Image source
NPR has an interesting story up today about how myths make it hard to stop campus rape. It's a culture that makes it "okay' or "not as bad" because the myth is that a drunk guy made one bad decision: the decision to force his penis into a girl who was either incapacitated or who didn't have the physical strength to fight him off. He gets a pass because she drank a beer (which he may have drugged...). Not surprisingly, it turns out these doods are real rapists.
"What Lisak found was that students who commit rape on a college campus are pretty much like those rapists in prison. In both groups, many are serial rapists. On college campuses, repeat predators account for 9 out of every 10 rapes.
And these offenders on campuses — just like men in prison for rape — look for the most vulnerable women. Lisak says that on a college campus, the women most likely to be sexually assaulted are freshmen."
TIP:
Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
Nikki Stern
Greg Correll
Amanda Gulledge
marytkelly
Indiana_Joe
Lainey
Salon.com
Comments
Also, if all women are going to be lectured at as potential victims, we should lecture at boys as though they are potential rapists.
I propose we give our male children this sex talk:
"If a girl is drunk, don't sleep with her unless you are in a committed relationship, and she gives consent. And if a girl says she doesn't want to have sex with you, then says she does, don't have sex with her until the next day. "
Great post, and of concern to all of us. Thank you.
I was thinking some more about this, and I think one reason we want to blame the victim because it gives the event a non-random, possibly avoidable cause. "Well, I don't get drunk, or I don't dress that way, so this would never happen to someone like me...." It makes the possibility of rape seem less likely and gives us a false sense of safety.