The Brooklyn Rail

MAR 2019

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MAR 2019 Issue
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Pussy Speak Out

Men, pay attention
When we say No
We mean No
Do not push your body on any of us
Rape, violations, assaults
Hotel sex crimes
Hidden kept secret harassment
Assault disguised as job interview
30 years of abuse?
Try 3,000 years
Over 90 accusations with just one Harvey
Every woman doesn’t expect this to happen in her lifetime
but it happens to every single woman
Repeatedly
Guaranteed
Intergenerationally
Spoken between women
Mothers to daughters to granddaughters
Amongst friends
We are taught how to use your body at times
To feign interest till you get to safety, a pause in his release
How to disembody, dissociate as you are raped
Taught to forget yet remember and hold the pain and fear
the shame
Hating your body
yet the desire is abjection
Held as object
Trained and groomed

Grab ’em by the pussy
A president’s war cry
Whether Bill or some other friendly neoliberal
Or some conservative cock
It is like eating a chicken sandwich
Take-out
Power of pussy

Harvey Handlers & Enablers:
To keep your jobs
Enforcing silence
For another slobbering box of popcorn
For some other film
Probably made and directed by a man
Where man gets girl

Turning down the sheets
To get to the script
Appearing naked
Coaxing young women
To overpower intimate
grabbed encounters

Massage explicit messages
with oil and motion
It never stops with a backrub
Keep me safe
manipulationfearingretaliationembarrassmentpainrapesob
bingdistraughtlockedinavanaroomajobadeskanoffice,
A car, get the pillow to his room, bathroom disturbed
angry take me out of here let me go no no no no
passing out here you are here help me
I

Together we stand
Band together in solidarity
Women unite
Oh, hello young beauty
Here is your predator
One powerful male producer
Known as the Hollywood system
A systemic industry thin and full of botox
and cleavage
To force his hairy self
You are perfect for the upcoming role
as rag doll for Harvey
No one stopped him
No one from the company
No one from the board
Never stopped
Too much money
To be made
Not too bad
Put up with it
Sign a Nondisclosure clause

While he’s giving money to a liberal cause.
Mr. Weinstein, known for outbursts tirades explosions
Private and public pounding
But it was the particular female
that he enjoyed the most
and gave of his most personal self
Hurting the most vulnerable young woman
a female who wanted, who had ambition
Who desired to work, had talent
He was brutal in shaming and punishing this woman
for her desire to be an actress, to work in the field
Written off as just another form of toxicity
Coercive bargaining to keep quiet and maybe a chance
at a script
For the hopeful actress, meeting with the god as devil
Might generate a deal, an opportunity, a chance
to be part of what you had trained for
but first you had to do Harvey
penetrated, sucked, licked, or eaten
It was never your choice

The pain is so bad
to keep your soul from slipping
as you clutch to whatever dream you
can salvage in this
nightmare
As he enters as you cry out
Harvey ejaculates
feeling her fear that then transforms his power to prove he
is a man
He is in charge and takes her power
He has the plan:
I will force myself
Eat you and you eat me
For it is a dog eat dog world
I am so ugly—so ugly but you will eat this ugly.

Ram it down your throat, you won’t have anything like me.
There is no way out. There is only a way in. I despise women.
I hate women for I want them and I am so ugly that I can only force myself on them for fear of rejection. They only want one thing. They are actress whores.
And all of this to make a moving image
Where we can all sit in the darkened theater
together in the dark
Left alone
Survivors
Left in the dark
That’s entertainment!

It is not just the ravishing actress
On stage or screen
For it is in all walks of life and career
A woman poses a risk to herself
Her body is dangerous
A potential target of attack
She presents by her presence
At all times, everywhere and anywhere
The male has the dominion to punish and beat and violate
A passionate uncontrollable rage
Her body pushes him to the edge
He is built that way
He can’t help himself
That is how men are

We know your life your body has value, Women
You speak truth
You aren’t lying
You aren’t bringing this on
You didn’t dress this way
You weren’t expecting this
Wherever you work and live
Whatever you do
Whoever you are
Women unite we won’t stand and be raped, groped, abused,
mocked, and violated.
Women girls females identified trans people
deserve to be treated with dignity
Your body is yours
Respect our body
This body is mine
It is not here for you
The time has come for female empowerment
We won’t be ridiculed and our bodies occupied for your
benefit
No more codes of silence
No more silence
Pussy speak out.

Contributor

Karen Finley

Karen Finley is an artist and writer whose work has long provoked controversy and debate. She presents her work internationally. The author of 8 books, Finley is an arts professor in the department of Art and Public Policy at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. Follow her @the_yam_mam

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The Brooklyn Rail

MAR 2019

All Issues