Wednesday, 24 August 2016

WE DO NOT LIVE IN A RAPE CULTURE.


I could honestly just leave it at the title. I'm so fucking sick of hearing and reading about this supposed 'rape culture' we're all living in here in the western world. I mean when did rape become some socially accepted thing that everyone just gets away with or even gets congratulated for?

And I know that many of the arguments I've seen don't necessarily suggest that rapists get rewarded for rape, in fact, they seem to forget about the rapists altogether when talking about 'rape culture'. I have read many a feminist article that says that we live in a culture where women (who fucking else right?) who are victims of rape, are treated with contempt by society and shamed because of their label as a rape victim.

I'm calling poppycock on that! Let me break it down for anyone who doesn't understand what a rape culture is and why we sure as hell don't live in one.

Firstly when feminists talk about a rape culture they labour under the misapprehension that rape is not a crime here (UK, Europe, US.) It is. They also seem to forget that convicted rapists get some of probably the worst treatment in prison than anyone and its from OTHER INMATES. And that is because no one, not even other criminals think that rape is an acceptable thing to do to someone. Now tell me, what does it say about our society when even the most hardened criminals look down on rapists? Does it perhaps inform us that we do not live in a rape culture?

Secondly we should look at the punishments for rapists lets say in the UK (since that is where I live) and since I have heard the word rape culture be used to refer to the UK also (I swear this shit spreads like a fucking disease). If we lived in a culture that went easy on convicted rapists, could a convicted rapist be locked up for life? I think not.

This shit is so easy to understand if you only engage your brain and open your eyes. The other truck load of horse dung I hear feminists dumping all over the place is the idea that women are shamed by society for being raped. The amount of times I have listened to one of my feminist friends go off about how what the woman was wearing, whether she was intoxicated or where she was when it happened is the only thing people talk about and that they use it to shame the victim, and this is just not true.

In the mind of a feminist, it is 'abuse', 'harassment' to even question someone alleging that they have been raped and to even suggest that there are steps they can take to be more safe and aware of their surroundings, well that just makes you a raging misogynist.

To me simply stating that people have a responsibility to protect themselves as best as they possibly can, could only be misconstrued as victim blaming if you had your blinders on the whole time it was being said. Or if you're just wilfully ignorant.

Keeping yourself safe is your responsibility as a human. I can't ever remember my parents telling me that I'm dressed inappropriately and that if something happens to me then it is my fault, no woman I know has been told that by anyone. That's not to say it doesn't happen but not on a huge scale and those kinds of people are arseholes. However, I can recall times I have heard my parents warn my older brother to keep out of fights on nights out and stay out of trouble lest he get into some fatal incident. Are we going to claim we live in a fight culture, one that blames the victim (usually male) of a violent scuffle for simply walking by? No of course not because that is stupidity.

Part of being an adult is taking responsibility for your own actions, by claiming we live in a rape culture or that women taking notice of where they go who they go with and what they wear is just part of the patriarchy, we deny women agency and once again infantilise them. Aside from demonising men by putting the responsibility of 'not raping' on to them, what could be worse? Not to mention the fact that this notion ignores male victims of rape and female aggressors (and no I don't give a shit about the dictionary definition of rape.)

Let me put it this way. You could argue that if you park your car in a sketchy part of town, it would be wise to lock it once you've parked up right? It would be foolish to leave your car unlocked with the keys left in and expect no one to notice it and want to steal it.

Now if you're wanting to make the argument that this counts as blaming the victim, I implore you to think about how ludicrous it sounds to say to the thieves 'now, I know you already know its wrong to steal and you don't really care about the law and the consequences of stealing other people's shit BUT  here, let me teach you some more about why its wrong to steal'

I mean if that doesn't sound fucking stupid to you, you may be a lost cause. And so let us turn our attention back to the idea of a rape culture. A feminist's solution to this so called crisis of rape, is to 'teach boys not to rape', this idea is so problematic and deserves its own post but since I don't really like to ramble, I'll skip to the point here.

RAPISTS DON'T GIVE A FUCK!

Rapists gon' rape. It makes no sense to say that we should teach people not to rape because people are already taught right from wrong, the point of criminal activity is that they have decided not to care. Please just try and tell someone who is holding you at gunpoint trying to steal your ish that stealing is wrong and they should choose a better path, if they don't laugh you out of your expensive watch, they're doing it wrong. Also the notion that an entire gender should be treated like not one single one of them can be trusted to be decent law abiding citizens with morals is so wrong it hurts to even think about.

What gets me most heated about first world feminism banging on about 'rape culture in the first world' is that it overlooks the actual rape cultures that exist in developing countries, places where victims of rape are treated appallingly.

Here however, a woman only need accuse a man of rape and she has sealed his fate. I would never nor would any decent human being think to shame a victim of rape. It is one of the worst crimes to be committed against someone and that is reflected within the law and the treatment of rapists in society. I will never understand why feminists are so willing to hypothesise and try to kick up dust where there is none meanwhile real women (and men if you dare to care,) who are suffering worse fates than even the most staunch man hating third wave first world feminist could dream up.

Fuck you if you really believe there is a rape culture in the first world, you are deluded.

Love,

The Girl in Blue

xoxo



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