“Look, guys. No matter what a girl does, no matter how she’s dressed…"

[antigone382]

71. OK, awareness and self-protection is a good thing. I won't argue that.

But by the same token, a study like this to me makes the point of Biden and others. A large part of the problem of rape and exploitation of women is located in attitudes among men. Not all men or most men, but as this study indicates, among a sizable portion of young men (although I will note that 76 male students is an incredibly small sample and probably not generalizable; personally I would need to see a bit more studies to come to a definitive conclusion in my own mind).

As anthropological studies of attractiveness have shown, culture plays a huge role in determining what is or is not attractive--different cultures view different body types, skin tones, hair styles, and even personality traits like submissiveness vs. aggression as more or less attractive depending on a number of factors. So if this study and others among young men in Western cultures are literally showing that these men find vulnerable and easily exploited women more attractive, it is not nearly enough to tell women to be careful.

The fact is that even if you were to eradicate drunkenness and other "high risk" behaviors among women, there are always going to be those who are, for whatever reason, more vulnerable to exploitation and even violence--for example, you can't teach someone with a minor cognitive impairment--one that perhaps does not inhibit her ability to support herself or live a full and mostly independent life, but might make her more trusting or otherwise vulnerable--not to have that disability. We *can,* however, do the very challenging work of changing attitudes among young men to make respect and a genuine sense of equality more core values. This may not change all attitudes or eliminate all rape, but the point is this: addressing male* behavior and attitudes is at least as important as addressing female* attitudes and behavior, if not even more so--yet it receives in general only a fraction of the attention.

(*I don't mean to imply that rape is always male on female, or that women cannot rape men. I know quite well that this is not the case. However, because male on female rape, and more broadly, the behaviors of men and women in relation to rape, has been the topic of this discussion so far, I have simplified things a bit to keep in context.)