'Don’t Shift the Focus From Men'

Submitted by Mastodon on Thu, 2013-10-24 16:01

Article here. Excerpt:

'If the goal is to reduce or eliminate rape, getting men to stop raping would seem the logical solution. But this would involve an honest conversation about our devotion to a warped and toxic vision of masculinity, sex and power that would completely uproot the current social order. It’s easier to just tell women to stop drinking.

Our unwillingness to confront men lets this behavior, born of a sense of entitlement and misplaced ideas of what constitutes power, go unchecked. If we stopped blaming binge drinking (or short skirts, or too-high heels, etc.) we could concentrate on having men not just understand that “no means no,” and that all forms of sexual contact require consent, but also learn to reject that force, domination and coercion are natural markers of masculinity and manhood. Until we reckon with those concepts, women will continue being expected to prevent their own rapes.'

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Comments

The author writes as if men are running around raping women left and right, especially on college campuses.

What is bothersome about these articles is not that it says that rape is an awful criminal act. (Well, so is a home invasion which includes one invader holding a gun to your head for 10 mins. while his accomplice ransacks your place, but you don't hear much about those.) What is bothersome is that they are written as if it's a categorical and pervasive problem, in the same way that, for example, attempting to stroll through the Mojave Desert with a jaunt through Death Valley in the afternoon without any form of assistance or supplies presents a categorical and pervasive problem always and every time you attempt it (which'll be your first and last time, of course). "Men categorically and without exception seek to rape women," is the drift. This means any adult male is out to rape, period. It's not so much the topic as they way it's being approached-- the categorical demonification of the male sex.

I think the results of categorical generalizing inevitably lead to the frustration of the generalizer's cause. Maybe not right away-- but eventually. Which, in this case, would be a bad thing. After all, any efforts to try to stop any kind of crime, especially crimes of person, we hope ought to meet with some success, yes? The way he and others trumpet it, it causes the average person of either sex to just shake their heads and walk away. I wonder if, after decades now of this kind of "activism", has anyone who's a part of it realized that yet even based on their own take of things, the "problem" isn't getting any better? That gee, maybe there's a more constructive way to approach others with your opinion other than screaming at them from a picket line or tarring and feathering half of them with a brush labelled "RAPIST!" by way of op-ed?

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Submitted by Matt on Fri, 2013-10-25 00:09