Is it really this bad??????

[Thorne]

LO1121,

The first thing to remember is that, in the US at least, the vast majority of rapes are committed by family members or acquaintances, not by strangers. That does not really point to the idea that the men feel they have lost power, but that they consider the women they know to be property. This includes date rapes, and incidences like the Steubenville case, where a young woman was drugged to unconsciousness then dragged from party to party and raped by her abusers.

In cases of stranger rape, there is also little evidence that the men performing the rape feel that women have too much power. It's possible, I suppose, that these men will attack women who they see as surrogates for a powerful woman in their lives, but I believe the incidence of such rapes are rare.

Regardless, the problem is that far too many people in this country, both men and women, are all too eager to blame the victim for being raped, rather than to blame the rapist. This is especially true when the rapist is considered a celebrity of some kind. And one of the ways to reduce the incidences of rape is to change the culture that views women as being subservient to men. Educating our children will eventually tip the scales in these kinds of cases.

[thir]

LO1121,

The first thing to remember is that, in the US at least, the vast majority of rapes are committed by family members or acquaintances, not by strangers. That does not really point to the idea that the men feel they have lost power, but that they consider the women they know to be property. This includes date rapes, and incidences like the Steubenville case, where a young woman was drugged to unconsciousness then dragged from party to party and raped by her abusers.

You mean, the opposite problem, they feel they have all the power?

In cases of stranger rape, there is also little evidence that the men performing the rape feel that women have too much power. It's possible, I suppose, that these men will attack women who they see as surrogates for a powerful woman in their lives, but I believe the incidence of such rapes are rare.

In the case of the Indian rapes and hangings, some speculate that they took off when the boys of the age of enormous unemployment got old enough.

Regardless, the problem is that far too many people in this country, both men and women, are all too eager to blame the victim for being raped, rather than to blame the rapist. This is especially true when the rapist is considered a celebrity of some kind. And one of the ways to reduce the incidences of rape is to change the culture that views women as being subservient to men. Educating our children will eventually tip the scales in these kinds of cases.

I have to say that it sounds to me as if that is in your culture, but in the ones I have lived rape is still there, just for other reasons, some of which are chilling like the Steubenville case but without the star - gang rape as 'fun'. Pictures on the net. Perpetrators non-guilty in court because, according to the judge: "they said she wanted to", and it could not be proven that she was too drunk to resist.

Which takes me to two legal problems:
1) I think that in rape cases it must be proven that the accused had a unambiguous 'yes', not that it could not be proven that she was too drunk! But the law says innocent until proven guilty, so how to handle that??

2) In cases where a person is acquitted of rape, the accuser is sometimes accused herself, for false accusations. Off hand this sounds fair enough, false accusations of rape can ruin a person's life, but what if the police did a shitty job, or the defender a too good one? There is a Danish example where is sounds like the police did not believe the accuser, and started to accuse her.

It is hard as it is to bring a case to court. Will such a practice stop it altogether, because if the rape isn't proven, the accuser is herself accused but these cases can be real hard to prove? Or is it a good thing, to prevent false accusations?


Sef