This weekend on Fox News Liz Trotta, no stranger to controversy, showed herself to be totally insensitive and strangely misogynistic. In her discussion with host Eric Shawn she made several inflammatory statements.

 “Women once more, the feminists, going, wanting to be warriors and victims at the same time.”

Let me get this straight: she is saying if women sign up to fight for freedom and their country then they should expect to be raped and not complain about it. In other words, they should not expect to be able to serve alongside men without being sexually assaulted by her fellow soldiers.

“The sexual abuse report says there has been, since 2006, a 64% increase in violent sexual assaults. Now, what did they expect? These people are in close contact.”

What about every law abiding honorable male who has ever served in the military? They should receive medals for restraint! After all,no man can keep himself from raping a woman when they are “in close contact.” So, Ms. Trotta, should every woman who is in “close contact with a man” expect to be raped?

“So, you have this whole bureaucracy being built up with all kinds of levels of people to support women in the military who are now being RAPED TOO MUCH.”

Now honestly, is this woman trying to assert that there is an amount of rape which is not “too much”?  Exactly how much rape is too much, Ms. Trotta?

Ms. Trotta lays the responsibilities for these rapes squarely at the feet of “the feminist.” Dictionary.com defines feminist as one who is, “advocating social, political, legal, and economic rights for women equal to those of men.”  I fail to see how advocating for such rights causes fellow soldiersto rape one another. After all, I am assuming Ms. Trotta is not herself a feminist and yet she seems to think that the raping of female soldiers is to be expected. Perhaps people with her way of thinking are actually the problem and not “the feminist”.

Sadly, this just seems like the same worn out reasoning that doing the wrong thing, acting the wrong way, wearing the wrong clothes, or frankly just having a vagina means women are asking for it. Please. Really? Are we STILL blaming the women for all sexual sin?

Melissa McEwan in her book Shakesville puts it this way:

Rape culture is 1 in 6 women being sexually assaulted in their lifetimes. Rape culture is not even talking about the reality that many women are sexually assaulted multiple times in their lives. Rape culture is the way in which the constant threat of sexual assault affects women’s daily movements. Rape culture is telling girls and women to be careful about what you wear, how you wear it, how you carry yourself, where you walk, when you walk there, with whom you walk, whom you trust, what you do, where you do it, with whom you do it, what you drink, how much you drink, whether you make eye contact, if you’re alone, if you’re with a stranger, if you’re in a group, if you’re in a group of strangers, if it’s dark, if the area is unfamiliar, if you’re carrying something, how you carry it, what kind of shoes you’re wearing in case you have to run, what kind of purse you carry, what jewelry you wear, what time it is, what street it is, what environment it is, how many people you sleep with, what kind of people you sleep with, who your friends are, to whom you give your number, who’s around when the delivery guy comes, to get an apartment where you can see who’s at the door before they can see you, to check before you open the door to the delivery guy, to own a dog or a dog-sound-making machine, to get a roommate, to take self-defense, to always be alert always pay attention always watch your back always be aware of your surroundings and never let your guard down for a moment lest you be sexually assaulted and if you are and didn’t follow all the rules it’s your fault.

Apparently now we can add if you join the military and if you are in close contact with men to this list. The EVER. GROWING. LIST.  Maybe, just maybe, Ms. Trotta would be happier if we all wore burqas and never left the house unless we were with a male relative. After all, that would surely fix the problem.

Related articles

• Fox News Contributor Blames Servicewomen and Feminists for Rape [Video] (inquisitr.com)
• Fox’s Liz Trotta on Rape in Military: ‘What Did They Expect?’ (littlegreenfootballs.com)
• Jon Stewart Destroys Fox’s Liz Trotta Over Comments On Military Women Who Are ‘Raped Too Much’ (mediaite.com)
• Fox Pundit Says Women In The Military Should ‘Expect’ To Be Raped (thinkprogress.org)
• Women Vets Criticize Fox Pundit’s ‘Breathtakingly Offensive’ Claim That Women Should ‘Expect’ Sexual Assault (thinkprogress.org)