burma army uses rape as a weapon of war

[Donald Ian Rankin]

13. I think it's a meaningless and counterproductive term, if that counts as denying it?

Different cultures have different attitudes to, and incidences of, rape.

I think that trying to divide cultures up into "rape" and "non-rape" cultures is a useful exercise if what you are interested in is self-righteousness and blame-placing, and an at best useless and at worst counterproductive one if what you are interested in is proposing narrow, specific measures that may reduce the incidence of rape.

And I use the word narrow there intentionally. What will lead to a reduction in the number of rapes is not broad, general calls about how we as a society need to reevaluate how we look at issues, it's narrow, specific measures like "more funding and training for police on how to handle rape victims", "better sex education in schools", "more/less tolerance of prostitution, depending on how you read the data", and "more spending on education in poor areas" (which doesn't look like it has anything to do with rape, but I suspect would actually do more to reduce not just rape but every other social evil than just about anything else - it's rapes committed by by college athletes that generate the most publicity, but actually the poor and undereducated are much more likely both to commit and be the victims of rape.).

The US has more rapes per capita than some cultures, and fewer than others. Looking for common denominators to see if there are things that can be copied or avoided may be worth while, but I think drawing an arbitrary line between "rape" and "non-rape" cultures serves to keep sociologists in work and activists entertained, but not much else, I'm afraid.