Rape Revenge

We still need a guitarist!!! Ladies, lets make this happen! raperevengeband@riseup.net

leahxvx:

“I went against the advice of several people and did what one should never do, I read the comments. I read the comments on support pages, articles, and photos. While a lot of the messages were wonderful, so many of them were about how attractive or unnattractive the commenter thought I was. They thought that because my face is all over the internet, they had the right to dehumanize me and reduce me to an object, just like the fucking state did. I am not number #42611-086 and I am not a number on your 0-10 scale of hot or not. They thought I would enjoy the attention if I knew about it. I am glad that many came to my defense and confronted the blatant misogyny, however it was mostly met with ‘stop being so serious.’ Someone even went to the extent to Photoshop my tattoos from photos in order to make me appeal more to the mainstream. I will say now, and let me be clear: I do not care what anyone on this planet thinks about how I look. I do not appreciate comments about my appearance. I do not want your compliments. I do not owe anyone a curtsy, a sweet smile and a ‘thank you so much.’ I do not have to be gracious about it, I do not owe respect to those who do not show respect to me. I also saw how people made a lot of casual references to me getting sexually assaulted. This is extremely disrespectful, especially because that is something I have dealt with too many times in my life as is. I am more than a face, a body, a (former)prisoner, a number. To anyone who reduces me to those things: you are my enemy, not my ally, you are not my friend, not my comrade, not my supporter and I do not appreciate you. I have despised sexism/misogyny my entire life and I have confronted it at every opportunity, as I am doing right now. If you support someone for something they do, just say that. What you think about their appearance is irrelevant. Keep your opinion to yourself because if you are furthering one kind of oppression while trying to fight another, you aren’t actually accomplishing anything.”

—

Leah’s official quote on seeing the internet’s response for the first time after being released.

Hey pals,

So I fucked it up and we ran out of free downloads on bandcamp, so the website started charging $7 for our downloads (what I think is a ridiculous price for a fucking music file…).  I apologize that I didn’t catch this sooner. 

We have bought more free download thingy’s so you can once again download our music for free or by donation.  Again, I am really sorry to anyone who was trying to download our stuff and was told they had to pay $7. 

Samantha

We got a really rad review on the Operation Grindcore, thank you very much to Andrew and Vii Caso.  You can read it HERE.  Check out the rest of their blog, it’s awesome!

It is SUCH an honor and priviledge to have other people promoting Rape Revenge.  People post about Rape Revenge on their blogs, write about us in their zines, and put links to our stuff online.  This is amazing. 

But a few people now have been describing us as “hardline” in articles and online and this is really bothering me.  Yes we are a vegan band, and a straight edge band, and yes we have STRONG ideas and stances on things.  This does NOT make us hardline, and this word cannot be used synonymously with radical, because hardline is fucking FAR from radical.  

Hardline, according to Urban Dictionary, was basically “edge guys that would invade other’s personal freedoms if they didn’t agree with them”.  Based on the “sacredness of innocent life” hardline bands would attempt to restrict women’s freedom by condemning abortion.  Yes they were vegan, that’s nice, but if someone is vegan and punching me in the face I am not necessarily going to be interested in the fact that they don’t eat meat.   So if someone is vegan, and telling me what I can and can’t do with my body, they can fuck right off.

We are not a hardline band.  We are pro choice, we support access to abortion and birth control for all people, with out apology.  Being pro choice does not mean I think everyone should have abortions, but that I recognize that the only person who can make the decision on how to approach an un-planned pregnancy is the woman herself, and that she deserves support no matter what she chooses.   

We are not a hardline band because we are a feminist, anarchist band.  The two just can’t fucking co-exist.  People can do whatever the fuck they want, so long as they aren’t impacting my freedom or someone else’s.  Hardline edge folks think it is ok to impose their views on others, to force others to conform to straight edge identity even if that isn’t right for them.  This self-rightous attitude goes against everything I believe as a feminist and anarchist who supports people’s right to choose their own path.

We are a not a hardline band.  A person can have strong ideals and opinions without being a fucking ass hole about it.  If you want to describe us and our stances on things, please use your handy thesaurus and find some other choices. 

Love,

Rape Revenge

**NEW** US TOUR 2012

4-Aug-2012    Kamloops
5-Aug-2012    Olympia, WA
6-Aug-2012    Eugene, OR
7-Aug-2012    Redding, CA
8-Aug-2012    Oakland, CA
9-Aug-2012    San Franscisco, CA
10-Aug-2012    Santa Cruz, CA
11-Aug-2012    Los Angeles, CA
12-Aug-2012    Riverside
13-Aug-2012    Sacramento, CA
14-Aug-2012    Reno, NV
15-Aug-2012    Salt Lake City
16-Aug-2012    Boise
17-Aug-2012    Portland, OR
18-Aug-2012    Spokane, WA

Almost all our shows already are confirmed.  We are still looking for someone in Spokane to help us out! Get in touch if you are that special someone!