[MASSIVE trigger warning.]

A video obtained by the (graphic pictures of rape at this link) Global Post shows Gaddafi being raped by a Libyan rebel before his execution. Speculation suggests he may have been raped by a stick, knife or the barrel of a machine gun.

I should have known not to read the comments.

A couple of people saying “rape is bad” and a whole fuckload of people saying that Gaddafi deserved it or that it would be absolutely hilarious to rape Wall Street bankers.

No.

No, no, no.

I cannot believe that in two-thousand-fucking-eleven we are still having this fucking discussion. No one deserves to be raped. Rape is not some kind of fucking punishment that you can deserve by being enough of a douchebag. Just like it is not okay to starve people, and it is not okay to waterboard people, and it is not okay to tear out people’s fingernails with pliers, it is also not okay to rape people. That entire comment section needs to take Remedial Decent Human Being.

In a lot of ways, we turn a blind eye to certain kinds of rape survivors. Of course, women who are insufficiently virginal can be “punished” with rape. Female undocumented immigrants are very likely to be raped, to the point that some will take birth control pills before crossing the border; some asshats argue that undocumented immigrants should be afraid to report their rapes for fear of deportation. Queer rights groups have pointed out the tragic cases of LGBT people, particularly in South Africa, who are raped in order to “turn them straight.”

And then there’s prison rape. Over two hundred thousand people are raped in American prison every year; each survivor is raped, on average, three to five times over the course of a year, which means that approximately eight hundred thousand rapes occur in the criminal justice system every year. This is a human rights crisis. And what do we get?

Oh, yes, Sublime, repeated anal rape in prison is clearly an appropriate punishment for date rape, in much the same way as beating people up is an appropriate punishment for assault and battery.

I am not sad Gaddafi is dead. My thoughts and support are with the Libyan people; I hope they can create a truly free, just and democratic society, free from the tyranny of Gaddafi. But human rights abuses (and make no mistake, rape as punishment is a violation of Article Five of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights) are not a cure for human rights abuses. And it is tragic to me that such a crime mars their moment of freedom and glory.