We’ve talked before about what the behavior term sicko hunter means, how it is antithetical to the stated goals of revolution, and how it propagates harm. Basically, it’s someone who targets those accused of wrong-doing and zealously pursues violent retaliation against them, usually on their own but sometimes with a like-minded group of vicious actors. Here, I give some revelatory synthesis to those who now understand the behavior “sicko hunters” as it compares to the apparent opposite: rape apologists.

They both are the same thing to me.

• They both predicate their actions and justifications on harming other people.
• They both are extremely resilient to the wants of the harmed victim.
• They both make healing difficult or impossible for all parties.
• They both traumatize others not directly involved, by their harmful mode of action.
• They both are misinformed about the diverse realities of sexual assault and justifications come from a place of puritanism.
• They both refuse to analyze power, regardless of their claims that their favored party “have no power”.

The fix is obvious and straightforward. Just take an existing stance above and reverse actions caused by the stated belief.

• They both provide therapeutic help.
• They both disincentivize lying about sexual assault (perpetrated or received).
• They both provide a praxis to reinforce revolutionary goals such as restorative justice.
• They both encourage development of support networks.
• They both contribute to ending the social part of trauma caused by future sexual assault.
• They both open up the dialogue on sexual assault to include experiences of the victim that contradict commonly held myths (such as you won’t orgasm)
• They both end the power of sexual assaulters, sicko hunters, rape apologists and chip away at the power of toxic masculinity.

And if you have a nearly endless amount of emotional stamina:

Rape apologists and sicko hunters both capitalize on our mode of punitive “justice”. They just choose different targets because of how market competition works within Capitalism. Together, these seeming opposite positions both complete the full space of violent, individual retaliation and call that “justice”. Both are derived from Puritanical viewpoints on sex, sexual purity, body purity, sexual marketability, sexual harm, and so on.

Ultimately, both behaviors work together to ensure the system of punishment continues to operate while masquerading as justice. Puritanism works as the justifying mode of systemic punishment. Neoliberalism works as the justifying mode of the system of Capitalism. The former is based in feudal thought but actualized in today’s marketplace of ideas. The latter is based fully in market thought.

It should be obvious that if one of the goals of revolution is to end systemic punishment (aka punitive “justice”), then revolution is incompatible with punitive, Puritanical retaliation to harm. Punishment is trash .