Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Must not say drunkenness mitigates rape
Tennis player Serena Williams got into big trouble for saying the following:
We watch the news for a while, and the infamous Steubenville rape case flashes on the TV – two high school football players raped a drunk 16-year-old, while other students watched and texted details of the crime. Serena just shakes her head. "Do you think it was fair, what they got? They did something stupid, but I don't know. I'm not blaming the girl, but if you're a 16-year-old and you're drunk like that, your parents should teach you: Don't take drinks from other people. She's 16, why was she that drunk where she doesn't remember? It could have been much worse. She's lucky. Obviously, I don't know, maybe she wasn't a virgin, but she shouldn't have put herself in that position
Source
I would have thought that they were fairly commensense observations but Williams was eventually forced into an apology. Why is she not allowed to express a common opinion about drunkenness and rape?
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9 comments:
ANY statement that can be construed to confer any sort of responsibility to the victim is seen as Politically Incorrect, regardless of how "common sense" or "reality based" it may be.
Yup, JJR, blame the victim. Keep it classy, sir.
"Why is she not allowed to express a common opinion about drunkenness and rape?"
In the PC-infected society we live in, a "victim", no matter what the facts and circumstances may be, is (always) right. Of course, in reality, that is not always the case. Remember Tawana Brawley and the Duke soccer team case?
Why is she not allowed to express a common opinion about drunkenness and rape?
She was allowed to express an opinion. No one stopped her from saying anything.
No one held Williams down and "forced" her to apologize either. She made the decision to protect her image after saying something that many people found incredibly stupid and insensitive.
It appears Jon believes Williams can speak without others voicing their displeasure with her thoughts and opinions.
No, she should definitely not have put herself in that position. BUT that she was in such a position in no way provides consent to rape her.
Serena's comments are realistic. There is scum in society and people need to take measures to protect themselves, whether is as simple as locking your doors or not getting stupid drunk and taking drinks from unknown individuals. The victim in this case behaved stupidly, and that led to her rape.
As for the boys that raped her, the consequences were appropriate. Serena was wrong in feeling otherwise.
Anon 3:31 - I think that everyone agrees with you. That includes Serena Williams.
The problem is that she gets attacked by saying what everyone agrees with.
Being drunk, dressing like a tramp, being in a bikers bar, acting like a female dog on heat - none of these things equate to consent to sex and nor to they in any way excuse the attacker.
But a person who wants to avoid sexual violence would be smart to be aware of and avoid the above things.
Same goes for if you walk down certain streets in certain neighborhoods, wearing certain clothes (blue/red).. doesn't mean they consent to being murdered or mugged or beaten, but still..
Well, the girl who got raped deserves part of the blame. Did anyone force her to get wasted with a bunch of strangers? Did anyone gave her a roofy? No, this was her choice. Her girl friends tried to warn her but she didn't listen. Well, you act like a slut, some bad boys are gonna treat you like a slut. What she did was the equivalent of driving in a black neighborhood with the windows down and the locks open. Common sense, people! It's not so hard.
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