Last September, the Red and Black published "Rape connected to binge drinking, officials say" and "Using good judgement is not sexist".
Now, the latter is an opinion article, and although I find the writer's ethics questionable, I respect that she has the right to share those questionable ethics with the world.
My biggest problem was with the NEWS story, which was nothing but a victim-blaming mess:
“I’m not blaming the victim, [but really, I am] because the victim is not to be blamed,” he said [Jimmy Williamson, University chief of police. “We try to remind people to drink in a responsible way, because if you overconsume [victim blaming], you can make yourself more appealing to people who want to commit a crime.”
If my dad wants to tell me to be careful downtown and not drink too much because he thinks that I'll be safer that way, then that's fine. That's his opinion.
The Red and Black, however, is not my dad. The reason that men rape women has NOTHING to do with if the woman is drunk or not. Men rape women in order to exert power over them, because they hate women, they want to dominate women. Perhaps the situation is not helped if the victim is drunk, but that should never be connected with the REASONS why rape happens. I find this piece EXTREMELY unethical. Instead of actually tackling the reasons why men rape, they find a way to blame it on women, to put it on women to make sure they take care of themselves. Only perpetuates this messed up rape culture we have in America.
My only concern is this: that you assume because the R&B reported on an official's opinion on rape-prevention, it found a way to exclusively bash victims -- or that because Williamson made this series of statements, that immediately precludes any other stance he may ever take on rape (including, one assumes, the majority of them about how they're awful and stuff).
ReplyDeleteThey are a lot of stories to be written about rapists and rape-victims. This is one, but certainly not all.