Scan barcode
bookishbrenbren's review
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
3.25
This zine collects a few articles/posts/whathaveyous which each seek to suggest ways to respond to sexual transgressions/violence within the anarchist community.
While the ideas expressed within are new, interesting, worthwhile, thought-provoking, it did seem at times that they were expressed in ways designed to make a reader quite bored. It took me many days to read a 110-page zine. That said, I learned a lot about TJ, anarchist scenes in general, retributive violence, and felt at times hopeful and hopeless. I think the answer to the question of this book's title is that the only effective treatment is prevention by building a less-violent, more peaceful society, exterminating toxic masculinity and masculine violence, strengthening social ties so that their severance means something (something particularly difficult in a community built on its members' ostracism from society at large), and prioritizing victim safety and future protections against a known rapist. The idea of retributive violence does not appeal to me but the idea of victim-led justice does. I don't think the TJ panels are going to be effective, that level of investment simply cannot be afforded to people who will most likely never change. I think the approach of publicly shaming folks is a good idea and would be MUCH more effective if anarchists were not already prone to isolation and lack of societal ties - if we did this to rapists who engage in main-stream society and have strong familial and friendship ties, it has the potential to be extremely effective. We would be forced to cut ties with a lot of men and the women and NBs who apologize for them, but I think it would enact change much faster than these years-long resource-intensive panels.
While the ideas expressed within are new, interesting, worthwhile, thought-provoking, it did seem at times that they were expressed in ways designed to make a reader quite bored. It took me many days to read a 110-page zine. That said, I learned a lot about TJ, anarchist scenes in general, retributive violence, and felt at times hopeful and hopeless. I think the answer to the question of this book's title is that the only effective treatment is prevention by building a less-violent, more peaceful society, exterminating toxic masculinity and masculine violence, strengthening social ties so that their severance means something (something particularly difficult in a community built on its members' ostracism from society at large), and prioritizing victim safety and future protections against a known rapist. The idea of retributive violence does not appeal to me but the idea of victim-led justice does. I don't think the TJ panels are going to be effective, that level of investment simply cannot be afforded to people who will most likely never change. I think the approach of publicly shaming folks is a good idea and would be MUCH more effective if anarchists were not already prone to isolation and lack of societal ties - if we did this to rapists who engage in main-stream society and have strong familial and friendship ties, it has the potential to be extremely effective. We would be forced to cut ties with a lot of men and the women and NBs who apologize for them, but I think it would enact change much faster than these years-long resource-intensive panels.
anathema99's review
dark
informative
fast-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual violence and Sexism
soafricane's review
5.0
A critical zine that goes in detail about diverse anarchist tactics that can be applied in response to abuse among harmed communities. What About The Rapists interestingly emphasizes how hegemonies and dogmatism might be replicated and propagated even through mechanisms such as Transformative Justice and the Accountability Process.
Only issue I had with this zine was that the language was extremely dated, essentialist or non-resonant. Otherwise, it’s an indispensable resource and is easily accessible online.
Only issue I had with this zine was that the language was extremely dated, essentialist or non-resonant. Otherwise, it’s an indispensable resource and is easily accessible online.