(no subject)

[labellementeuse]

I found this on my wanders and thought it was important enough to re-post, even with my relatively limited time. Not sure where it originated.

A lot has been said about how to prevent rape.

Women should learn self-defence. Women should lock themselves in their houses after dark. Women shouldn't have long hair and women shouldn't wear short skirts. Women shouldn't leave drinks unattended. Fuck, they shouldn't dare to get drunk at all.



instead of that bullshit, how about:

if a woman is drunk, don't rape her.
if a woman is walking alone at night, don't rape her.
if a women is drugged and unconscious, don't rape her.
if a woman is wearing a short skirt, don't rape her.
if a woman is jogging in a park at 5 am, don't rape her.
if a woman looks like your ex-girlfriend you're still hung up on, don't rape her.
if a woman is asleep in her bed, don't rape her.
if a woman is asleep in your bed, don't rape her.
if a woman is doing her laundry, don't rape her.
if a woman is in a coma, don't rape her.
if a woman changes her mind in the middle of or about a particular activity, don't rape her.
if a woman has repeatedly refused a certain activity, don't rape her.

if a woman is not yet a woman, but a child, don't rape her.
if your girlfriend or wife is not in the mood, don't rape her.
if your step-daughter is watching tv, don't rape her.
if you break into a house and find a woman there, don't rape her.
if your friend thinks it's okay to rape someone, tell him it's not, and that he's not your friend.

if your "friend" tells you he raped someone, report him to the police.
if your frat-brother or another guy at the party tells you there's an unconscious woman upstairs and it's your turn, don't rape her, call the police and tell the guy he's a rapist.

tell your sons, god-sons, nephews, grandsons, sons of friends it's not okay to rape someone.

don't tell your women friends how to be safe and avoid rape.
don't imply that she could have avoided it if she'd only done/not done x.
don't imply that it's in any way her fault.
don't let silence imply agreement when someone tells you he "got some" with the drunk girl.
don't perpetuate a culture that tells you that you have no control over or responsibility for your actions. You can, too, help yourself.

discussion welcome, as per usual. Repost if you wish.

Comments

[persephone-kore.livejournal.com]

Wait a second, though.

First, I will note that I'm not so sure "should" automatically means "should because you are morally obligated." There are other types of "should." I think people who post fanfic should attempt to use correct spelling, grammar, and paragraph breaks, but this does not mean I think they are under any moral obligation to do so.

But leaving that aside, in the vein of the troubling implications of language, the line in question doesn't actually say "should" in the first place; it says "how to" -- as in, giving someone information she might be able to use, whether she does or not. The "don't," on the other hand, is on its face a plain old imperative... except that in context, it's part of a long list of other don'ts that are moral obligations. So in context it actually appears to be saying that even though you've just acknowledged that "should be" isn't "is" -- thus having to call the police on people -- it's morally wrong to provide information that might reduce the bad guys' opportunities.

So basically, if the point the line's supposed to make is that saying people "should" protect themselves from attack is a subtly dangerous use of language, I think it might work better if it were itself more carefully phrased.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

But leaving that aside, in the vein of the troubling implications of language, the line in question doesn't actually say "should" in the first place; it says "how to" -- as in, giving someone information she might be able to use, whether she does or not.

*g* you caught me. You're right. And that's a very neat breakdown, may I also add.

So basically, if the point the line's supposed to make is that saying people "should" protect themselves from attack is a subtly dangerous use of language, I think it might work better if it were itself more carefully phrased.

I don't know if that was the OP's point, but it's mine, anyway. Thanks for pulling me up. :)