I don't consciously constantly think that I might get raped and have escape plans ready, either, but there's this one tunnel on my route home that scares the crap out of me, and if there's a big group of boys or men in it or it's at night, then bugger it, I'm crossing the dual carriageway. There's a reason that every girl I know calls those things "rape tunnels". I don't think having watched Irreversible made me much more at ease about it.
Anyway, just to round this off, this has been said many times before by people better able to express it, but there is something so twisted about the whole “how women can protect themselves against rape” thing. In the dialogue about preventing sexual assault, it’s all about women being careful and women staying out of dark places and women carrying pepper sprays. What the fuck happened to men not raping women? Men learning that when a woman says no that might possibly be what she means? It’s not the women in this scenario who are the problem. I agree with this so hard. (I brought this up with my dad once, though, and he replied, "Yes, well, I should be able to fall asleep on the high street with my wallet beside me and wake up to find all my stuff there, but it doesn't work like that" and I wasn't sure which one of us was the one who Just Didn't Get It.)
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Date: 2009-10-22 05:07 pm (UTC)Anyway, just to round this off, this has been said many times before by people better able to express it, but there is something so twisted about the whole “how women can protect themselves against rape” thing. In the dialogue about preventing sexual assault, it’s all about women being careful and women staying out of dark places and women carrying pepper sprays. What the fuck happened to men not raping women? Men learning that when a woman says no that might possibly be what she means? It’s not the women in this scenario who are the problem.
I agree with this so hard. (I brought this up with my dad once, though, and he replied, "Yes, well, I should be able to fall asleep on the high street with my wallet beside me and wake up to find all my stuff there, but it doesn't work like that" and I wasn't sure which one of us was the one who Just Didn't Get It.)