Often I get tired of spouting off. It’s so much better when someone says something better than you could.
Unconscious means no.
Wearing a mini skirt means no.
Walking by herself means no.
Hair in a ponytail. NO.
Hair not in a ponytail. NO.
She’s had sex with you before. NO.
She’s had sex with your friends. NO.
She’s never had sex. NO.
She flirted with you. NO.
She drank alcohol. NO.
She did drugs. NO.
Please go read the rest @ ShutTheDoor
It is outrageous and sickening that even here, in the more-civilized-than-thou New World, media and culture continues to abet misogyny and the very attitudes we decry in the developing world. But we don’t need to look any further than, say, films. The entire horror genre is, more often than not, predicated on the torture, rape, and mutilation of women for audience entertainment. Even when women are used a shortcut to elicit sympathy (becaus male victims don’t stereotypically elicit that same feeling of protectiveness, apparently), the misogyny is present in the form of the woman-as-victim stereotype. And even when a heroine is introduced who can fight back, the cynicism of the genre either equivocates her to the villain or undermines her heroism by the ubiquitous horror-movie twist ending. (A comparison of Wes Craven’s intended ending for Nightmare on Elm Street compared to the studio-mandated ending is an interesting case in point.) So if our culture routinely views violence against women, particularly psychosexual violence, as legitimate entertainment, it sadly comes as no surprise that cases like the Steubenville rape trial exposes our culture’s morally bankrupt attitude towards women. It’s fashionable to pronounce feminism as no longer relevant, but I’d say its more vital than ever because the misogyny has become so subtle and insidious.
And it absolutely aggravates me to hear the “argument” that women shouldn’t dress this way or walk here or say that because men, being men, just can’t control what they’ll do. Expletives! Not only does it wrongly shift the moral responsibility from the aggressor, it demeans men as stupid brutes instead of emphasizing the rational, moral agents they should be, as any human being should be.
Sorry for the soapbox rant. I guess I’m just signalling my agreement.