I was told by my professors that Kitty Genovese was a 28-year-old unmarried woman who was attacked, raped, and brutally murdered on her way home from her shift as manager of a bar. I was told that numerous people witnessed the attack and her cries for help but didn’t do anything because they “assumed someone else would”. Nobody intervened until it was too late.
Now… is it likely that people overheard Kitty’s cries for help and ignored them because they thought someone else would deal with it? Or, perhaps, did they ignore her because they knew she was a lesbian and just didn’t care?
Maybe that’s not the case. Maybe it was just a random attack. Maybe her neighbours didn’t know she was gay, or didn’t care.
But it’s a huge chunk of information to leave out about her in a supposedly scientific study of events, since her sexuality made her much more vulnerable to violent crimes than the average person. And it’s a dishonour to her memory.
RIP Kitty Genovese. Society may only remember you for how you died, but I will remember you for who who were.
this was one of the first lessons I had in psych too and we were never told about this either nor was it in any of the reading materials
I never knew this.
I also never knew this about Kitty Genovese, but I do know that, in fact, many of the dozen (not thirty-eight) people who witnessed some part of the attack (which took place after 3AM, on a chilly night in March when most people’s windows were closed) tried to help in some way.
One shouted out his window for the attacker to leave her alone, which did successfully scare the man off temporarily.
Another called the police but, seeing her still on her feet, said only that there had been a fight but the woman seemed to be okay.
And when Kitty Genovese was finally attacked in a vestibule where she couldn’t be seen from outside, Karl Ross, a neighbor, saw what was happening but was too frightened himself to go to her rescue–so he started calling other neighbors to ask what he should do. Eventually one of them told him to call the police, which he did, and the woman he called, Sophie Farrar, rushed out to help Kitty even though she didn’t know whether the attacker was gone.
Kitty Genovese died in the arms of a neighbor who tired to help and comfort her while they waited for the police and ambulance to arrive. Kitty was in fact still alive, although mortally wounded, when the ambulance reached the scene.
The man who saw the final stabbing? Who panicked and called other neighbors first instead of the police? The man who said, infamously, that he “didn’t want to get involved” because he was reluctant to turn to the police for help? He was thought to be gay himself. He was a friend of Kitty and Mary Ann’s. After being interviewed by the police he took a bottle of vodka to Mary Ann and sat with her, trying to comfort her.
So, no. I don’t think the evidence indicates that Kitty Genovese’s neighbors let her die because she was a lesbian, because Kitty Genovese’s neighbors tried to help.
(Also, going by the content of the murderer’s confession, it was indeed a random attack.)
how on EARTH was this “scientifically” studied but the details gotten so wrong and the wrong as hell conclusion published and taught in schools?!?!?! where were those scientists observation skills?! on vacation?!
How to take facts and turn them into an urban legend that gets taught in schools: Make a bad made-for-t.v.-movie about it, watch it, believe everything the movie says, annnnnnnd go! That’s how it gets taught as this supposed “scientific study.” Someone got fucking lazy.
Well… thats about it! Of course there’s a whole bunch of useful resources which I just couldn’t include in this post because it was getting too long.
Even if you yourself aren’t trans and wouldn’t find this content useful, please reblog because it may be of great help to some of your followers.
And if you ever have any trans-related questions or need some advice or support, feel free to message me at my main blog here or at my personal/transition blog here.
Just because it’s worth reposting again.
Hey, times are bad.
Here’s a list of resources for trans, nonbinary, and intersex persons.
What People Think Being Bisexual is Like vs. What It’s Really Like.
This is 100% true.
Also, one time me and my ex were in a pub, just chilling and discussing LGBT-relevant current events, and some creeper came up and propositioned us for a threesome. No introducing himself, no chit-chat. He literally climbed over the edge of our booth and asked for a threeway.
Being Scotland, other people were appropriately appalled, and the bartender felt so bad he made the creeper pay for our tab.
