A Tale of Two Women
Two stories are making the rounds of the internet which display the same theme. In the first, a Bangladesh woman cut off the penis of her attempted rapist to take it to the police as proof of the attack. Police say he will be arrested as soon as he is in better condition. This may surprise those among you who assume that since I am a feminist I am a man-hater but my first reaction was that I think she should also be charged, with assault. Then I remembered all the "If a man tries to rape you, shoot him" crowd and thought, really, how is this any different?
In the second, and this is actually an old story, I have no idea why it's being brought up again now, a woman set her daughter's rapist on fire after he taunted her while on a 3 day release from prison. She was held at the time for psychiatric treatment and is my understanding that she was released after a year. Public support was very much on her side, which led to the lenient treatment. Again, I am conflicted on this. While I have no sympathy at all for the rapist, is it really our place to enact judgment, even on the most vile of criminals?
So I ask you, what are your thoughts on these cases? Is violence against our own attackers or those of our loved ones ever the answer? And what punishment should those who do undertake violent self-defense or vigilante acts be given, if any.
In the second, and this is actually an old story, I have no idea why it's being brought up again now, a woman set her daughter's rapist on fire after he taunted her while on a 3 day release from prison. She was held at the time for psychiatric treatment and is my understanding that she was released after a year. Public support was very much on her side, which led to the lenient treatment. Again, I am conflicted on this. While I have no sympathy at all for the rapist, is it really our place to enact judgment, even on the most vile of criminals?
So I ask you, what are your thoughts on these cases? Is violence against our own attackers or those of our loved ones ever the answer? And what punishment should those who do undertake violent self-defense or vigilante acts be given, if any.