Bristol Palin's First Time: Rape?

There are few things that I will not joke about. I can generally twist any situation into a crack about poop or dick size, and it's a magical ability I make use of often. There are two things, however, that are a huge no-go for me: violent assault and rape. I have been assaulted physically at least twice in my lifetime, once for my sexuality and once from a lover, so I can only imagine the devastating psychological effects that can stem from sexual attacks.

I was lucky in my assault instances: in one my attackers were half-hearted and I sustained not much other than a lump in the head, while in the other, my ex probably couldn't have beaten up a package of vanilla pudding, much less a decorated war vet.

Some are not so lucky, however, and their scars last forever. That's why I get so outraged when people threaten violence over political ideals, or when people bandy about the idea of rape under dubious circumstances.

Case in point:

Bristol Palin is alleging in her new book that Levi Johnston, in order to take her virginity, got her drunk and practically raped her in a tent on a camping trip. This allegation, of course, comes years after her impregnation, engagement, breakup, reconciliation, and final (I hope) breakup with the father of her child. Many people are calling bullshit, saying that it is only too easy for a young mother to claim she maintained abstinence until the Big Bad Wolf came and stole her basket of goodies.

I'm not going to go that far. While I do kind of have a hard-on for Levi, I believe that any woman that claims she has been raped should be treated humanely and fairly. I will not dismiss out of hand a woman that alleges she was the victim of sexual crime. If she was intoxicated through the machinations of a would-be rapist and then forced to have sex against her will, fuck that guy. Clap him in irons and bring him to justice.

This is important, though: she is not trying to bring him to justice. She is merely insinuating that it is rape, making a mint off the book, and exonerating herself for any extramarital misdeeds she may have committed. Thus I urge her: Bristol Palin! If you were raped, please seek help, contact the police, and bring your aggressor to justice.

If not? Then you are the worst kind of shitbag. Sex crime is no laughing matter, and any person who accuses someone of rape unjustly dishonors survivors of violent crime.