So some feminist geniuses at Emory University put together a video called Project Unspoken in which they show how women constantly adjust and modify their behaviours to prevent sexual assault and street harassment, while men rarely do. Proving, obviously, that all women are victims and all men are rapists, or at least potential rapists.
Let’s keep in mind for a second two things: one, that men may not adjust their behaviours with sexual assault in mind specifically, but almost all men will take some sensible precautions to prevent just plain old assault. You never know when you’re going to run into a drug-addicted, emotionally damaged, just got out of jail, low educational attainment offspring of a single mother, right? Men don’t saunter down dark alleys alone, thinking SWEET JESUS MY MALE PRIVILEGE IS AWESOME.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=eCCaKuWQLp8
Second, this is IMAGINED assault and street harassment. Here’s something that confuses me: RapeCrisis.co.uk reports that only 9% of rapes occur in dark alleys and over 80% of rapes are committed by men known to the women who claim to be raped. Really? Over 80%? How about 91%! Math ain’t THAT hard, bitches.
http://www.rapecrisis.org.uk/commonmyths2.php
So if 91% of rapes are committed by men we know, why all the hysteria about avoiding men we DON’T know on the street? Surely, we are only supposed to treat the men we KNOW as potential rapists, and more or less go easy on the men we DON’T know? Apparently not. It turns out that we should treat ALL MEN EVERYWHERE AT ALL TIMES as potential rapists.
Who knew?
There’s an interesting kernel of truth in this kind of nonsense, not about rape, but about women’s “fear” of rape. It’s as if any women, anywhere, at any time, presents such as irresistible figure to men that she is almost certain to be raped. It’s called a rape fantasy. Rape fantasies are erotic stories women tell themselves about being an object of desire so powerful, so compelling, so overwhelming that the hero of her story simply CANNOT resist her and against her futile struggles ravages and rapes her. He is overcome by her beauty, intelligence, spirit, grace – just everything about her. She is the center of his universe of desire and he cannot help himself.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/psyched/200805/why-do-women-have-erotic-rape-fantasies
And of course, she loves it. Which is what makes it a fantasy.
Somehow, this fantasy has been translated into women’s everyday experience as something frightening and out of control, and if a random guy walked up and decided he just HAD to fuck you here and now, it WOULD be frightening and scary. But according to RapeCrisis.uk, this represents only 9% of reported rapes. Which means it’s really fucking rare.
So why do women insist on living in some kind of nightmare world where the threat of rape lurks around every corner? I think it’s because they secretly LIKE casting themselves at the center of narrative in which they are beautiful, compelling, irresistible to men. That’s a wicked fantasy, particularly for the spotty, fat, limp haired women in track pants and t-shirts stained with last night’s pizza binge. In reality, NO man finds these women attractive. But in their minds, the world is filled with RAPISTS who want so badly to fuck them.
The solution to the “problem” of sexual assault is not to enforce the man-hating world view that all men everywhere are rapists and insist that men tiptoe around frightened, helpless “not yet but could be” victims. The solution is to address the problem of women having all their primal desires to attract men sexually intact, but living in a culture that insists it’s okay for them to fat and slovenly and give no thought to their appearance or level of attractiveness.
The Daily Mail today asks if we are finally embracing women’s “natural” curves, and illustrates the story, not with curvy women, but with overweight, over made up tarts who look gross and just plain old fat. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-2229779/Body-issues-Are-really-proud-curvy.html
That is not curvy. Curvy is an hourglass figure. This is curvy.
This is fat.
As long as women are growing up in a culture that insists fat is curvy and curvy is desirable, ignoring the fact that most men do NOT find fat attractive at all, we will continue to have imaginary rapists luring behind every corner.
Ladies will find a way to be the heart-stopping, bodice ripping beauty of their dreams, even if that means casting every man they meet as a rapist. At least then there’s some hope they’ll get fucked.
Lots of love,
JB