The mythology aside, this stuff about women dressing like sluts having to expect being attacked sounds like a male-centered blame-the-victim mentality. Men should control themselves instead of acting like vicious animals. I don't care what a woman wears, it's not an excuse for rape. That's rape-culture thinking. the one thing I do agree with is that women should be more careful where they go alone, and when. There's no point in being dumb, I think.
Which is what I said. I didn't excuse the rapist here, but I'm not entirely excusing a woman who didn't take measures not to draw that kind of attention. Again, if you behave in a promiscuous manner, don't be too surprised to run into that one man who will not take no for an answer.
It's common sense. It's really downright amazing I have to say something so basic, so obvious, but this is the world we live in today, a world where people do what they can to avoid accountability for what they do when things go bad.
Accountability is not a Zero-Sum Game.
It is fashionable, in this day and age, in the event of an unexpected pregnancy that both the man and the woman are 50% Responsible, at the very least. Feminists would sit there and tell you that men are 100% responsible, but they're only half right. In fact, a common thing to say is that a man got a woman pregnant. This statement is entirely wrong. No man can ever get a woman pregnant. It's not as though she stumbled onto an erection by accident.
That's one of the reasons why rape is a heinous crime. It robs her of a conscious, adult choice in the matter.
Going back to Accountability, in this scenario, both the man and the woman are 100% Responsible. Each.
Or, put it another way. Suppose a convenience store is robbed. At gunpoint. The robber comes in, points a gun at the clerk, orders him to open the register and give him the money, or he threatens to shoot him. The clerk gives him the money, and the robber runs away. What has happened is robbery. Who's responsible? They both are. The robber didn't have to rob the store. The clerk didn't have to give the guy the money.
However, just because both actors in this scenario are responsible doesn't mean both are going to be punished. Justice really isn't fair in this regard. In fact, if you think about it, real Justice isn't fair. It's about giving to each what they are due. If you had a role to play in an incident, you have responsibility.
If you happen to see someone drowning in a river, you now have responsibility. You can do something about it, or not, and maybe you'll suffer consequences either way. Jump in, rescue the guy, and you might get hurt or die yourself. Or, call for help. Or, do nothing.
Going back to women drawing the attentions of sexual predators, understand that I'm not excusing anyone here. What I'm saying is that sooner or later, if you do nothing to bear some responsibility for yourself and your safety, reduce your chances of getting raped, or anything which might keep you from harm, it may one day happen. Or it may never happen. It's a big world. But, it's like handling a dangerous chemical. The less precautions you take, the more likely you'll get hurt when that chemical gets loose.
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Veronica65
12 years ago
I can agree with you there to a degree. I think women (particularly college age) need to be a LOT more careful who they let themselves be alone with and where they go and when. but as you said, it's still not an excuse.
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WyldeGoose
12 years ago
I can agree with you there to a degree. I think women (particularly college age) need to be a LOT more careful who they let themselves be alone with and where they go and when. but as you said, it's still not an excuse.
You can blame society and the universities for that too. It used to be that the idea of co-ed universities was laughable precisely because of what we have today. College, now, has become a bit of a joke; when a lot of people go there to get some rather odd degrees that have no real merit toward a productive career, something smells rotten, and that smell is corruption. When the college isn't too concerned about female students turning up pregnant because they went to the men's dorm or frat and passed out drunk at a party, or just mingling, something smells rotten.
But, this is what we live in today. We live in a society where if you can avoid accountability you'll be rewarded for it. It's even encouraged in our pop culture.
I hate to say this, but women are now completely not expected to bear responsibility. Note, I said not expected. It's nice if they do, but society will try very hard to give them a pass if they do not. For almost anything. Sure, if women go out and kill someone, they'll be prosecuted, but notice that females do not receive the same sentences or length of sentences as men do. This is because society has been trained to look at women differently than men. A woman can commit paternity fraud, and the state will encourage it. A woman can divorce her husband for any reason, and the state encourages it. What's that? Her vows? What do they matter? Legally, they don't. And neither does a pre-nuptial agreement; if a judge takes pity on a woman in the case, kiss that pre-nup good bye. Women can opt out of parenthood through abortions; sure it's limited, but it's not a "right" that a man has.
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