a litle on rape

I agree wholeheartedly with Katie that rape is portrayed in a way that's still deeply problematic in the media.

A woman's sexual past is regularly brought up as evidence that what happened to her, while unpleasant, wasn't rape. She's already opened herself up as a commodity (because that's all women are, right?), so her claims that she didn't want it are invalid. Once you want it once, you obviously want it all the time.

There's a lot of talk on college campuses about women watching their alcohol intake and making sure the pace themselves and don't get roofied (which bothers me because you don't need to be drugged or totally incapacitated for it to be real rape! It can happen when you're sober, or just a little drunk and confused and no one talks about that as a legitimate experience). But what no one talks about is MEN not getting so drunk that they don't hear the word "no," that they don't pick up on someone's body language saying "stop."

We need a two pronged attempt to stop rape. We can't just tell women they need to prevent it from happening to them. We need to send the message to men that they need to encourage their friends, teammates and co-workers that rape isn't acceptable, that rape isn't something they do, AND to recognize what rape really is. Just because you're not holding a knife to her throat and because you've seen her eye you up in lecture doesn't mean "she wants it." That doesn't constitute consent.

This is crazy talk because it would also insist upon a slight reconfiguring of the college sexual scene. Perhaps parties where both men and women get so trashed they can't stand isn't the best place to attempt to get laid.

Just sayin'.

Much love,
The Sheriff