What a bunch of whiny women. "I'm a woman, I'm empowered, but now I'm a mother AND a victim". First, children are not anyones responsibility other than your own. This whole "it takes a village to raise a child" only works if your stupid enough to believe it and not use birth control because you're lazy or stupid enough to not to use it hoping to snag your man for life with child support payments". Second, you live in the big city ladies (and men). Pull those keisters away from the TV, bars, coffee shops and personal dramas for a few hours and take a self defense course - ( this goes for the men too!)". There are a lot of free ones out there that everyone can benefit from. You might learn how to protect yourselves, learn to be aware of your surroundings and make some good friends too. For bystanders that dont do anything when they see an altercation, remember, people may react in kind to you if you are ever in the situation. Be a human being and make the 911 call. You may be making this "Ha-Ha Hotel" of an over-priced town a little safer for yourself later. Yours truly, a responsible, independent, proactive adult.

Yeah, Seatlebcc please get back to us the next time someone brutally physically assaults you and I'm sure we can come up with a few of your peers not "lazy or stupid enough" willing to read your post back to you as a way of fixing everything. I just *know* that'll make everything all better!

I encounter your attitude in others frequently, and the most common feature among everyone who talks this way is the neck-breaking speed at which their precious beliefs fly out the window when they are the ones that were the victim or in unexpected need of a leg up. Then they start clamoring for more aggressive, pro-active (read stop & frisk type) policing which solved all New York's problems, right?

Utopias like the world you espouse exist already in areas of Syria, Central African Republic, Somalia, Eritrea, etc. I would even happily contribute to a Kickstarter campaign to get you there;) I for one am grateful that I don't live in a world as callous and lonely as yours. The extremely perfect world you imagine only works if we all were born with the same advantages and privileges you enjoy. I love how in your world anyone not as well-off as y'all is apparently worthless and should just go suck eggs. Such lovely Christ-like humanity coming from someone who'd tell Jesus himself that he obviously deserved what he got...

@1 summarized if TL:DR: Anyone less perfect than Seattlebcc is apparently too stupid to live.

#2 You're no medium.....just the scum on the shallow end of assumption (JMK).

@4 - ???

Just a nice little quote I like to use....I think the truth lies somewhere between #1 and #2.

What did the poor woman with the barfing kid have to do with anything. Like she had anything to do with what article it was "next to". I mean she was upset that she had to clean up puke, she didn't refuse to call 911 for you. Sorry about your rape but please blame the rapist, not some random mom with a puke machine.

@7 I think this post is a "have some perspective about your first world probs" post rather than a "YOU CAUSED MY ASSAULT" post. Also why does it now feel like half the rants published for this are just responses to earlier rants? Maybe it was always this way and I just wasn't paying attention.

Was this just a pick up from the "vomitorium" comments? It's not a stand alone. Good comment. Crappy IA. Should have left it where it belonged.

Good grief, Seattlebcc way to make it all about you. You are a typical whiny "victim of society". Hopefully you will grow up some day.

WTF is this one about? Someone's kid barfed but BTW I got raped? Okay, you win the bad times one-up game. So?

So this is an indictment of the Stranger's editorial layout, then?

When presenting a devastating story about rape and police indifference, do not include anything of lesser gravitas nearby on the page, lest the protagonist of the lesser piece be told they lack perspective.

Dear anonymous: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallacy_o…

Let me see if I understand what is going on:

One angry woman posts an entitled rant over how other people did not help her clean up her son's vomit prompting another woman to get angry at the original angry woman who did not automatically scale her anger down to a level for a appropriate for cleaning up vomit without help from bystanders compared to a woman being raped and bystanders not saving her since the original angry woman should have had the foresight to know that her angry rant would be published adjacent to a description of a gang rape which would make the second woman angry over the lack of perspective in the original angry rant?

Anonymous, I feel your anger and confusion. I physically ache from the empathy I am feeling for your situation, yet I know I haven't begun to truly understand what you went through and are going through still. The woman with the barfing child is not the person who you should take your anger out on, though. Since you clearly have some pent up emotion, I advise you to write a letter to your attackers since they are the first people to blame. The second people to blame are everyone watching who didn't help you, but you don't have their names. If you know the names of the attackers, write to them.

I also urge you to seek professional help. There are resources out there that you could benefit from, and you should take advantage of them. Many women who have been raped find relief in support groups - look for them in your area. Not to mention that everyone could benefit from seeing a therapist, not just people who have been through a traumatic experience like yourself. Find one recommended by other victims. Find a safe space with ready listeners to talk to about it, because you don't have to go through this experience alone. My thoughts are with you; it will get better.

