Questioning Transphobia

My gender is rage

Kyle Payne Jailed

with 10 comments

Complete story at Hoyden About Town.

I’m relieved that he did go to prison. Looking at 6 months, plus some other jail time, plus 10 years probation.

From the sentencing:

Quoting repeatedly from Payne’s most recent blog post and pointing to what he described as a “narcissistic” tendancies, Buena Vista County Attorney Dave Patton requested the court sentence Payne to prison. “[His blog post] indicates that he believes this is not all about the victim,” Patton said. “He believes it is all about him.”

F. Montgomery Brown, who served as Payne’s attorney, argued for a deferment while documenting how “the blogosphere lit into” Payne. “Why was this kid so sensational?” Brown asked the court. “Because he made a spectacle of himself, in part. … But being a hypocrite is not a sentencing factor.”

Several feminist bloggers have written about the case because Payne had been so public with not only his feminist leanings, but his advocacy on behalf of victims of rape and sexual assault.

“He can’t be penalized for exercising his Constitutional rights,” Brown said of the blog post. “Frankly, I’m asking the court to be creative.”

Ah, yes. Be lenient on the kid for his precursor rapist behavior, teh wimminz were mean to him.

It wasn’t about him exercising his rights, it was how he exercised them: By inserting himself into feminist discourse, speaking at feminist events, speaking out against pornography and rape even after he’s sexually assaulted a woman. Even ignoring his sentencing, his name and face should be known to women.

And, seriously, if you don’t want to get picked on for being a sex offender, don’t be a sex offender. This ain’t rocket science.

Written by Lisa Harney

August 26, 2008 at 2:04 am

10 Responses

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  1. Well, give the lawyer some credit, it’s at least more plausible than Kyle’s preferred defence, “Teh evul pr0n made me do it”.

    QoT

    August 26, 2008 at 3:30 am

  2. True that.

    Glad it failed, as it should have.

    Lisa Harney

    August 26, 2008 at 3:35 am

  3. [...] Questioning Transphobia [...]

  4. [...] Kyle Payne Sentenced to Jail August 26, 2008 Posted by Emily in Social Justice. Tags: asshole(s), feminism, justice?, Kyle Payne, violence against women trackback via Lisa. [...]

  5. [...] Kyle Payne is being sent to jail. [...]

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  7. Oh, he just happened to be exercising his First Amendment rights in a way that got him closer to women he could victimize? How neat. Glad he was convicted, glad he’s doing jailtime, kind of disgusted with how short it is. But what else is new?

    Lea

    August 27, 2008 at 10:59 pm

  8. Yeah, the short jailtime is inexcusable. I hope his years and years of probation and such inconvenience him severely.

    And I hope he never does this again. If he does, I hope they do lock him away for a long time.

    He also posted on his blog, going on about how hearing the victim talk about her feelings and reactions to what he did, and how it affected him, the narcissistic fucker.

    Lisa Harney

    August 27, 2008 at 11:06 pm

  9. Hypocrisy? It seemed more like cognitive dissonance to most people watching. That was why this kid got so sensational–he remains utterly incapable of the mindset he needs to begin learning remorse, never mind actually feeling it.

    piny

    August 28, 2008 at 3:11 pm

  10. True.

    Isn’t that what sociopathy is?

    Lisa Harney

    August 28, 2008 at 6:58 pm


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