Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Found two bits that just keep dragging at me

in the comments of this post:
...Reminds me of the story of how men felt during the Atlanta sniper crime spree. Many men were surprised at how ‘vulnerable’ they felt because at any given moment, no matter what they were doing, they could be victimized. Sound familiar?? Welcome to our world. Sucks to have to always assume that those with penises will hurt those of us with vaginas, but hey, that’s the way it is, isn’t it?...
and
Yep. Same thing happened during 9/11. All of a sudden men knew what it was like to feel vulnerable.
In case you don't want to go through it all, the story is here; girl was gang-raped, and then individually raped by some who came upon the scene. And, just to make it even better, other people who walked by couldn't be bothered to call the cops. Horrible thing. Problem is, the post is basically "Oh yes, she had a drink and ventured out, so of course she was asking for it" bullcrap.

Two things: First, there is no excuse for this kind of crime. Period. The penalty should be severe for any actual rape. Period.
Second, if you place yourself in a dangerous place, you do have responsibility for having done so. Period. That's not excusing the crime, and it goes for men or women. Guy goes to a bar where he knows there are lots of fights and other badness and gets caught up in one and gets hurt, or is beaten and raped(not real common but does happen) the same thing goes: putting yourself in a bad place was not a real smart thing to do. Neither is drinking to the point of passing out in company of people you don't know. Yes, you should be able to go anywhere you want and drink all you want without being in danger; that's the absolute view, and it ignores reality.

Which is getting away from the main point: do these women actually believe that A: ALL men are looking to hurt women? and B: do they actually believe that men- outside of extraordinary situations- never feel vulnerable? 'A' speaks to a level of hatred of males that's just downright scary, and sad; 'B' is just idiotic. Both speak of a level of "Womyn are ALWAYS victims!" that's just... not sure of the proper words for that.

1 comment:

Keith said...

There is a scool of thought that women should protect themselves by dressing modestly and always being accompanied by a male relative...

about a billion subscribers to it...

Can't remember the name of it, but there is a self help group active in Ireland for male victims of domestic violence. However the legal assumption is almost invariably that the one with a dick is the guilty party. Seem to remember something recently about female paedophiles in Britain
(unlike Myra Hindley, they didn't have a male present whom they could lay the blame on for "making them do it". with Hindly, that excuse broke down when the tape recording of their last victim, recorded her taking a lead roll in torturing the child)

cutting the crap, yes males tend to be more aggressive, but it isn't only males involved in violence and sexual violence.