Rape is ALWAYS rape

I've been tweeting like crazy over the past two days about Roman Polanski and the horrific number of people who are demanding that he not be punished for raping a 13-year-old girl 30 years ago.

Let me say that again: RAPING A 13-YEAR-OLD GIRL. 30 years ago. Why punish him now? Oh, only because he EVADED ARREST BY FLEEING THE COUNTRY. Because he might have had to serve some jail time. FOR RAPING A CHILD.

Okay, caps lock is off. But I'm outraged. I'm flabbergasted. I'm amazed. If you aren't sure why, read this. And then read this. And then read this. Shocked yet? Outraged yet? A child was raped and people are upset for the rapist! Because he "had a hard life," because he had to make his millions in Europe rather than the United States, because the child's mother may have let it happen, because the now-woman says she doesn't want to be in the middle of a media circus.

It all sounds very familiar. I mean, why not just say: she was drunk, she was dressed like a slut, she flirted, she walked home alone, she went to his house, she got in a jacuzzi, she asked for it. Go head, say it. Because apologizing for a child rapist is the exact same thing as saying that the child he raped ASKED FOR IT. Asked to be sodomized and penetrated, despite repeatedly saying NO and trying to convince him to just take her home.

Polanski pled guilty to a lesser charge. It doesn't mean he's not a child rapist. It means he pled to statutory rape. It means he's still a RAPIST, just one who did have to serve time for the actual crime he did. It means he had the money for a good defense. It means he's white and privileged because you know damn well if he were black or Latino, that man would've had the book thrown at him -- both in the courts and in the court of public opinion.

Therefore, when I hear someone say Polanski "had sex" with a child, I see red. When I hear people say, "he had a hard life," I see red. When I hear someone say Polanski didn't "rape rape" a child, I have to work hard not to lose my effing mind.

I also feel hurt. And here's why.

In the U.S., someone is sexually assaulted every 2 minutes. 1 in 6 women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime. 60 percent of sexual assaults are not reported to the police. Approximately 73 percent of victims know their rapist; yet only 6 percent of rapists ever spend a day in jail.

Every woman has a rape story. Even me. We have to defend our children. We have to show THE WORLD that raping a child -- raping ANYONE -- is never okay and it's ALWAYS rape. The minute someone says NO and someone else continues to force sexual acts on that person, it becomes RAPE. Not "sex with," not "he had a hard life," and definitely not "but he's a genius."

If we don't. If we refuse to protect our children and our women -- then we are no better than the rapists.