The most important thing I'm going to read today.

[matt_doyle]

On rape and men.

In summary, this post talks about the responsibility of decent men to combat rape culture actively. Not raping, assaulting, harassing or disrespecting women is an obvious and necessary first step, but it's not enough. It should also be incumbent upon everyone to speak up and stop harassment, disrespect, and assault when we see them, to make it clear that such behavior, even in conversation (rape jokes, complaining about a woman who "won't put out" is flat-out unacceptable. It's been shown in study after study that men don't take what women say as seriously as they'll take the same statements from men. And in any case, women most certainly shouldn't have to deal with misogynist bullshit alone.

Definitely my recommended reading for the day.

Comments

[sunnyskywalker]

I read an interview with author Laurie Halse Anderson that just came out. One of the questions asks how boys have reacted to her book Speak, which deals with date rape. She says,

"So many boys have said to me over the years, “I didn’t know that that would upset a girl so much. I had no idea.” We can be horrified by that, or we can try to hold our judgment at bay and understand where it’s coming from. It’s because boys are inundated with very explicit sexuality in the media and they don’t have enough trusted, loving adults in their lives to explain the emotional side of human sexuality and the consequences of some of these actions."

I think we can be horrified at how warped the messages these boys are getting are! You know rape culture is pervasive when it just never occurs to someone that hey, maybe this would upset someone. But on the bright side, I think the fact that so many boys responded to the book and realized maybe it was a big deal after all is encouraging - it shows that the culture can be changed.