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The Mary Letourneau story is one about rape, the infantillization of white femininity, thinness, and the violence of beauty
No way any woman of color could groom and rape a white child the way this woman was allowed to with public redemption and sympathy.
No way any woman of color could groom and rape a white child the way this woman was allowed to with public redemption and sympathy.
She was allowed to rape that child for a decade bc Cishet white femininity is constructed as inherently pure
It is incredibly difficult to see the violence of femininity. White women are the epitome of femininity and femininity is docile, weak, virtuous, and thus unable to harm
It is incredibly difficult to see the violence of femininity. White women are the epitome of femininity and femininity is docile, weak, virtuous, and thus unable to harm
Here are a few facts
Although Mary Letourneau begun raping her student at 12, she taught him in class when he was 8 years old.
She was his teacher when he was a very small boy. Without secondary sexual characteristics.
Although Mary Letourneau begun raping her student at 12, she taught him in class when he was 8 years old.
She was his teacher when he was a very small boy. Without secondary sexual characteristics.
A huge part of why Mary Letourneau was allowed to rape her student was obviously the purity of Cishet white femininity
But it's also very much how dark boys of color, particularly Black boys and Indigenous boys, are read as hypersexual and as violent adults even as kids
But it's also very much how dark boys of color, particularly Black boys and Indigenous boys, are read as hypersexual and as violent adults even as kids
We all know that dark skinned boys and men are constructed as unrapeable and unable to be exploited, especially by Cishet white women.
Bc white supremacy constructs dark skinned boys as the aggressors and threats to white femininity. This is exactly what happened to this kid.
Bc white supremacy constructs dark skinned boys as the aggressors and threats to white femininity. This is exactly what happened to this kid.
The very glaring factor that is often missing in the analysis is her body.
Thinness is juxtaposed against fatness and so all the traits we associate with thinness : good morality, virtue, unable to harm, frail, not intimidating we oppose when it comes to fat people
Thinness is juxtaposed against fatness and so all the traits we associate with thinness : good morality, virtue, unable to harm, frail, not intimidating we oppose when it comes to fat people
Fatness is constructed as grotesque, gluttonous, undesirable and this predatory. Fat women are also mammified (re: aunty debate) and adultified.
If Mary Letourneau was 34 and VERY thin so she benefited from all the protections thinness had to offer which emboldened her harm
If Mary Letourneau was 34 and VERY thin so she benefited from all the protections thinness had to offer which emboldened her harm
Had Letourneau been fat, there wld have been no room for the society to construct her rape as "star crossed lovers"
Bc Cis hetero relationships are built on sizism, the fact that a thin woman was raping a 12 year old child fit into heteronormative scripts of big man/small woman
Bc Cis hetero relationships are built on sizism, the fact that a thin woman was raping a 12 year old child fit into heteronormative scripts of big man/small woman
This is why all of these constructs that teach our brains how and who humans are should be dismantled
Without white supremacist fatphobic constructs of who is worth protecting and who is we view as predatory, none of Mary Letourneau's grooming, rape and abuse would be tolerated
Without white supremacist fatphobic constructs of who is worth protecting and who is we view as predatory, none of Mary Letourneau's grooming, rape and abuse would be tolerated
