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From: tracy@hcrvx1.UUCP (Tracy Tims)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: Rape: The Unresolved Trauma
Message-ID: <1029@hcrvx1.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 11-Dec-84 19:52:36 EST
Article-I.D.: hcrvx1.1029
Posted: Tue Dec 11 19:52:36 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 12-Dec-84 01:54:54 EST
References: <1855@sun.uucp> <938@abnjh.UUCP>
Organization: Human Computing Resources, Toronto
Lines: 45

	...but no rapist will argue with a .45 .

Rapists rape generally because they feel some need to demonstrate some power
over another person.  Perhaps they aren't getting out of life the things they
expected.  Perhaps they feel a little pushed around.  Whatever.  It is an
degradation of another's humanity and individuality that makes the degrader
feel more important.

Now I personally feel that the best way to solve the problem is to try to
not produce new people who feel this way, to try to educate people who already
feel this way, and to remove the people that can't be educated and are
too dangerous.  I think that situations very analagous to rape occur often.
(I wouldn't say more traumatic situations.)  When neanderthal young men in
my grade in public school were threatening me (with spectators watching) with
physical harm so as to force me to acknowledge in some way their "superiority"
an action analogous to rape was happening.  It wasn't anywhere near as
serious and traumatic, but it had the same roots.

Now I don't know exactly how to get rid of that sort of person.  Sometimes
I think exile to the moon without space suits would be appropriate.  But one
thing I know for sure:  it is appropriate to respond to such behaviour towards
you with as much violence as you need to stop it, as long as your own violence
isn't an expression of your own need to dominate and degrade.  This violence
is a rational response to an unsane person who is threatening your safety.  In
the case of weapons advocates, I generally get the impression that they in some
way *like* the idea of carrying guns around, and that disturbs me.

I don't think there is an abundance of people who could limit their use of
violence in the way I described above.  We are only starting to ramp up
production of sane people (the tools for doing it are just starting to be
recognized).

                              Tracy Tims    {linus,allegra,decvax}!watmath!...
   Human Computing Resources Corporation                     {ihnp4,utzoo}!...
 Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  416 922-1937                   ...hcr!hcrvax!tracy

PS.	I think that in a generally "sane" society it would be felt that
	weapons were not needed for normal protection, and that in a generally
	unsane society (such as we are in and hopefully moving out of) the
	common possession and acceptance of weapons will simply provide more
	opportunities for the wrong sort of violence and will indeed legitimize
	it (this assumption is based on that fact that people usually fail
	to make useful distinctions when they analyze situations).  People
	in the unsane society would tend to blur the distinction between the
	two types of violence.