, and what happens next? Feminism instructs us that we should listen to the voices of survivors, that community mores and community condemnation are what stops rape from happening. I believe these things to be true; and there are people close to me who have survived rape, and I really want to make sure I'm doing everything I can to ensure that rape stops happening. But I intensely wish that I had more guidance on what exactly to say, how exactly to act, to change the mores.

I emailed my ex-boyfriend Mr. Chastity for advice, because he's got one of the finest ethical minds I've ever been lucky enough to engage with. Here's part of what he wrote back:

I've tried to distill your messages into a few questions, and I ended up with "How does one parse a situation in which a friend, and an otherwise noble person, seems to have done serious wrong?" and "What are a person's moral obligations in this case?"

Nobody is composed of unmixed goodness or evil, no matter how much of a paragon/fiend 1) they seem to be or 2) their principles require. People we respect and love are not forces of nature or avatars of their cause of choice, no matter how thoroughly they embody it to us. I don't say this because I think you haven't considered it, but because I know I've had a lot of trouble absorbing it over the years and think it might therefore bear restating to others, too.

As an individual, a person has a relatively large degree of freedom in action and association. I think where this case becomes truly difficult to consider is when we bring in justice and the community. Because the means of enforcement of the rules of these communities is so interpersonal, one's interpersonal actions take on an unusual role of community-level justice as well as merely justice between two people. I can't see how it could ever be good to allow things like this to just slide. Honestly, I'm not sure what else you can do but (as you suggest in one of your messages) politely ask your friend about their take on the story. If nothing else, it will demonstrate that people are paying attention to this thing and might give you some insight into their character and opinions of the issue.

He's right. I agree. But. What now? How do I ask, what do I say? How can I tell if my

HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_018570