Also, please DO NOT listen to commenter #1. Your rape was absolutely not your fault. And it certainly did NOT happen because you didn't take a self defense class. That person has a narrow view of the world and has no idea what you are going through.

Please call 800-656-HOPE (4673) for 24 hour support. They will have information about other resources for you.

Wow. Just, wow.

@Seatlebcc:

An old Leykis 101 listener I take it?

I can't support this. Being trauamatized probably does suck, and a few micro-traumas (having to lend your pen) is a little salty, but "Jesus Christ" - your suffering does not "trump" anyone elses. It doesn't outmode anyone else. And it's no excuse for being so self-centered that you feel someone else should essentially 'check their privilege' for writing in a free newspaper that you were completely entitled to instead use to wipe your butt with.

I want to punch everyone involved here in the comment section in the neck.

i bet very few men know what it's like to be pummeled, not helped, then ignored.

@22 I worked clubs for years and it's my experience that people are way more likely to aid a woman than a man.

Men fighting people often assume it's two voluntary combants and usually people only broke it up if they knew them or one was about to curb stomp the other.

In fact the source of so many fights I saw were dudes stepping in to White Knight a woman and then drawing the ire of the dude and his friends.

I tend to take all these I Anons with a huge grain of salt. And this one is no different.

I mean. Sure it happens. Women get assaulted all the time. And a many times nobody gets involved. And that is fucked up.

But out of all the assaults people DO get involved it's way more likely that they'll help a woman than a man.

my sarcasm flew right through your head

it's kind of interesting how women get all upset when people don't stand up for them, must be a common thing for people to step in and back up helpless women.

#24, Maybe you should ask the women in your life how many times they have been assaulted or physically accosted by a stranger vs. how many times the men in your life have, and you will figure out why they get upset. Men don't make these comments because this unprovoked assault shit rarely happens to them.

My husband has been accosted by a complete stranger exactly once (a homeless guy who elbowed him when he thought he was gay). I, on the otherhand, have been followed home by a complete stranger who grabbed my boobs & crotch and then tried to force his way into my apartment building, have been sexually assaulted by a spa employee, have been groped on the bus at by at least five different strangers, and have had my ass grabbed by a stranger while at work. So yes, this is stuff we think about that men do not generally have to. And do I "feel" helpless as a 5ft tall 100lb woman up against a 6ft tall man? Yeah, so I'm not sorry for feeling what you percieve as whiny victimhood.

Well that story sure sucks but I'm not sure what it has to do with some mom upset that nobody helped her son. Is it the nobody helping part?

@25 being elbowed vs unwanted touching. i bet no men have ever had someone touch them without their permission.

not my fault you don't kick people in the dick then poke them in they eye till you feel safe.

#27, Ok, next time you try to win a fight against a guy 80lbs larger than you, come back and tell me how that works out. Dick kicking and eye poking isn't as easy an option as self defense classes would have you believe.

Obviously I fought back - who the fuck wouldn't? Doesn't change the fact that I could have used the help of those around me at the time. And as someone who has jumped in to help a homeless guy who was being attacked, I expect the same courtesy from others simply because they are decent human beings.

i guess that's where you and i differ. i don't expect people to help me, ever. i do expect them to try and hurt me though, so maybe i'm more mentally prepared for that type of situation.

maybe i wasn't graphic enough in my self defense descriptions. you have to be willing to break fingers, bite fingers off, rip eyes out, squeeze testicles until they rupture, palm strike someone in the nose then jam your fingers in their eyes knee them in the groin, trip them then stomp on their face while they're lying on the ground. you have to be willing to do it first and fast because they will do the same to you. that's the type of help i would expect from myself.

i believe you are capable of doing those things and i believe you can do serious damage despite your physical stature.

I feel like this story is missing the middle section which would make this entire lament make more sense. And yeah...I get that it has to be condensed down for IA purposes, but why the hell did no one help this woman while some rando was assaulting her? Then she was taken away in a cop car - no ambulance? Nothing adds up here. Nothing at all. And I'm not doubting the legitimacy of the allegations, I just can't make sense of this as written.

Nevertheless, I *do* agree with the title. Suffering is relative. So on that note, let's give Vomitorium Mum a pass here and remind ourselves that VM undoubtedly wasn't one of the people who sat by and watched as the LW was physically assaulted - but rather just another person having a shitty day. Some are obviously (way) shittier than others - and I think we can all agree that no one would wish the LW's particular type of day on another person. Except for maybe SeattleBBC, he seems the malicious sort.

How the fuck is the woman responsible for what anything was published next to? I don't even understand this rant. I gather something awful happened to the Anonymous, and I'm real sorry to hear that, it's absolutely awful. But what does it have to do with the rest of the letter?