There are women who spend their days on Twitter harassing people who tweet negative things, even if they’re true, about Oscar Pistorius, the South African sprinter who has been charged with the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. They are loyal fans of the Paralympian gold medalist, who they believe is sexy and innocent. They are all women. They consider themselves a community. They call themselves “Pistorians.”
Just like Team Breezy—the fan club of singer Chris Brown—Pistorians are devoted and aggressive and kind of uncool about violence toward women. It’s one thing for people to believe that Pistorius is innocent until proven guilty. (He is currently out on bail, awaiting his murder trial for fatally shooting his girlfriend three times. He claims he thought she was an intruder.) It’s another to glorify his actions, which ultimately ended in the death of a young woman, as being the noble option. As one Pistorian said, “Call me old-fashioned but I’d rather my boyfriend didn’t allow a perceived intruder to enter the house unchallenged.” In this scenario, she is likening herself to Steenkamp—who is dead. She would rather be dead than admit that, at the very least, Pistorius was too quick to pull the trigger. I wouldn’t call that “old-fashioned.” I’d call it illogical.
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