Validation, You Say
And from Australia, more thing-that-never-happens news:
Judge Nola Karapanagiotidis… highlighted Harper’s “gender dysphoria” and experiences with “transphobia” as mitigating factors, and appeared to accept the defence’s argument that he only committed the abuse to be “validated… as a woman and a sexual person.”
And for some, validation trumps all else.
Because of our thrillingly modern sensitivities, Mr Harper – who favours the name Autumn Tulip Harper – is currently being held in a prison for women.
The details of the case are, I should add, particularly vile.
Why am I not surprised it was a female judge?
I knew before I clicked it would be in Victoria. Our magistrates are fucked.
Why indeed.
And again, as so often, note the framing of serious, dangerous mental illness as a mitigating factor, rather than, say, an aggravating factor.
Or, “You’re sickeningly depraved, having violated your own child on at least 19 separate occasions, and you’re broken in ways we can’t hope to fix. Therefore we’ll treat you leniently.”
There was a lot of delusion in that courtroom.