Rape Just Happens - subject matter may be triggering

[eumelia]

Generally speaking, I ignore things that are written in the Daily Mail(1).
Also the Hitchens brothers (Peter and Christopher) are two Brits I tend not to notice, because I'm not British and I don't care for either of their politics or anything they have to say.

But this little Gem written by Peter Hitchens really takes the cake at deliberate misogyny and unabated reactionary Right-wing paranoia.

The majority of article dubbed, "How the Left censored the blindingly obvious truth about rape", is the same old, same old victim-blaming nonsense that men (and women) in positions of power spout off because it suits their interests to keep the victims of rape (the vast majority of them women) silent, ashamed and generally weakened.

What's really effed-up in this already dubious(2) piece of writing is this:

Women who get drunk are more likely to be raped than women who do not get drunk.

No, this does not excuse rape. Men who take advantage of women by raping them, drunk or sober, should be severely punished for this wicked, treacherous action, however stupid the victim may have been.

But it does mean that a rape victim who was drunk deserves less sympathy.

Emphasis mine.

It is, simply put, one of the most misanthropic (forget misogynist!) things I've ever had the misfortune to read.
Not only does it reduce the phenomena of rape to men taking "advantage" of women, as though people (women and men) who are raped or sexually assaulted merely showed lax judgment and weren't assaulted, violated and their humanity trampled, ignored and generally taken from them.
It also emphasises the fact that a woman who is intoxicated should have known this would happen. Should have expected something bad would happen because she put herself in a compromising position by being intoxicated/high/stoned/whatever.

Oh, yes there is a qualifier here, men should be punished should they happen to rape someone, no matter how stupid the victim.

Let me ask this.
Perhaps, ummm, these men shouldn't rape anyone in the first place?
No, really, is this too much to ask that when a woman is in a "compromising" position one doesn't fucking assault them!

It's all very well to teach women that we need to protect ourselves, that we shouldn't walk alone at night, to make sure we never accept a drink from someone you don't know, that you are more likely to get raped by someone you do know.

To me, the bottom line of all this is the policing of women's bodies and women's behaviour - despite rape being a phenomena that can be found in every social class, race, sexuality and gender, it is women (the future/current/constant victims of rape, assault, abuse and harassment) who are forced to modify their behaviour so that rape doesn't happen to them.

Let's get something straight, rape doesn't "happen".
Rape is committed.
And it is those who commit rape that should be blamed and not the victim who was forced, coerced and generally disempowered into a situation that s/he really has no control over.

So for fuck's sake, stop blaming the victim and controlling the behaviour of those perceived to be in constant danger due to what's between their legs and start teaching those who are told, constantly, by society that they are entitles to take whatever they want due to what between their legs.

Oh, and fuck Peter Hitchens *flips the two finger salute*

Notes
(1) The whole Holocaust off the curriculum thing notwithstanding... I should have been more critical of the article, but like most things to do with the Holocaust the first things that comes to mind is paranoia and Antisemitism.

(2) My own opinion here as I'm aware that Peter Hitchens (and Christopher) seem to have some kind of journalistic/political clout in the UK, as much as this boggles me.

Comments

[lilacsigil.livejournal.com]

And don't forget, large-breasted women deserve less sympathy for attracting their rapist - if they didn't want large breasts to attract male attention, surely they'd do something about them, just sticking out there. And elderly women deserve less sympathy for being physically weaker. And toddlers deserve less sympathy for flashing their underpants and nappies in public and exciting rapists.

[lishablog.livejournal.com]

Men are not in danger and therefore they can get drunk, walk around with their pants around their asses and without shirts, walk alone at night, and any number of other things. Women need to understand that when they show cleavage or a bit of leg, get intoxicated, or walk alone at night, they are "inviting" an attacker...

Has anyone else noticed that this is the same thing as saying that women need to cover themselves up with a burka because they are so alluring to men? The difference is one of degrees only.

If a man gets raped by other men, do they say, "Oh, he was asking for it, you know, being in the navy and stuff." Not bloody likely!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_yggdrasil/]

But it does mean that a rape victim who was drunk deserves less sympathy.

