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From: desjardins@h-sc1.UUCP (marie desjardins)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: Rape (The nature of reality)
Message-ID: <532@h-sc1.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 14-Aug-85 23:10:46 EDT
Article-I.D.: h-sc1.532
Posted: Wed Aug 14 23:10:46 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 19-Aug-85 04:54:12 EDT
References: <25100002@smu> <25100003@smu> <2569@sun.uucp> <761@masscomp.UUCP> <1599@watdcsu.UUCP>
Organization: Harvard Univ. Science Center
Lines: 21

> 
> Any statement to the effect that women can do something about rape is
> always automatically interpreted by somebody as "blaming the victim."
> Saying that women can do something about rape does in fact imply some
> responsibility on their part.  This is not the same as saying that
> when a woman who has made some effort to avoid rape gets raped anyway,
> that it's her fault.
> 

The problem with this reasoning is that it's true that an individual
woman may be able to protect herself from being raped (at least to
some degree).  However this does not mean that women as a class can
prevent rape this way, because I am not sure that the rapists will
not just try harder (or pick on the few leftover victims who for
some reason do not protect themselves).  Although I have never been
raped, and even if I never am, I will still worry about the problem.
One of the few ways that rape can really be stopped (or at least
cut back) is to find what leads men to rape women, and to try to
stop it at its source.  It's rooted in sexism, y'know.

marie desjardins park