| Greedy,Greedy,Greedy |
03-21-2013 08:41 PM |
Re: Towards A Virtual Williamsburg!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Atticus Grinch
(Post 477793)
Anyone who points to an evolutionary underpinning of the sexual economics of rape (by reference to chimps or bonobos) is selling something. The submission of males and females to promiscuous sex in bands of apes says little about human nature. Until fairly recently women and undersized male humans were subjected to non-consensual sex and other forms of physical helplessness, whether that helplessness was generated by extreme poverty or by some legal bullshit.
The idea that even the average individual could and should DECIDE whom to have sex with is less than 2,000 years old, and in some places still hasn't caught on. The overwhelming majority of people who've ever lived died without ever feeling a sense of bodily autonomy. The fact we even have a culture that sometimes vindicates the objections of the powerless puts us ahead of 80% of the world's current population and 100% of our ancestors on evolutionary timescales.
I used to care what rape was "about," sex or power. I'm not sure it matters to anyone not in a college course. Is there a practical benefit to answering the question? We certainly have more tools for making a person not want more sex than we do to make them not want more power. But I'm still not seeing why the question is ever posed.
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The practical benefit of realizing it is about power is obvious. At my college, there is a hot debate over rape as a result of several recent incidents. There has been a report that identifies the most significant problem on campus as being upperclass men in positions of authority on various college clubs, sports, or organizations raping freshmen women, particularly in their first semester. Power.
Knowing rape is about power and attacking the vulnerable tells you who and where to police and points out who needs maximum protection and maximum education.
One way to lessen rapes in Stubenville (and we all live in Stubenville): publicly shame the bastard rapists, so they lose their power when they rape. Take away the "football star" label and replace it with "violent criminal" and "rapist", which is what they are. There will be football stars in the future who get the lesson.
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