Well, duh?
E.J. Graff (TW rape, severe injuries, voyeurism, etc. etc.):Since Susan Brownmiller first wrote Against Our Will-the landmark feminist reconceptualization of rape-feminists have worked on clarifying the fact that rape is less about sex than it is about rage and power. Too many people still conceive of rape as a man’s overwhelming urge to enjoy the body of a woman who has provoked him by being attractive and within reach. As is true in many “traditional” cultures, much of India still imagines that the violation was one against her chastity... But conceiving it as primarily a sexual violation places the burden on women to protect their bodies’ purity. It means that the question that gets asked is this one: Why was she out so late at night, provoking men into rage by being openly female?
But seen from a woman's own point of view, rape is quite different: It's punishment for daring to exist as an independent being, for one's own purposes, not for others' use. Sexual assault is a form of brutalization based, quite simply, on the idea that women have no place in the world except the place that a man assigns them-and that men should be free to patrol women’s lives, threatening them if they dare step into view. It is fully in keeping with bride-burnings, acid attacks, street harassment, and sex-selective abortions that delete women before they are born.
Similarly, and with similar warnings, Soraya Chemaly: Rape has a purpose.When precisely doesn't a girl or woman think "she could have been me?" What teenage girl in the United States won't think a little harder about going to parties? Or even to sleep? When it's too scary to consider the facts or when it's easier to align oneself with the dominant and powerful, blame the victim, in the hope of "protection." ... [The Steubenville rape] happened while up to 50 other girls and boys were present -- each deriving specific but different messages about what was happening. And, THAT's the point isn't it? A warning to girls or the boys who would help them. It's not just that this happened, and variations of it happen every day, but it's the idea that it could happen. All over the planet.
Exactly. It's a hate crime.
ETA: Petition to get Congress to re-introduce and pass the Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence Registry Act.
ETA II: Occupy Steubenville, set up to support the victim. Via here.
Unlocked.
This entry was originally posted at http://ms-daisy-cutter.dreamwidth.org/1949390.html. Please comment there using either your DW account or OpenID.
But seen from a woman's own point of view, rape is quite different: It's punishment for daring to exist as an independent being, for one's own purposes, not for others' use. Sexual assault is a form of brutalization based, quite simply, on the idea that women have no place in the world except the place that a man assigns them-and that men should be free to patrol women’s lives, threatening them if they dare step into view. It is fully in keeping with bride-burnings, acid attacks, street harassment, and sex-selective abortions that delete women before they are born.
Similarly, and with similar warnings, Soraya Chemaly: Rape has a purpose.When precisely doesn't a girl or woman think "she could have been me?" What teenage girl in the United States won't think a little harder about going to parties? Or even to sleep? When it's too scary to consider the facts or when it's easier to align oneself with the dominant and powerful, blame the victim, in the hope of "protection." ... [The Steubenville rape] happened while up to 50 other girls and boys were present -- each deriving specific but different messages about what was happening. And, THAT's the point isn't it? A warning to girls or the boys who would help them. It's not just that this happened, and variations of it happen every day, but it's the idea that it could happen. All over the planet.
Exactly. It's a hate crime.
ETA: Petition to get Congress to re-introduce and pass the Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence Registry Act.
ETA II: Occupy Steubenville, set up to support the victim. Via here.
Unlocked.
This entry was originally posted at http://ms-daisy-cutter.dreamwidth.org/1949390.html. Please comment there using either your DW account or OpenID.