The late great Molly Ivins wrote everything anyone needs to know about Camille Paglia way back in 1991.
rape myths
Advising women to prevent their own rapes is not brave or edgy or helpful
Education campaigns dispelling the traditional ignorance perpetuating rape myths that allow rapists to get away with making “commonsense” excuses work. Victim-blaming doesn’t work.
A Short Post on Rape Prevention
When people scoff at the message that we need to teach people not to rape they make the assumption that the lesson goes: “Rape is bad. Don’t do it.” That is not what the lesson looks like. The lesson, once it is adopted, will be that every single person out there, regardless of any defining personal characteristics, is a human being of value, and with a right to make their own decisions about what bodily contact to have with others.
Rape Culture Observation: grooming victims *looks* like being “a good person”
Humans, even rapists, are complex entities. A rapist is capable of doing good things for some people, while doing grave harm to others. In Sandusky’s case, what appeared to be (and in some cases maybe actually was) good works was simultaneously the grooming of victims.
Some useful things you might teach your children in our rape culture
This particular nugget comes from Pharyngula, where a post from PZ addressing rape culture led to a predictable influx of the usual victim-blaming rape myths as if they were commensense truths, leading to a predictably forceful pushback from the Pharyngulites, who do not let that crap stand. If readers would like to add their own favourite links addressing rape myths/culture in comments, I’d really like to see them.
Food for thought: if rapists just can’t control their urges…
…when they see skimpily covered attractive flesh? Then why do we never hear of summer sun-seekers being attacked by rapists in the middle of large sunlit crowds at public squares and parks and beaches? The skimpily covered attractive flesh is there in maximum abundance, but somehow the attacks just don’t happen when there are plenty of surrounding eyewitnesses and CC-TV?
One to bookmark: Slavering Beast Theory
There are ordinary guys and there are Slavering Beasts. And they are very, very easy to tell apart.
Quicklink: NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione pushes rape myths
If you’re drunk and get raped, you’ve got no one to blame but yourself, says NSW Police Commissioner.
Slutwalk: why can’t it be better than this?
The sentiment that whatever we wear and wherever we go, yes means yes and no means no is what got me Slutwalking earlier this year. Those campaigning to “reclaim” the word “slut”? I didn’t totally hate the idea, but it wasn’t one that particularly inspired me, because I’m skeptical regarding reclamation of marginalising slurs in concept and feel it’s of limited utility compared to actively challenging prejudices more radically.
To the woman unconvinced
OK sure, believe that some women need to take responsibility for preventing their own rapes if you want to but keep four things in mind.
