The She Made Him Do It Theory of Everything

February 27, 2025 9:50 AM

"The rhetoric and logic of the abuse of power operates similarly at all scales, which is why I've found feminism such useful equipment for understanding authoritarians in public and political life. Because no matter what abusers take from their victims, they don't want to take the blame. And one of the prerogatives of power is to be in charge of blame, and abusers routinely exercise that power to make their own acts someone else's fault."
posted by Leeway (4 comments total)

Absolutely trenchant analysis of the current situation. Coercive Control as a narrative about abuse has never really taken off in the US, in part because it's too on the nose for how much of our society works in victim blaming for everything from domestic abuse to being poor (and/or non-white, a woman, ill, etc.). Thanks to Rebecca Solnit for putting it in such clear terms.
posted by drossdragon at 10:08 AM on February 27 [16 favorites]

Well, that certainly felt very true.
posted by jacquilynne at 10:22 AM on February 27

And powerless people frequently seek out someone to abuse, to feel powerful.
posted by constraint at 10:51 AM on February 27 [2 favorites]

That ability to look at the world just a little slant-ways - and completely nail the phenomenon.

I always feel that having read Rebecca Solnit, I understand the world, and often myself, better.

Forget AI chatbots against conspiracies - Rebecca Solnit for the welcome return to reality.
posted by Barbara Spitzer at 10:24 PM on February 27 [5 favorites]