Basically, she'd given a talk explaining that when men sexualize her, it creeps her out. So, when a guy (later established to have been present at that talk) followed her onto an elevator and asked her up to his room, she was uncomfortable.
And that blew up, with a lot of people trying to claim that she was calling all men rapists, and women should just chill out, and on and on. Because... well, because men are dicks, mostly. I should know - I happen to be one myself. Some of us repress that side of our personalities, but far too many don't.
(In the midst of all this exaggeration, a world-famous atheist tried to poo-poo the whole thing, essentially saying that women in Muslim countries have it far worse, so women in America should stop complaining. You know, something like claiming that people are blown up in Jerusalem a lot, so if you get knifed in Boston, just walk it off and quit whining.)
Now, I just have one thing to say about this (of course, I'm going to take way too long saying it, but that's just me). And, actually, it breaks into two parts.
First, that's not what she said!! Christ, the video is right up above here, and I told you where to look! Go watch the fucking thing!
* ahem *
But (he continues in a calmer voice), since you brought it up, yes, women do, in fact, get raped in elevators. In fact, one guy in New York enjoyed it so much that he went out and tried it again. Which inspired copycats.
(Pro-tip: when googling for examples of "elevator rape," be sure that SafeSearch is on. That also happens to be a twisted fantasy for some guys. Which should actually tell you something.)
Also, two fairly common justifications for this dickish attitude on the part of guys:
1. Well, elevator rape isn't very common!So, fuck you very much, you fat, privileged, self-important pricks. Women get raped every day. And sometimes it happens in elevators.
Yeah, asshole. Neither is homosexual rape. Do you want to be the lucky one?
2. It's stupid to worry, because elevators have security cameras!
OK, rich boy. First, no, many of them don't - cameras are expensive. Second, many of the places that have cameras don't have them monitored in real time - that's also expensive. And third, even where the camera has been installed (and here's a dirty little secret of the security business for you), they often don't work. It's just that the people in charge don't want you to know that: they're hoping for a placebo effect on crime.
I hope that nobody you care about becomes a statistic.
3 comments:
You bring up an excellent point about security cameras. While recently serving on a Grand Jury, we were often told that security camera footage existed and it was then implied, that the tape's existence proved a need for indictment. Most of the time, however, the Grand Jury was only told that there was footage and we were not invited to watch it.
A few times, I was able to convince them to show the tape. And most of the people in the room couldn't believe how grainy, pixelated, and inconclusive the video footage can be.
A camera will only help them catch the perpetrator, it won't keep anyone safe.
This whole blog is an equivocation fallacy, and it's appears to be rationalized with the #1 paragraph at the ending. If we were to take that seriously, then I suppose I should never talk to a woman anywhere, because rape DOES happen anywhere.
What some people seem to want is for a special exception to be made for women, because they view women as inferior. The people who feel this way are radical-feminists, pretending to be feminists.
Really? I have to explain this to you?
No, actually, I don't. Let me let some other people explain it. Why reinvent the wheel.
Greta Christina: We're not saying you're all rapists. We know you're not all rapists. We know that most of you aren't rapists. We're explaining that, until we get to know you pretty well, we have no way of knowing whether you're a rapist or not, and that some situations (such as being alone with a strange man in an elevator) are well-documented as posing a greater risk of rape than others, and if you approach us in those situations, our guard is very likely going to be up.
US Department of Justice: 1 of 6 U.S. women and 1 of 33 U.S. men have been victims of a completed or attempted rape.
Is that enough for you yet?
How about some of their stories? Do those sound like "radical-feminists" to you? Women who are scared to walk the streets at night, but you think it's OK, because they just want a "special exception"? You're an idiot.
You have a 1 in 39 chance of being raped. A woman has 1 in 6.
Your problem is that you suffer from a concept called "male privilege" that you don't want to give up.
You're an idiot. Run along. Nobody likes you here.
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