2y ago

Jessica Watkins (mtf) sentenced to 8 years in a men's prison for Jan 6 involvement

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As little sympathy as I normally hold for any Jan 6 rioters, it is downright cruel to house her in a male prison. From what I've been able to suss out, she has been transitioned since at least 2004 when she did her legal name change. This is a person who has fully transitioned and been living as a woman for nearly 2 decades. Even though she is a traitorous piece of crap she deserves fair punishment under the law. To me, being a woman put into a male prison population should be considered cruel and unusual.
- There is unfortunately nothing unusual about prisoners being raped. That's a problem bigger than just Watkins, and the vast majority of America seems to be completely okay with it. Makes me sick.
- I'm conflicted. I completely agree with you and all of your points, and I don't want to set a precedent like this.
  But she did vote and advocate for the party that wants to keep misgendering her too....
  Edit: I know folks, I agree with you all, we shouldn't encourage this. The schadenfreude is sweet, but Ultimately it's a bad thing. We should treat even the people who are against us with the respect we ask for
  
  I look at it this way: we reveal ourselves by how we treat our helpless opponents.
  Perfectly normal to have the emotional response of 'serves her right.' The better person has to stop, set the emotion aside, and ask whether the treatment fits their moral framework. If you can't articulate why a transgendered friend, convicted of some crime, should be cross-housed, then this woman probably shouldn't be, either.
  Feeling conflicted is good - it's your rational brain fighting with your emotional brain and winning.
  
  We (LGBTQ) cant keep tolerating intolerance, or else we are going to end up without rights.
  "We have to be the better person", "We reveal ourselves by how we treat our helpless opponents", etc... until we end up shot dead like that woman that put up the rainbow flag.
  Fuck that.
  
  When her killer walks free, you can riot. I'm not asking for tolerance of intolerance; I'm asking you to treat humans like humans or to justify housing Chelsea Manning or Reality Winner in a men's prison.
  
  Honestly, how I feel about it is this: I am a woman. No matter what, I am a woman. My gender identity isn't something that can just be taken away, even if I do something awful. She's absolutely a massive piece of shit. But she is still a woman, and should be treated like one.

21 comments