General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The rape threads point to a larger need...revolutionary change in what it is to be "a man". [View all]Android3.14
(5,402 posts)First off, the broad depiction of an entire gender that you present is as misguided as any description of a group of humanity. Unlike, say, artificial organizations such as political parties, country clubs or unions, there is no "official" definition of what it means to be a man beyond the XY twist in the chromosome.
Second, if rape is a reflection of some general malfunction in the culture of masculinity, then there would be more consistency between countries with similar demographics. For example, Canada has a per-capita occurrence of rape at 1.7 per 1000 compared to 27.3 in the USA or 63.5 in Sweden. Add to that the wide variation in estimates of the incidence of rape in the United States from one study to the next. What is the explanation for these widely varied statistics?
To place the blame at the feet of a gender is overly simplistic, perpetrates a false stereotype as incorrect as women and driving or woman and shoes, and is ultimately useless.
Wikipedia
My own opinion is that rape is actually a problem of violent crime in general, with rape simply being a subclassification of that larger group. Address the roots of violent crime (poverty, wealth disparity, living wage and access to quality education) and the incidence of rape will also fall.