tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post8914825950754156694..comments2024-03-28T18:32:05.933-04:00Comments on bensozia: Is Mayim Bialik Blaming Victims or Empowering Women?Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037215533094998996noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-54470741675963765262017-10-19T12:13:58.652-04:002017-10-19T12:13:58.652-04:00@pootrsox
"rape is about power" is an o...@pootrsox<br /><br />"rape is about power" is an old cliche which has not that much backup in terms of scientific facts. <br /><br />http://quillette.com/2016/01/02/to-rape-is-to-want-sex-not-power/<br /><br />as for the rest, think about analogies. Any house can be robbed. You can live in a centre, in a suburbia, your house can look rich or not; yet we invest in locks and try to avoid this. Pointing "it is like that" does not mean "it ought to be like that". You advices on how to minimize the risk might be wrong (i.e. your advices might not actually minimize the risk), but if given in a good faith, it's really wrong to interpret those advices as victim blaming.<br /><br />szopenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04219188379320432806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-2362073551002448882017-10-17T22:17:14.117-04:002017-10-17T22:17:14.117-04:00@pootrsox is closing in on my belief, that assault...@pootrsox is closing in on my belief, that assault of any sort, sexual or not, is an expression, an assertion, of power. it is not fair, not just, not respectful. it shows both a lack of self-restraint and an allegiance to the ancient and still as broken-as-ever might-is-right mentality. it is perpetrated on anyone unable or unwilling to protect themselves against it.<br /><br />what made me roll my eyes a bit in reading the excerpt of bialik's was in reflecting on how ridiculously slow behavioral change is, and the ferocious resistance that meets such change. men, since it's generally men, take the role of the powerful, and anyone, though i suspect this is typically the nearest woman, takes the brunt of the bad behavior.<br /><br />bialik's statement that amounts to an echo of 'this is the society we live in' speaks volumes to the ineffectiveness of punishment in bringing about proper and rapid change to these behavioral patterns. i long for swift, effective resolution to this mess, but expect at best inertia.leifhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04097320643676830221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-82409991463567404002017-10-17T20:06:35.220-04:002017-10-17T20:06:35.220-04:00I should also add that men can be harassed too, es...I should also add that men can be harassed too, especially if they appear effeminate. Rape is not a sex crime. It's a crime of power-assertion.pootrsoxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05975929246429466067noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-60036073024142012582017-10-17T20:05:25.827-04:002017-10-17T20:05:25.827-04:00I thought she sounded smug. "I don't get...I thought she sounded smug. "I don't get harrassed because I'm smarter than the average Hollywood bimbo."<br /><br />But you know what? It doesn't matter what you're wearing. You can still be harrassed or assaulted. It doesn't matter if you're "sexy" or look like a poorly kneaded lump of dough (rather like a female Weinstein, in fact?)-- sexual assault can still be visited upon you. It doesn't matter if you're drunk or sober-- though certainly drunkenness puts a woman in more danger than she otherwise might be in. It doesn't matter your color, your age (an 80+ year old woman was raped here in rural VA a few years ago), your ethnicity or skin hue.<br /><br />One woman told a story of saying "good night" pleasantly to a male dorm-mate on her way to her room... and waking up to find him climbing into her bunk, naked. That could have been Dr. Bialek.<br /><br />I was 13, looked 11, was wearing a ratty t-shirt and not particularly revealing shorts when an intinerant laborer attempted to rape me. So yeah-- me too. (I didn't even know what flirting *was* -- I had never had a "boy friend." I was a *child*!)pootrsoxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05975929246429466067noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-46065522605468340672017-10-17T11:41:38.038-04:002017-10-17T11:41:38.038-04:00I'm sympathetic to the argument that "we ...I'm sympathetic to the argument that "we should be able to do as we please and not have to worry about it" and obviously, men should be respectful to women. But we live in a world with predators. It doesn't matter what's right or how people *should* behave. Predators always shape the behavior of other animals in the ecosystem. An animal that survives is one that takes action to avoid being prey. Of course, we are people, not animals-- but not so far removed, as a species, as we'd like to be. There are predators. There have always been predators. There will always be predators. The presence of predators imposes limits on our behavior. It's OK-- right, even-- to chafe at those limits, and to work to eliminate or control predators in my environment. But it's not OK to behave like I already live in a predator-free environment, when I don't. I don't leave my personal safety up to blind chance. JustPeachyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06128069966879300756noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-79547596840704652852017-10-17T07:35:43.667-04:002017-10-17T07:35:43.667-04:00I thought it was unclear what Bialik intended, alt...I thought it was unclear what Bialik intended, although I came away thinking there was a bit of superiority to it. I also thought her commentary received more likes than it deserved. Nothing new here and nothing expressed well enough or differently enough to bother passing around.<br /><br />And, of course, you can be disgusted with the men and still think some women are foolish. But Weinstein is not the best example to use when asking this. I mean look at him. This isn't some dapper Dan charming ladies in public then turning into a lizard when he has them alone. He is renowned for his public fits of rage and public threats to ruin people, and his appearance is like that of a social misfit street person who found a tuxedo in a dumpster. But he does have money and power, so perhaps Weinstein is placed under FOLLOWERSHIP.Shadowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05353532874773316117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-50559699388726579002017-10-17T06:31:59.653-04:002017-10-17T06:31:59.653-04:00I think there is no difference between warning you...I think there is no difference between warning young women against placing themselves in risky situations than warning people to look both ways when they cross the street. Blaming the victim only occurs when people suggest women wanted something bad to happen to them or that the aggressor bears no moral responsibility for his actions. We live in a strange society where advocating prudence is castigated and men are treated like they can't make moral decisions.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com