It’s raining. There are fresh pesticides sprayed on the neighboring lawn. The questionable technique of painting the porch across the street turned out to be alright after all. The black cat that’s been hanging out on the sidewalk in front of my house lately must have found cover somewhere from this rain.

Last night, past midnight, I was woken by the sounds of a woman screaming. Being still half asleep, I couldn’t tell what was going on, but the cops showed up minutes later. I don’t know how many calls were made to the police about this. There was at least one. Kevin has his account of incident at Undercurrents.

As a woman, I couldn’t think of a single situation–other than in a theatrical production– where I would allow four men to make me immobile. In my life, I’ve tended to have more male than female friends, and currently I have several male friends who I deeply trust. But there is something so wrong about doing that kind of thing to a female, even if it is just a joke. I tend to think it wasn’t “just fooling around.” When so many women are violently assaulted by rape, kidnapping, and physical abuse, something like taping a female’s arm, legs, and planning to tape her mouth is not remotely funny.

If they were not intending to seriously harm her, then I can’t imagine what kind of idiots they are. How can you not know of the many ways that women are abused in this culture, and still do something to a woman that is so disturbing? How can you not know that this sort of thing can trigger all kinds of awful memories for a woman who might have been raped or assaulted in the past? Ask a rape or abuse survivor what it’s like to have parts of their bodies held down. Ask them what it’s like to be forced to relive that kind of trauma.

And this makes me think about what if one of my fears happened. What if I were jumped in the back lot at night (or in the day, whatever). My fear is that, yes, but more so, what if I’m back there screaming my head off and nobody cares to do anything about it.

So, if these guys were embarrassed/inconvenienced/angered because their prank meant having to deal with police or possibly a night in jail, so be it. This kind of shit is not a joke for most of us.