Monday, April 26, 2010

the hartford courant


really HAS been doing a wonderful job of late, reporting on violence against women. i do have to salute them

this is one right on article by the way. i strongly urge you to click the link to read the WHOLE (it's short, just DO it) thing
note: in the right hand sidebar of the courant article there are all sorts of other links to similar stories you should read

Unmasking The Common College-Age Rapist
I've been told it was my fault because I was drinking. Because I shouldn't have been hanging out with a group of guys who were drinking. I shouldn't have let him in. I must've been flirting. I must've been wearing something provocative. I obviously wanted it at the time and just changed my mind later.

Say whatever you want. It doesn't hurt me anymore. It used to, but now I understand. You want to feel safe. You want to feel like rape is avoidable and rare and only happens to foolish girls who don't follow the rules. Not to you, or to your daughter, or anyone you love. You want to believe that only monsters commit "real" rape, terrifying men who look nothing like you or your friends. You want to think that when nice-seeming boys get accused of rape, they were provoked, or are victims themselves of some kind of sexual misunderstanding. You want to feel in control. Who doesn't?

There's just one problem: Every time we spend our energy telling a girl not to have a beer or look at a guy in public lest she somehow "invites" him to commit a violent felony against her, every time we imagine rapists as hulking strangers in the bushes and not the charming guy down the street, we create the exact diversion rapists count on to keep raping with impunity............

counter quo

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