‘straight men are terrified of showing platonic affection for other men because they’re afraid people will assume they’re gay’ now i hope this doesn’t sound too harsh but maybe if straight dudes, as a group, hadn’t spent decades
vilifying, mocking, and murdering gay men at every opportunity maybe being mistaken for a queer wouldn’t be such a federal fucking issue
‘straight men are terrified of showing platonic affection for other men
Nope. Not me or my friends at least.
because they’re afraid people will assume they’re gay’
I don’t give a shit what “people” assume.
now i hope this doesn’t sound too harsh but maybe if straight dudes, as a group, hadn’t spent decades demonizing, demeaning, disenfranchising, criminalizing, pathologizing, brutalizing, vilifying, mocking, and murdering gay men at every opportunity
I’ve never done this. Are you so fucking daft that you think that just because you belong to a certain gender and sexual orientation you gather in some global meeting every year to decide on shit like this? Lumping me in with people that do this sort of shit just because I share their gender and sexual orientation is fucking ignorant at best. You’re THE EXACT SAME as the people who claim that all homosexuals are degenerates. You’ve turned into the exact same thing that the people who fought for your rights in the decades before you railed against.
I hate seeing shit like this on tumblr, and I’m sorta disappointed in my friend who keeps reblogging it to be honest. It’s polarizing and hurtful, for no reason but to point a finger at people belonging to a certain group saying “it’s all your fault!”. This is the reason some guys feel the need to say “not all men!” which has turned into a meme at this point. But sometimes I feel shitty enough without coming to this fucking site to get treated like one of the assholes that actually act this way.
“All Generalizations Are Dangerous, Even This One.” – Alexandre Dumas
Stop. Making. Everything. About. You
This is this problem with the most privileged groups in society, they always assume thinking everything is about them without thinking of the big picture.
Straight people oppressed LGBTQ people for decades. The affects have carried on for generations in both Straight and LGBTQ people. You can’t run from this fact. LGBTQ people cant run either. No one can.
If you can show affection without giving a damn of toxic masculinity. Fantastic
If you don’t insult or help insult LGBTQ people. Fantastic
But guess what? You aren’t the only straight person in the world.
Straight people have been raised with anti-LGBTQ sentiments everywhere. That impacts how we see LGBTQ people and issues today. None of us asked for it. But it’s the circumstances we have been given that we must deal with.
You didn’t ask to be generalized. Guess What? LGBTQ people didn’t ask to be oppressed too. But that’s reality
The reason Straight people are criticized more is because of the INBALANCE in the dynamic between Straight and LGBTQ people. LGBTQ people have the short end of the stick, Straight people don’t.
Stop trying to be a victim, Straight people don’t have to deal with generalizations, caricatures, or any sort of discrimination BC STRAIGHT PEOPLE ARE ON TOP.
You may not have done anything but you are benefiting from the privilege of being straight. You didn’t ask for it. I know. But it’s the reality we have to deal with.
This and the “Not all men” thing are ridiculed bc all thst does is make an issue about women and LGBTQ people about men and Straight people.
THEY FUCKING KNOW. They’ve dealt with generalizations and know how bullshit it is.
The difference is the minority aren’t causing shit to ruin everyone’s lives. The MAJORITY ARE. That’s bc of how they were raised. We never asked for a bunch of straight white men to cause this bullshit. But that’s what happened. And we all have to deal with it. But we do have the power to make our own choices to rise above it. At least many of us
And if you choose to ignore what LGBTQ people say while saying how you have such a hard time dealing with generalizations, then you’re contributing by making LGBTQ issues about Straight People.
OPs post was about how Straight People oppressing Gay men impacted Gay and Straight men in the worst possible issue. You made it about yourself.
Just listen to what LGBTQ people have to say. This issue impacts them more than it does you.
Every url that reblog’s will be written in a book and shown to my homophobic dad.
Is there a word to describe the misogynists who fetishishize and heteronormative mlm relationships ? I used to use Fujoshi but after learning it’s history I’ve been ‘fetishists’ or ‘fetishizer’. It feels like there should be a better word to use…
I’ve seen a bunch of people in the notes concerned (like I was) of comparisons of members of the lgbt to dogs: but upon visiting their website I was reassured that they monitor a variety of content, including (but not limited to):
THIS IS A GOOD SITE
I just wanna reblog this here and point out that this is actually a site I use a lot.
