Al Franken Urges FBI To Prosecute "Revenge Porn"

mi contributes this excerpt from National Journal: "Sen. Al Franken is urging the FBI to more quickly and aggressively pursue and respond to reports of revenge porn, marking a rare burst of attention on a controversial topic about which Congress has typically been quiet. In a letter to FBI Director James Comey, the Minnesota Democrat asked for more information about the agency's authority to police against revenge porn, or the act of posting explicit sexual content online without the subject's consent, often for purposes of humiliation and extortion. Its popularity has ballooned in recent years, and victims are disproportionately women." Here's Franken's letter.

Comments

Re:c'mon

[preflex]

That sounds very much like a gender-based stereotype.

I don't think you quite understand what that word means.

I don't think you quite understand what that word means.

A stereotype is a simplistic model that is held as if it were true of *all* members of some group.

Ok. I'm with you there.

So if I say, "blacks are poorer than whites in the US," that's not a stereotype

I disagree. See your own definition above. You just demonstrated a simplistic model, being held as if it was true for all members of the group. There are some fabulously rich black people in the US. Your statement is not uniformly true.

it's a statistical assertion about differences in economic attainment between groups in aggregate

You didn't assert any statistics. If you had, then it would have been such an assertion. Besides, such an assertion would make a good foundation for a stereotype. (Stereotypes aren't always bad, or unjust. That's just a stereotype about stereotypes.)

But if I say "Blacks are poorer because blacks are lazy," that's using a stereotype because it attributes something inherent to blackness.

No. It's two stereotypes. 1. Blacks are poorer. 2. Blacks are lazy. They are both stereotypes because they are both general simplistic models of a group.

Likewise if I say "Bob can't own that Mercedes because he's black," I'm implicitly stating that all blacks are too poor to own a Mercedes so that's a stereotype.

If you're simply viewing Bob and stating your opinion about him driving his Mercedes, that's prejudice. Furthermore, if Bob does own the Mercedes, your prejudice is also false. It's related to stereotypes, but different. Prejudice is "a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience." The basis for prejudice is often stereotypes.

On the other hand, if you're refusing to sell Bob a Mercedes because he's black, that would be discrimination. Discrimination is often the result of prejudice, which is often the result of stereotypes. Discrimination can sometimes be against the law. AFAIK, there are no laws in the US against holding stereotypes or prejudices, so long as you do not discriminate.

With regard to your other points, I agree.

Re:c'mon

[Sesostris III]

So the suicide was purely down to mental illness rather than the revenge porn? I suppose it is similar to deliberately giving peanuts to someone with a peanut allergy - It was their peanut allergy that killed them of anaphylactic shock, not the person who gave them the peanuts!

(</sarcasm> - in case anyone was wondering!)

Actually, you don't say whether you think revenge porn should be illegal in the US, only that victims (mainly women) should be 'man' enought to put up with it!

(I'm pleased to say that in England and Wales (I'm in England) it is already illegal - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31429026. Scotland and Northern Ireland are considering it.)