It was just after 2 a.m. on a pitch-black Friday morning when Bernadette Greene-Placentia’s life changed. The Democratic candidate for Congressional District 8 strolled across a parking lot to repair a damaged campaign sign. It was a routine she’d followed all summer. This time, she only made it a few yards.
An attacker smashed her over the head. She blacked out. She woke up to find a strange man on top of her.
Greene-Placentia struggled to open her eyes. She felt a sharp pain below her waist. The attacker was pulling his penis out of her.
She heard him mumble something like, “-ic bitch, not a very good fuck,” which her mind filled in as “Democratic bitch,” she recalled. She wasn’t sure that was exactly what he said.
One leg was out of her jean capris. She wore brand-new tennis shoes and a campaign t-shirt. Another man came over. Greene-Placentia felt his weight nudging her left leg further apart. She began swinging her foot at him. “Not even worth it,” she heard the man say as he moved away. He wore black boots and had small feet, she recalled.
The two men left Greene-Placentia face down in the parking lot. The hatch of her silver Jeep Grand Cherokee was still open. The car was still running. She heard music.
She doesn’t remember pulling up her pants or picking herself off the asphalt parking lot. She doesn’t remember closing her Jeep’s hatch and putting her foot on the gas. She doesn’t remember pulling her car into the driveway and collapsing into her bed.
“It’s just these little tiny flashes of things that I do remember,” Greene-Placentia said in an interview with Phoenix New Times. “As much as I don’t want to remember, I’ve tried very, very hard to remember more stuff. But that’s where I’m at.”
That you’re still engaging suggests some part of you does, yes. You’re a banger of a commenter and can often be a benefit to the conversation but…you’re kind of rough when anyone disagrees or pushes back against you.
When the pushback is over rape and believing victims, yeah, I’m gonna get kinda rough about it.
I still engage because I’ve got ADHD and about five millions thoughts in my head at any given moment, plus I’m quick witted and have strong justice sensitivity. And I’ve seen some of the views that are supported here (about willing and consensual 14 year olds to be exact). So yeah, I can be rough.
Women don’t have to be sweet.
Does it actually help anything, though? If you hurt people, they just learn to avoid you, you don’t change their minds. I’ll stop engaging with you, if you’d prefer that. I don’t want you to be engaging simply because you can’t not.
It helps heal the decades where I was taught to be silent and subservient to men, that women should be seen and not heard, and that my opinion has no value or place in public. I do this for me, not to change your mind.
This is something I choose to do. I enjoy trolling back rape apologists and being stubborn in the face of vitriol for being an outspoken woman. I enjoy making this place more welcoming to other women and minorities.
I am not a product of you.