‘When rape is inevitable, lie back and enjoy it’ – Tory councillor
‘Stop rape’: You don’t stop it by telling people to lie back and enjoy it, Tory councillors!
Is this how the Tories think we proles should endure their ‘reforms’, perhaps?
“A Tory councillor has apologised after likening housing development to a sex attack, saying “when rape is inevitable, lie back and enjoy it” during a council meeting.
“Barbara Driver, a former mayor, stunned colleagues by using the phrase to describe how powerless planners are to control a housing development.
“She said: “There is a saying and I am going to say it: When rape is inevitable, lie back and enjoy it.”
“Cllr Driver is now facing calls to resign from Cheltenham Borough Council after her “repulsive” comments provoked fury from colleagues, constituents and sex abuse charities.
“The 77-year-old – who last year led a report looking at sexual exploitation – has apologised but said she doesn’t intend to stand down.”
Opinions?
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What a cheeky old rat hasn’t snatched enough money for her retirement yet!
What a disgusting saying and I have never heard of it said before!!
I am a victim of rape many years ago, however, its still like yesterday or even today to me. It never goes, ever!
I was a 12 old innocent child (12 was innocent then), and I fought and fought the gang who raped me – and now this old hag of a has-been comes along and says such vulgar words and then claims that there is a “saying”.
She shouldn’t stand down, she should be pushed out by her fellow councilors and the voters.
Get rid of filth like her, she is NOT a proper woman, she’s a disgrace to women and probably to men to!
I’m so angry I could strike her if she was near…
I applaud your bravery in speaking openly about your experience.
When I was a child, and this councillor in question was a young adult, that offensive phrase was in common use, preceded by ‘Confucius he say…’
But, she should have known better by now.
I’ve never heard it before, and I’m quite long in the tooth.
Reblogged this on Jay's Journal and commented:
How Bloody DARE she!
Opinions? Where do you f***ing start?
What planet is this empathy/ humanity/ moral compass-devoid example living on?
To be honest, I didn’t know where to start; that’s why I asked for readers’ thoughts.
What a disgusting ill educated woman, maybe in her day or even world women were treat like this, or is it a case of the peasants do not matter and should not make a fuss. I have never heard this saying but its repulsive.
If it was a male Tory saying this he’d be in even more trouble. It’s a really stupid thing for anyone to say. Rape is not *enjoyable*. The sooner the Tories are pushed out the better.
As you and Ulysses have said – where ? I suppose the fact we are shocked demonstrates we haven’t witnessed yet, the absolute worst the Tories have to offer.
I can only hope Cheltenham voters feel the same at the Election?!
Reblogged this on Beastrabban’s Weblog and commented:
More outrageous comments and disgusting attitudes from the party, whose members gave us such bon mots as ‘the homeless are what you step over when you come out of the opera’. This particular massively insensitive woman is a Tory councillor in Cheltenham. There was a scandal there a few years ago the Lib Dem council made some kind of corrupt land deal with developers, so that homes built for the rich were put up on good, uncontaminated land, while those for the poor were built on a polluted, former industrial site. As for what this woman has said, one of the constant problems of prosecuting this crime is the low conviction rate, and campaigners against rape are naturally extremely concerned about the trivialisation of this serious sexual assault. The councillor should be properly punished to show that such comments and insensitivity is not acceptable.
[…] Tory councillor: when rape is inevitable, lie back and enjoy it […]
Disgusting, makes me rethink my thoughts on “right to recall” a lot! Anyone else have any thoughts on that by the way?
I wouldn’t give any time worrying, she is obviously after attention. Come 2015 who is ever going to remember her, she is trying, in the worst way, to keep her party in peoples thoughts, and she has already got people talking about her crap opinions, that is all they are, and admit it or not, it is working.
Beings such as her deserve to be ignored, also if anything as soul destroying as rape happened to her, or her loved ones, who do you think is going to demand justice for such a terrible act, that’s right. She will!!!!
Utterly repulsive, of course. I dare say some people might make excuses for her, given that she is of an era when people believed that rape was about male sexual gratification. Thanks to brave women campaigning for better understanding, we now know that it is all about power and control – men who rape (and it is still mostly men who are the perpetrators) are simply using their penis as a weapon. It is a crying shame that this excuse for a woman doesn’t know that, or hasn’t learnt it, despite ‘leading a report looking at sexual exploitation’.
One is tempted to say, “F*** her” and her opinions.
A stated intention not to resign is frequently followed by a resignation in my experience.
Despite my comment, I was raped on Christmas day by my father. I was 14years old.
I couldn’t talk about it because I was frightened I was going to be locked up, this happened a few months after I was molested in care, and the social services reaction was to shut me up by threatening to put me in a secure unit, and it worked!! I had to live in the same home where the molester worked for a further 5 months, the other kids supported him and so I was beaten daily and not one member of staff stepped in.
I am now 43 and I can’t ever move on, I still feel guilty, constantly, I have never had a boyfriend or any family, I feel like my soul was taken away, along with my innocence on that day. That is why to me life seems so hopeless and empty because he also stole my confidence and I have a very huge fear of authority figures!!
She needs to be stopped! Before anymore lives are lost
The whole government have to be stopped!!!
Joanna, I’m so sorry to hear about your experiences. It’s something no one should ever have to endure. Have you tried asking your local rape crisis centre for help – they may be able to put you in touch with someone who is able to help you heal. I hope that you find peace within yourself soon.
Telling you my experiences has just opened the floodgates for me, but now I’m struggling to keep as strong as I can, and I feel guilty for talking about it.
Isn’t there enough pain around , that she feels the need to create more!?!?
[…] Is this how the Tories think we proles should endure their 'reforms', perhaps? From the Daily Telegraph: "A Tory councillor has apologised after likening housing development to a sex attack, saying… […]
What utter sub-human creatures the tories are. Scum of the universe.
How sick and awful. It shows her disdain both for rape victims and survivors and also for joe public, she’s so openly mocking us for being unable to resist housing reform. It strikes me as particularly shocking that a woman can joke about rape in such a blase way. The comparing of the two situations is also pretty sick. She seems to be downplaying the attack on autonomy/free will that rape is, and saying it’s just something the victim dislikes. Apart from comments that compare a (female) body to a commodity and use that as a premise for victim blaming or treating the victim as “damaged goods” forever violated or stolen from, this is the worst. I am stunned that this is coming from a councillor and former mayor, not a Daily Mail reader, as the commodity comments often do.
How do we know she’s not a Daily Mail reader? It was originally set up as something for Tory wives to read while their husbands had their heads stuck in the Telegraph.
Ha. Well played.