You know what I hate?
—Yeah, I know we don’t have all day.
I’m a wellknown and sensitive little flower when it comes to sexual politics. This horrendous Epstein Affair has brought out some of the worst takes imagineable, among both callous conservatives and born-again-puritan liberals.
(What’s the difference? Good point).
The latest nugget to torture my brain was a little speech last week by “media personality” Megyn Kelly.
Per Snopes:
“Minutes after citing someone close to the Epstein case as saying Epstein was not a pedophile because he “was into the barely legal type, like, he liked 15-year-old girls” as opposed to “8-year-olds,” Kelly agreed with the point that there is a difference between pre- and post-pubescent children when it comes to sexual abuse. She said, “I think there is a difference. There’s a difference between a 15-year-old and a 5-year-old, you know?”
Everyone’s reaction: Can you believe this Total Fraud apologizes and makes excuses for these Epstein Island SOBs?
But here’s the thing I haven’t seen elsewhere, and it’s as obvious as the brittle nose on her face:
Kelly is telling on herself.
I listened to her tone of voice, that defensive edge. I think Megyn Kelly had sex when she was 15. I think this is her version of blurting that out.
How did she feel about it? I have no idea. She is too much of a coward and a reactionary to tell us.
Instead we got her misdirection. Let’s talk about that — listen to the podcast above.
Last week also brought us was the shattering details about who exactly “former congressman” Matt Gaetz recruited to service his VIP orgies.
We learned that one young woman at the center of the criminal investigation was 17 years old, homeless, out of school, scarce on food and utilities, and wanted to make enough money to fix her teeth. She was working at burger joints, while living out of a car or a soon-to-be-evicted trailer. But she was young and available, so Gaetz and his fixers paid her a whopping $400 to get her wasted on their drugs and service their friends.
Yeah.
We don’t need him or Megyn Kelly to parse how she was almost 18, or that it wasn’t the same as being 5.
Like Epstein and Trump, Gaetz preyed on those who didn’t even begin to know their worth, who were abused and neglected and held the very definition of “limited options.” He lied to them and laughed about what a cheap deal he got to make his sport.
He could have hired seasoned pros. That would have cost so much more and then he wouldn’t have his and Trump’s ultimate money shot: the abject humiliation of someone they see as LESS THAN.
They honestly care more about that, than any orgasm in the world.
Here’s another story, from another life. I began to have partner sex when I was 16. With both men and women, both my own age and older. People I fell in love with, people I became lifelong friends with, one-night-affairs, many stories. I had bad and awkward sex, great and poignant sex, complicated sex. I learned a lot. I would have fought you tooth and nail if you tried to take that from me, or shame me now.
And yes, I had the hubris of youth!
I had some close calls at the time. For any woman alive, of any age, that’s just another day in being female. That didn’t stop when I turned 18, or 21, or 41. I dealt with guys coming on too strong, pressuring me, trying to “trick me,” setting me on edge.
Here’s how those scenarios ended up— I know many of you share these memories.
Because I was headstrong—and let’s face it, self-centered— I often pushed back when I didn’t like the course events were taking. I was often, when I was young, in the company of a best girlfriend, or two, and we would back each other up. I rescue you and you rescue me. At times, I threw a car door open, or walked out of a party and hitched home. And, yes, I was the recipient of the kindness of strangers. Many more times that, than anything else.
It wasn’t that I was so tough, or so lucky. There were other fundamentals: I didn’t need money for sex, that didn’t occur to me. I wasn’t trying to get a job, a role. I had a soft bed and food at home. I was educated. I had family and friends who loved me. I was close to my girlfriends and we talked about everything, all the time. It was a 24/7 consciousness raising class.
Was I ever raped as a young woman? Unfortunately, yes, by a BF who had a mental break after a tour in the service. He came home and shocked me out of my mind. Katy, bar the door. So my first experience with rape was with the “known.”
Did I ever, in hindsight, get treated badly in an older-lovers’ soap opera and feel like a dope afterward? Yeah, that still stings. I once had a triangle with a married couple (in their 20s) who were in an open relationship, and OMG, what a load of crap. I probably wouldn’t have fallen for it if I hadn’t been so idealistic at the time, the Woodstock in me. I guess the good part is that by the time I was 19, I was immune to that particular nonsense.
Let me get back to politics. There’s a large faction of mainstream figures/pundits who want to take down the president for being a pimp and a sexual predator. They think there will be a defining moment coming up. As if we don’t already know the truth!
As many have pointed out— if the voter majority cared, if the press or his colleagues cared, Trump would have been dead long ago. That is what makes this moment so hateful and unforgivable.
If the lesson from the “scandal” is going to be an American referendum on age of consent, on numbers, on what’s “barely legal” for ordinary people, guess who’s going to be hurt?
Not the 1%. Not the Supreme Court Justices and Corporate Thugs and Heads of State. They don’t intend to face consequences for ANYTHING.
How I yearn to prove them wrong.
If all that matters is by-the-year age stats and playing gotcha, it’s teenagers who will be hurt and driven underground. They already have; it’s been part of the Christian Nationalist movement for years. —High school sweethearts being busted for statutory rape with each other, or “child porn” because they shared texts.
Gay young people are particularly targeted by morality busts. These campaigns are politically motivated with utter cynicism, and the Purity activists involved don’t give a damn about the lives they ruin.
Where is the feminist and human voice or reason? The crossing line is always exploitation. The brutality is coercion, money, and power. Why is that not top of the line.
Young men and women who have the agency to follow their own un-manipulated prerogatives should not be turned into criminals. Where money, bullying, or leverage are not the factors, we should appreciate their intention. You look at youth, yes, but you look at everything else.
I don’t care if Trump (et al) humiliates a young woman at 15 or at 25— he is a sadist and slave-monger. The only difference in his predatory comeuppance is whether his targets have the power to stop him, or to come after him, as Stormy Daniels did.
I do not want the price of these fascists’ heads to be women’s and young people’s rights. We are not vessels to be filled and broken by our custodial overseers. I want justice for our lives, including our sex lives. You can burn the Epstein players on another pyre that isn’t a Christian pantomime of purity rites.
And that’s enough of that!
What I’m doing this coming week:
I’m going back East for the holidays, and you may get some road diary photos along the way. I’m cooking for TWO Thanksgiving parties, which is my idea of a good time. Let me know what you’re doing, eh?
I’m enjoying Substack’s CHAT for my regular readers, and so far, it’s a good time!
Clits up, Susie
