Sunday, December 03, 2006

"Rape culture"

Most people think violence against women is a women's issue, and why wouldn't they? Girls and women ages 12 to 24 are at the greatest risk for experiencing rape or sexual assault, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, and almost all perpetrators are men.

The point is not to attack men but to understand that the society we live in makes people believe that rape is a women's issue and women need to deal with it alone.

Our society responds to the threat of sexual assault by telling our daughters not to walk alone at night, to always have Mace and to take self-defense classes. This is a reactionary response that may bring the number of completed rapes down, but not the number of attempts. To work more effectively toward ending rape, we must educate men and chip away at the rape culture we live in.

Source

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