Stop Telling Women How to Not Get Raped

[Tansy_Gold]

159. I did read what you wrote

And I'm saying that many rapists are not "criminally deviant." Given what we know -- and don't know -- about criminal and/or deviant behavior, most rapists are not deviant.

Rather than allow them to continue to rape and then make examples of them, the current argument is that perhaps changing the culture and changing BEFORE IT HAPPENS the way rape is seen, that it can be prevented. Why not prevent rather than punish?

Altering the criminal code, and the mental health diagnostics that would be required for a "deviant" status, would be very very difficult, and would likely encounter a HUGE backlash, perhaps to the point that prosecution for rape would become nearly as difficult as it was before such concepts as date rape, spousal rape, and even rape shield laws entered the prosecutorial process.

When you have a culture that implies "no" really means "try again," a culture in which women are depicted as sexual objects and often nothing more, many rapes are not seens as "real" rape. Susan Estrich wrote a whole book about "Real Rape." Susan Griffin, Diana E. H. Russell, Susan Faludi, David Finkelhor, and others I've mentioned in previous threads have studied and reported on "real" rape as well as the "other" kinds.

It's not "deviant" behavior if it complies with the cultural norms. Sadly, some of our cultural norms DO encourage rape, DO exonerate rapists, DO blame women for their own victimization.

Yes we do still have violent stranger rape, and generally when that happens and the rapist is identified and caught, there is severe punishment. But if the culture dictates that the woman is to blame, if the culture dictates that she has no power to accuse, if the culture dictates that her rapist will more often than not be exonerated, then the threat of punishment serves no purpose. Remember, the death penalty has not deterred murderers.