Im not one of those who get like overly upset by passing of dogs in movies, but growing up in a family where we had to put down a lot of dogs ourselves that we loved very dearly, it does break the immersion for me, which ruin movies.
She said this in the context of how incels basically form parasocial death cults when they are ‘blackpilled.’ They come to believe that because they feel terrible about themselves right now, that feeling is objectively true and forever, and even the reality of how the ‘world really works’ and there’s no hope to change it, only to “LDR”. Which is, ‘lie down and rot’, a form of suicide baiting. What’s happened here is that otherwise genuine feelings of pain or insecurity have been validated maybe too much and have evolved into an entire worldview centered around affirmation of pain. And once pain-as-truth becomes social capital, the way people behave changes to maximize its growth and spread.
But I have to say? I feel like I have encountered versions of the very same behavior in my own spaces, on tumblr, on facebook, etc.:
There’s definitely forms of love-bombing that surround mental illness or depression support connections that shower you with confirmation and praise only as long as you reject any steps of managing mental illness, so long as it unstoppably dominates your life. Once you question someone else’s behavior or declare that you’re seeing a therapist or something all your new parasocial friends turn against you.
I’ve seen it in supposedly feminist spaces where women that are otherwise strangers to each other talk each other into hopelessness and heightened fear of sex and fear of other people in their life, especially male figures. Sometimes not even based in a specific personal experience, but instead just this collective ‘dark truth’ of womanhood. TERFs love to do this, and segue younger people into fear of trans women this way.
I’ve seen it happen a lot within lgbt+ spaces where someone’s personal despair about dysphoria, homophobia they face, not being able to find a partner or being judged by family or strangers, or even fear of violence, enters a feedback loop with other people they don’t actually know and don’t have any interests but their own consumption in mind amplifying it, forming these insular enclaves where fear is truth and everyone else is wrong because they don’t feel as terrible about being attracted to the same sex or for being trans as they should. Meanwhile no one struggling within this structure is actually getting the support or help they need, they’re just arguing about it and building cases for, when the mythical support does fall from the sky, why they should get it first.
There’s mounds of discourse where people argue over how because that group couldn’t possibly live as terrible a reality as this group, their lived experience isn’t the order of the universe and therefore doesn’t deserve validity or attention at all. And to argue, inexperienced people fall into the trap of trying to artificially match the despair levels of their critics, or try to counter one black pill with their own black pill which will never be credible to outsiders, resulting in cringy disaster at all vectors. In the red-hot radioactive mess troll accounts prosper.
Which is not to say that all these situations are full of people as baseless as incels– some of them are living very difficult lives, but are using “masochistic epistemology“ as the internal logic of their world. And the effect of such an internal logic is extremely dark self-confirming biases in excess of what is necessary to communicate the dangers of their lives, or cope with hardship. And any similar person who goes off seeking friends who acknowledge their pain is going to find a black hole of people who’d otherwise be peers escalating that very pain in themselves and others in order to confirm it’s all real.
Natalie Wynn herself, a trans woman, struggled with the urge to go to 4chan’s /lgbt/ and wait for the most toxic and hopeless crowds there to rip her appearance apart even though it made very little logical sense. The people there shared the same insecurities as her, that they don’t pass, that people will despise them, and in some way hearing those insecurities confirmed rather than denied to her felt more like ‘the real truth’ or ‘what people really think’ than it did to hear praise and encouragement. Even if what they had to say wasn’t anywhere near an objective truth.
The “pain is real” mindset is that hard to shake! It doesn’t matter if you’re smart, prepared to identify the phenomenon with philosophy education, intellectually aware that it’s bad for you. There is a self-harm impulse to ‘face reality’, but a very specific reality that confirms the bias of your pain or insecurity. The comfort zone of discomfort, in a way! It just wants you to not feel crazy for feeling those things and is willing to hurt you even more to prove you’re right about your environment or your life.
Stressed, Depressed, and Story Obsessed 