Is America A "Rape Culture"?

Submitted by Mastodon on Fri, 2013-03-29 23:38

Article here. Excerpt:

'This claim, advanced by a cadre of feminist activists and bloggers, has been gaining mainstream currency—particularly in the wake of the nationally publicized Steubenville, Ohio rape case which exposed some very ugly attitudes and behaviors. While no one would deny that sexual violence is a grave problem, the crusade against “the rape culture” is a dubious cure: it distorts truth, fosters anger and divisiveness instead of respect and equality, and ultimately endangers justice for all.

There is, of course, some truth to the feminist argument that traditional sexual norms have often led to tolerance toward sexual coercion in certain situations (especially when the woman’s conduct is seen as “loose” or seductive). Even now, such sentiments are echoed in vile Internet comments bashing the 16-year-old Steubenville victim as a drunken slut—very much a minority view, but voiced frequently enough to be troubling.
...
Let us, by all means, confront ugly, sexist, victim-blaming attitudes when we see them. But this can be done without promoting sexist attitudes in feminist clothing: that a woman’s word automatically deserves more weight than a man’s; that all men bear responsibility for rape and “normal” men need to be taught not to rape; or that a woman who is inebriated but fully conscious is not responsible for her actions while an equally inebriated man is.

These ideological shibboleths will do little to help real victims of sexual violence, and may even hurt them by inviting an inevitable backlash.'

Like0 Dislike0

Comments

Most feminist analyses of the cause of rape include a belief similar to the following: men, collectively, have a magic wand that would completely stop rape. But men refuse collectively to wave that magic wand, which proves men secretly approve of rape, so we live in a "rape culture." Of course, this is pure nonsense. I would explain why but deem it unnecessary on this forum.

As far as I can tell, there are only two ways to prevent rape: make sex easily available (as in some "rape free" primitive societies) or impose restrictions on female behavior. For example, most traditional societies did not permit their underage daughters to get drunk with the local football team. They provided chaperones or parental supervision to prevent this from happening. In the first "Godfather" movie, Al Pacino is shown walking the girl he's courting followed at a distance by a gaggle of grandmothers who were there to make sure nothing inappropriate happened. I don't know if chaperones will make a comeback in the US, but I do know this: if this gaggle of grandmothers had followed the Ohio girl around, she would not have gotten drunk to the point of passing out, she would not have been raped, and two boys would not be going to prison.

The problem today is women want to be "as free as men" to do whatever they want sexually and have their safety guaranteed by society. But men are "freer" in this respect precisely because society does very little to ensure their safety from rape or sexual assault.

Like0 Dislike0
Submitted by el cid on Sun, 2013-03-31 22:10