March 18, 2013

CPAC: Where Ashley Judd Rape Jokes Happen

Possible Kentucky Senate candidate Ashley Judd has an “unnerving” “obsession” with rape, according to a conservative comedian who performed at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday. Fox News contributor Steven Crowder was winding up his monologue from CPAC’s main stage when he decided to mock Judd’s suggestion that people who use high-tech appliances (herself included) are indirectly contributing to human rights abuses:

By the way, in breaking news, Ashley Judd just tweeted that buying Apple products, again, is akin to rape. From her iPhone. Rape—now she knows how my brain felt after Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. Oh, she said it. What is this obsession with Ashley Judd and rape? It’s pretty unnerving.

Here’s one reason why Ashley Judd talks about rape a lot: She is, in her own words, “a three-time survivor of rape.” (I didn’t have to look very hard for that; she talked about it at length in a nationally televised public appearance last month.) Talking about it is not just part of the recovery process—Judd feels it’s her obligation: “I gave that shame back, and it’s my job to break my isolation and talk with other girls and other women.” That’s also, not coincidentally, a large part of what she does internationally as a public health activist. There is literally a chapter in her memoir called “The Republic of Rape.” It’s about the Democratic of Republic of Congo, of which she has reported, “100 percent of the women I had interviewed had been gang-raped multiple times by armed militia.”

On top of all of this, the original joke doesn’t even make sense. Crowder’s punch-line is that Judd is oblivious to the obvious hypocrisy of condemning Apple products while using them. What an idiot! But Judd’s comments came in a long essay (not a tweet) about the angst she felt about using products that came from conflict zones.

Given the physical and emotional trauma experienced by countless women on a daily basis, it’s not especially surprising that Judd is “obsessed” with rape; the better question is why Steven Crowder isn’t.

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