memes are the dumbest way to spread concepts, and yet, a meme _is_ a spread concept, so...

[solarbird]

A lot has been said about how to prevent rape. Women should learn self-defense. 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 5AM, 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 report him as a rapist.

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

Don't just 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, y, or z. 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.

If you agree, repost it. It's important.

Comments

Re: Another tangent

[kathrynt.livejournal.com]

Prison rape isn't an argument against solarbird's point. it's an argument for. The rapists in prison rape are still men, even though the victims aren't women. The way to stop prison rape is the way to stop all rape, by enculturating men not to rape and being clear on what rape means.

Re: Another tangent

[laputain.livejournal.com]

How do we "enculturate" people? I've never seen that verb before. It sounds like something you'd do with garden shears. Seriously, I get the point, but sometimes people talk about "changing culture" as if it was as easily done as changing wallpaper.

If you're going to talk about "how do we stop rape?", or more precisely "how can we make sexual violation socially impermissible?", then the first step would be to examine the several messages in Western culture that state, over and over again, to any male past the age of puberty: "if you ain't getting some - by fair means or foul - you are not a man and therefore prone to be humiliation and even rape yourself".