Our society and attitudes about rape

Rapists are never the victim.

Shame on anyone who believes otherwise.  Anyone who committed an act of rape and was found guilty is a criminal.  Period.

Rape has very little to do with sex.  Rape is about power.  Dominance.  Aggression.

Anyone who is a victim of rape should receive care, should receive sympathy and assistance.  They should not receive scorn, derision, or shaming.

I am astounded that our society today leans towards explaining away a terrible crime, focusing on a lost possibility and a lost future, rather than the awful crime committed.

Of course there are false accusations of rape that occur.  Of course some who are innocent are found guilty.  But that should not lessen the nature of the crime in general.  That should not be taken into account when the evidence is overwhelming, incriminating, and unmistakable.

How dare we as a society accept the coverage of such a travesty.  The situation out of Steubenville is just one example of the unfortunate state of our society in this moment.  Victims of rape are badgered, disenfranchised, and treated as though they were the ones who did wrong.

NO ONE who is raped “asked” to be.  No means no.  Nonconsensual sex acts are rape.  The rapists made a choice – a bad choice, to violate a person in possibly the most awful manner imaginable.  When caught and convicted, they should pay their debt to society.

Blaming the victim of a rape is unacceptable.  “She shouldn’t have gotten that drunk,” “If she didn’t dress so provocatively, she’d be better off,” “If she wasn’t such a tease, this would never have happened,” “She knew the risks,” “He’s a man, men do not get raped”.  BULLSHIT.  All of these statements are unacceptable.  Unwanted sexual acts are rape.  And they are not the fault of the person who was raped.  Period.

We are all taught right from wrong as we grow up.  No one “put them in that situation” with regards to the choice a rapist made.  Everybody should know that forcing someone into an unwanted sexual act is WRONG!  End of story.

As far as our society has come in the past 100 years, we are still so male-dominated, so patriarchal, that we just accept unchanging attitudes with silence.

This has to stop.  WE have to express our disgust at this, and we need to show the media, the law enforcement agencies, and rapists that this is wrong.

This cannot just come from celebrities like Henry Rollins and politicians and activists.  This needs to come from you and I.  Men, women, EVERYONE needs to consider what we are creating, the world we are making.  We have to stop accepting what we are given that we know to be wrong, and stand up and take action for what we know is right.

Think about it.