It's sad that compassion is considered a finite quantity and must be justified. There's too much judgement in this world already. Christ.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_yggdrasil/]

Also, these guys are making a poor distinction. Is it wise to leave my house unlocked at night? No. Someone could theoretically come in and rob me blind. If I leave my house unlocked, does that give someone the right to rob me? Of course not. Yeah, it's probably not wise to let down your guard, ever, but that doesn't mean you're asking for it or that the men around you shouldn't know how to control themselves.

And really, what do these writers wish to imply - not just that women are silly and at fault for being victims, but that men are one-tracked-minded animals against whom one must protect oneself all the time?

Yeah, not a lot of sense.

[ravrhi.livejournal.com]

Maybe you should send them this poem:

Only Rapists Can Prevent Rape

A lot has been said about how to prevent rape. Women should learn self-defense. Women should lock themselves in their houses after dark. Women shouldn't have long hair and women shouldn't wear short skirts. Women shouldn't leave drinks unattended. Hell, they shouldn't dare to get drunk at all. Instead of that bullshit, how about:

If a woman is drunk, don't rape her.
If a woman is walking alone at night, don't rape her.
If a woman is drugged and unconscious, don't rape her.
If a woman is wearing a short skirt, don't rape her.
If a woman is jogging in a park at 5 am, don't rape her.
If a woman looks like your ex-girlfriend you're still hung up on, don't rape her.
If a woman is asleep in her bed, don't rape her.
If a woman is asleep in your bed, don't rape her.
If a woman is doing her laundry, don't rape her.
If a woman is in a coma, don't rape her.
If a woman changes her mind in the middle of or about a particular activity, don't rape her.
If a woman has repeatedly refused a certain activity, don't rape her.
If a woman is not yet a woman, but a child, don't rape her.
If your girlfriend or wife is not in the mood, don't rape her.
If your step-daughter is watching TV, don't rape her.
If you break into a house and find a woman there, don't rape her.
If your friend thinks it's okay to rape someone, tell him it's not, and that he's not your friend.
If your "friend" tells you he raped someone, report him to the police.
If your frat-brother or another guy at the party tells you there's an unconscious woman upstairs and it's your turn, don't rape her, call the police and tell the guy he's a rapist.
Tell your sons, god-sons, nephews, grandsons, sons of friends it's not okay to rape someone.
Don't tell your women friends how to be safe and avoid rape.
Don't imply that she could have avoided it if she'd only done/not done x.
Don't imply that it's in any way her fault.
Don't let silence imply agreement when someone tells you he "got some" with the drunk girl.
Don't perpetuate a culture that tells you that you have no control over or responsibility for your actions. You can, too, help yourself.

If you agree, re-post it. It's that important.

Note: This goes for any gendered rape, male on female or female on male or female on female or FTM on MTF or non gendered to dual gendered and so on and so forth....
-author unknown

[avgboojie.livejournal.com]

Gah. It saddens me to see how someone who is so obviously a moron manages to make you waste so many words on him.

[aesiron.livejournal.com]

Almost one in every ten rapes are against men.

http://www2.ucsc.edu/rape-prevention/statistics.html

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

I was annoyed.
This is what I do when I'm annoyed.

Also, it gives opportunity to talk about the subject matter.

[avgboojie.livejournal.com]

Oh, this wasn't a reproach or anything of the sort. I'm just sad that such people still manage to get so much attention they don't deserve.
It should have been already so obvious to all of us that these are the rants of a asshole who deserves no attention. It's a shame such people still manage to get a place in the public eye.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Masculinity is perceived culturally as invulnerable when it's on a male body and that allows men to dress and look however they like without the constant harassment that women endure whatever they dress.

The myth of a woman dressed in a certain way that she was "asking for it" is just that a myth and has nothing to do with whether she was raped or not.

It has more to do as I said, masculinity and femininity as they are presented in our culture.

Everyone is in danger, women to a greater degree because of their social position as weaker than men.
But as stated below, men get raped as well, much more frequently that we know about and it's because of the culture of masculinity that nobody talks about it.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Ah! Okay, makes more sense now :D

Thanks. And yes to everything you said.

