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The disturbing rise of ‘gooner’ assaults at Dollar Tree stores: ‘They find it funny to degrade women’
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2026
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They are directly downplaying the crimes.
Comments like this:
They are absolutely downplaying the seriousness of these crimes.
I think they're saying that there were always at least 47 rapey creeps doing this horrific dehumanizing and agency stealing SA act, but now we hear about it strung together.
There's way more than 47 cases of sexual assault. They pulled cases that are similar to show a pattern, not all sexual assault cases total.
It's a valid critique that the larger social pattern of ironic dehumanizing misogyny that this represents is the real story, and the article does not make that clear.
I think someone who separates concerns about how disgusting and high-priority an assault like this is, from how frequently it occurs based on how the article describes it, is rightly confused if they aren't reading much about similar aspects of patriarchy.
That commenter should know now, I expect. Often propaganda or just ideology uses isolation of events or uncovered problems to obscure larger patterns of oppression.
These commenters have a pattern of misogynistic comments. Lemmy is not very big and I've had multiple run ins with them. They actively choose to remain ignorant about the sexism issues that women still face to this day.
Trying to downplay these crimes and waiving away these victim's testimonies and calls for justice is just another way they use to discredit women.
Is sexual assault a national problem and deserving of being addressed? As a survivor and advocate, absolutely.
Is there a national epidemic of sexual assault in Dollar Tree stores? Not statistically, no.
Is every sexual assault a horrible crime against someone? Absolutely.
Maybe don't be so quick to attribute misogyny where none is intended.
Thanks for immediately proving my previous comment true.