in regards to internet safety and rape
I'm sure that this is a topic that has probably come up before, but I'm not sure how I feel about it and I want to know what this community thinks about it.
In a class discussion recently the topic of internet safety came up and there were very different opinions about individuals who choose to put up a large amount of personal information on a public site (the two sites that were brought up in the discussion were Myspace and Facebook). More specifically, that of young teen girls who will put up their name, age, location, etc. for the world to see. One of my classmates made a comment that shocked me, though looking back I do realize that the sentiment she expressed was not an uncommon sentiment, it just was something that I never actually expected to hear.
My classmate stated that these girls were "asking to get raped", and thus more or less deserved anything that came to them. I do believe that such behavior is very risky in practice, because there are individuals out there who will take advantage of such readily made information, but at the same time I think that even if a teenage girl or anyone else for that matter does make that choice, it does not mean they deserve to be stalked and/or raped. Nobody deserves to go through that, no matter what choices they make.
The part that I'm struggling to figure out is the behavior itself, because it is risky, especially if you're very young. The more advanced the technology readily available, the easier it is for child predators to find their victims. In the case of Myspace specifically, which I have heard has put certain "safety measures" in place to try to prevent these things from happening, I also know that on the internet people can lie about their age along with everything else and bypass these preventive measures.
Whose responsibility is it, exactly? Is it the teenagers, who should "know better"? Is it the parents/guardians of the teenagers, who should be making sure their children are making smart choices about internet safety? Is it the social networking sites, who should be more aware of what is going on in every part of their site? Is it the schools, who should be teaching students about predators on the internet and not just on the sidewalk? I want to say that it's the victimizer's responsibility not to victimize, but that argument doesn't stop stalkers from stalking. I honestly don't know what stance to take on responsibility in this sphere. Thoughts?
In a class discussion recently the topic of internet safety came up and there were very different opinions about individuals who choose to put up a large amount of personal information on a public site (the two sites that were brought up in the discussion were Myspace and Facebook). More specifically, that of young teen girls who will put up their name, age, location, etc. for the world to see. One of my classmates made a comment that shocked me, though looking back I do realize that the sentiment she expressed was not an uncommon sentiment, it just was something that I never actually expected to hear.
My classmate stated that these girls were "asking to get raped", and thus more or less deserved anything that came to them. I do believe that such behavior is very risky in practice, because there are individuals out there who will take advantage of such readily made information, but at the same time I think that even if a teenage girl or anyone else for that matter does make that choice, it does not mean they deserve to be stalked and/or raped. Nobody deserves to go through that, no matter what choices they make.
The part that I'm struggling to figure out is the behavior itself, because it is risky, especially if you're very young. The more advanced the technology readily available, the easier it is for child predators to find their victims. In the case of Myspace specifically, which I have heard has put certain "safety measures" in place to try to prevent these things from happening, I also know that on the internet people can lie about their age along with everything else and bypass these preventive measures.
Whose responsibility is it, exactly? Is it the teenagers, who should "know better"? Is it the parents/guardians of the teenagers, who should be making sure their children are making smart choices about internet safety? Is it the social networking sites, who should be more aware of what is going on in every part of their site? Is it the schools, who should be teaching students about predators on the internet and not just on the sidewalk? I want to say that it's the victimizer's responsibility not to victimize, but that argument doesn't stop stalkers from stalking. I honestly don't know what stance to take on responsibility in this sphere. Thoughts?