I have to wonder . . .

[sosoclever]

How many of the people who are calling for the castration of the eighteen suspects (in other words, people who have not yet even been tried in court) in the gang rape of that eleven year old in Texas also applauded the Illinois legislature and governor for abolishing the death penalty in our great state earlier this week

Comments

[secretrebel]

You seem to have veered off into a rant anyway. And while it might be one worth debating it seems a surprising reaction to the case you chose to lead with.

My own rant would be more on the liens of why are women suspected of being complicit in their own rape even when they are eleven-year-old girls.

There's enough victim blaming of women already, surely? (See linked article, only don't because it's vile). Do we really need to add to that?

[sosoclever]

I did say "veer"! My post isn't so much in reaction to the case itself as to the reactions of other people, which invariably (in the things I read) devolved to: a woman should be able to wear whatever she wants and act however she wants and never expect anything bad to happen to her.

If you are unfamiliar with the story, the New York Times just published an article about it. There was a general opinion (not a direct quote) from the people in the town that this little girl dressed too maturely for her age and hung out with boys who were too old for her. This has largely been interpreted as blaming the little girl, rather than concern that she was participating in risky behavior. And from there, comments often shifted to what I've already said.

I'm not blaming rape victims. It isn't the victim's fault when she (or he!) is raped. That fault lies entirely with the rapist. I'm just saying that there are things that we (as adult women) should know we shouldn't do, and yet when a woman goes and does exactly those things and gets

[triskellian]

I am not secretrebel, and neither do I play her on TV, but the problem with this:

I'm just saying that there are things that we (as adult women) should know we shouldn't do, and yet when a woman goes and does exactly those things and gets attacked, it is considered bad to say, why the fuck were you there in the first place?
...is that there's no clear agreement on what those things are, and no particular evidence to support them.

Depending on who you ask, the list includes being drunk in the presence of any man you don't want to sleep with, wearing a short skirt and/or low-cut top while alone, and me walking the five minutes home from secretrebel's house late at night on my own, and I defend my right to do all of those things without someone suggesting I might be in some way partially responsible if I get raped. (They're all things I've done many, many times, and so far, no man has felt so utterly unable to control himself in the face of such blatant provocation that he's raped me

[sosoclever]

I said, "[A] woman can, with her eyes wide open, do every single thing wrong and if she gets raped, she'll get a crowd of other women telling her that she did nothing wrong, because she should be able to get drunk at a frat party, strip naked, and run off to a bedroom with a guy or five she doesn't know and be perfectly safe."

I think most people can agree that that's doing pretty much everything wrong.

Put it this way. If a woman did all those things I list there and nothing happened, it still would have been pretty damned stupid of her to do them.

[donnickcottage]

Though on a rare occasion I have wondered about even the teeniest measure of someone's culpability for something bad that happens to them, this isn't one of those times. Children get a bye.

[sosoclever]

I agree. A woman should know better and keep herself out of situations that are clichés for rape scenarios. An eleven year old little girl should have an adult to keep her out of those situations.

There are a lot of people out there who would respond to your comment with, "Oh, but it's okay if it's a woman in her twenties?" I know this, because I've seen that comment frequently over the last couple of days in relation to that story. And no, it's not okay, but, I would expect a woman in her twenties to have some idea of what is safe and what isn't.