[quicksilvermad.livejournal.com]

Fucking asshole:

But it does mean that a rape victim who was drunk deserves less sympathy.
Simple, isn’t it? You can hate rape and want it punished, while still recognising that a woman who, say, goes back to a man’s home after several Bacardi Breezers was being a bit dim.

Seriously? You're really going to write something like that and actually fucking believe it?! You're going to sit there all fat and obnoxious in front of your computer and type out this article with the thought in your head that women who drink are just fucking asking for it... Okay.

First of all, NO.

Secondly, I have been very drunk before and had an experience that scared the life out of me—but I wasn't asking for it. I thought I was having a good time until he decided to try and stick his hand where I did not want it. Thank GOD I wasn't so drunk that I couldn't get away from the situation—otherwise I really would have been raped.

Thirdly, can we focus on the asshats who are committing this crime? Why is there this huge need to demoralize the victim and make it her fault? The victim most likely already feels like it's her fault—psychologically she thinks she didn't protect herself as best she could or that she, as so many have said, was "asking for it." Why must people continually turn the victim into the mastermind of the crime?

God, I am so pissed off right now.

The government (the US, I mean) has this same problem. That whole: "contraceptives are abortions" thing? Yeah... I don't know if I mentioned it here, but I did a post (http://quicksilvermad.livejournal.com/168928.html) on my own journal about it. There was a woman in Florida who was raped, went to the police, and was arrested on an old warrant. While in the holding cell, she asked the nurse taking care of her wounds for the morning after pill and the woman refused her because it went against her beliefs.

So not only was this poor woman raped, but she was arrested, denied medical care, and turned into the criminal in the eyes of super!Pro-Lifers everywhere.

Rape is not something to take lightly—
But I cannot see why women who ignore the wisdom of the ages, and make themselves more likely to be victims by drinking too much, should get the same size cheque as women who are raped despite acting responsibly.

I can't see why you, Peter Hitchens, are taking this serious issue and spitting all over it. Obviously, because you are a man you cannot understand the utter fear most women have of being raped. I'm terrified of it. It's come close to happening to me once and has happened to one of my friends.

I'm sickened right now. I'm just so sick of this world...

[hemlock-sholes.livejournal.com]

I think you're looking at the wrong sentence:

"But I cannot see why women who ignore the wisdom of the ages, and make themselves more likely to be victims by drinking too much, should get the same size cheque as women who are raped despite acting responsibly."

If I take your example, leaving the door unlocked doesn't give anyone the right to rob me. However, it may mean that the insurance company will not give me money.

To my (white, male, educated, middle-class, straight) mind, the article is not talking about the burglars (rapists) but about the insurance companies (government).

I agree that the sentence quoted in the origional post is abhorrent, I just don't think that it's the main point of the article.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Wow, that whole comment deserves to be a post on your LJ!

Do it, do it!

More should read about his effing stupidity.

[quicksilvermad.livejournal.com]

Done.

Christ, I really want to go to the shooting range now... I'm that mad.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

It is infuriating. There is so much wrong with he's saying.

[lishablog.livejournal.com]

I was being sarcastic when I said "Men are not in danger and therefore..." because that's the thought process that goes behind the idea that women need to censor their behavior to protect themselves from attack -- otherwise the woman is responsible for being attacked.

[antongarou.livejournal.com]

So how about people who get drunk and are then run over?or robbed?The government isn't an insurance company- it doesn't pay the victim, but rather punishes the perpetrator.And the perpetrator has the same responsibility, whatever the victim did beforehand- Actually I think that people who prey on drunk/otherwise incapacitated people should be punished more, not less, severely.

[hemlock-sholes.livejournal.com]

I agree with you 100%.

It's just that the article we're discussing is talking about the government paying rape victims compensation.
The article is not saying that rapists should not be punished, it's talking about the government-as-insurance-company.

[constintina.livejournal.com]

Not what I needed today!

Fucker!

And yes to everything you said in the post and comments...

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Appreciate the comment.
I was thinking of ignoring that Fucker, but I felt that the issue was too important to look over.