{"id":11993,"date":"2013-01-15T17:47:48","date_gmt":"2013-01-15T21:47:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?p=11993"},"modified":"2013-01-15T17:47:48","modified_gmt":"2013-01-15T21:47:48","slug":"a-novel-approach-to-rape-prevention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/01\/a-novel-approach-to-rape-prevention.html","title":{"rendered":"A Novel Approach to Rape Prevention"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Many Indian men have responded to last month\u2019s gruesome rape<\/a> by arguing that Indian women must be careful what they wear or where they go if they want to avoid being raped. Don\u2019t wear \u201cslutty\u201d clothes, don\u2019t stay out late or go to this or that area of town, that sort of thing. Well, here\u2019s a piece of satire<\/a> that responds by asking what it would look like if we responded to sexual assault by limiting men\u2019s freedom rather than by limiting women\u2019s freedom:<\/p>\n

Calls for Men to Be Blindfolded in Public<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

In response to claims that men are unable to restrain themselves from committing rape if they see women in skimpy clothing, members of law enforcement agencies around the country have called for men to blindfold themselves when they are in places where they might encounter a female wearing a tank top or a short skirt.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor years, we have been told that men don\u2019t understand how to respond to the sight of a woman wearing, say, gym clothes \u2013 that as far as they are concerned, if they can see the outline of her body, then that\u2019s an invitation to sex that they are simply unable to refuse,\u201d said one police chief. \u201cIf that\u2019s true, then we have no choice. We want women to be safe, and there is apparently no way for some men to reasonably restrain their own behavior once they catch a glimpse of cleavage, so all men will have to cover their eyes while working out, going to bars or clubs, or relaxing at the beach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Popular radio \u201cshock jocks\u201d Skeezer and the Gooch have gone even further, arguing that men should be blindfolded at all times while in public, on the grounds that \u201cit\u2019s not just skimpy outfits, some dudes get turned on by random stuff like women wearing athletic jerseys and sneakers,\u201d making situation-specific blindfolding insufficient to preserve women\u2019s safety.<\/p>\n

Unwise to Allow Men to Go Out Alone at Night?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

A local coalition of religious leaders, concerned about recent studies showing that an average of 6% of men will commit a sexual assault during their lifetime, and that nearly all sexual assaults are committed by men on their own or in groups, are urging parents not to let their sons go out at night unless they are accompanied by a mother, sister, or trusted female friend.<\/p>\n

Mens\u2019 groups have responded with concern, pointing out that this may leave some men unable to complete the tasks of daily life, such as going to school, working, or socializing.<\/p>\n

In response, the religious leaders said that they \u201cunderstand that this may be an inconvenience for some men,\u201d but that \u201cthe minor difficulties this imposes on men are nothing when compared to the lifelong horror sexual assaults cause their victims.\u201d \u201cReally,\u201d said the organization\u2019s leader, \u201calmost any limitation on men\u2019s freedom is better than the risk that they might sexually assault someone. That\u2019s just common sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

read the rest<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Growing up in a conservative evangelical home, I was taught that men are obsessed with sex, and that it\u2019s women\u2019s duty to dress modestly and keep themselves from leading men into situations where they cannot control themselves. It has occurred to me that if men are really so very dangerous as all that, a matriarchy might make more sense than patriarchy. Indeed, as I\u2019ve written before<\/a>, what I was taught about men and sex actually made me afraid of men<\/em>. However, I\u2019ve since been happy to learn that men are perfectly decent human beings who do, come to find out, think about things other than sex.<\/p>\n

The point this satire makes is, I think, an excellent one: if men are really such sexual and violent creatures that women have to dress just so or curtail their travel so as to avoid being ravaged, wouldn\u2019t it make as much sense to start controlling and regulating men\u2019s behavior rather than women\u2019s?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“In response to claims that men are unable to restrain themselves from committing rape if they see women in skimpy clothing, members of law enforcement agencies around the country have called for men to blindfold themselves when they are in places where they might encounter a female wearing a tank top or a short skirt. \u201cFor years, we have been told that men don\u2019t understand how to respond to the sight of a woman wearing, say, gym clothes \u2013 that as far as they are concerned, if they can see the outline of her body, then that\u2019s an invitation to sex that they are simply unable to refuse,\u201d said one police chief. \u201cIf that\u2019s true, then we have no choice.””<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":845,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,12],"tags":[242,105],"class_list":["post-11993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-feminism","category-purity","tag-rape","tag-sex-2"],"yoast_head":"\nA Novel Approach to Rape Prevention<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\""In response to claims that men are unable to restrain themselves from committing rape if they see women in skimpy clothing, members of law enforcement agencies around the country have called for men to blindfold themselves when they are in places where they might encounter a female wearing a tank top or a short skirt. \u201cFor years, we have been told that men don\u2019t understand how to respond to the sight of a woman wearing, say, gym clothes \u2013 that as far as they are concerned, if they can see the outline of her body, then that\u2019s an invitation to sex that they are simply unable to refuse,\u201d said one police chief. \u201cIf that\u2019s true, then we have no choice.""\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/01\/a-novel-approach-to-rape-prevention.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Novel Approach to Rape Prevention\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\""In response to claims that men are unable to restrain themselves from committing rape if they see women in skimpy clothing, members of law enforcement agencies around the country have called for men to blindfold themselves when they are in places where they might encounter a female wearing a tank top or a short skirt. \u201cFor years, we have been told that men don\u2019t understand how to respond to the sight of a woman wearing, say, gym clothes \u2013 that as far as they are concerned, if they can see the outline of her body, then that\u2019s an invitation to sex that they are simply unable to refuse,\u201d said one police chief. \u201cIf that\u2019s true, then we have no choice.""\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/01\/a-novel-approach-to-rape-prevention.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Love, Joy, Feminism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-01-15T21:47:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Libby Anne\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Libby Anne\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/01\/a-novel-approach-to-rape-prevention.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/01\/a-novel-approach-to-rape-prevention.html\",\"name\":\"A Novel Approach to Rape Prevention\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-01-15T21:47:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-15T21:47:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2\"},\"description\":\"\\\"In response to claims that men are unable to restrain themselves from committing rape if they see women in skimpy clothing, members of law enforcement agencies around the country have called for men to blindfold themselves when they are in places where they might encounter a female wearing a tank top or a short skirt. \u201cFor years, we have been told that men don\u2019t understand how to respond to the sight of a woman wearing, say, gym clothes \u2013 that as far as they are concerned, if they can see the outline of her body, then that\u2019s an invitation to sex that they are simply unable to refuse,\u201d said one police chief. \u201cIf that\u2019s true, then we have no choice.\\\"\\\"\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/01\/a-novel-approach-to-rape-prevention.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/01\/a-novel-approach-to-rape-prevention.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/01\/a-novel-approach-to-rape-prevention.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Novel Approach to Rape Prevention\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/\",\"name\":\"Love, Joy, Feminism\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2\",\"name\":\"Libby Anne\",\"description\":\"Libby Anne grew up in a large evangelical homeschool family highly involved in the Christian Right. College turned her world upside down, and she is today an atheist, a feminist, and a progressive. She blogs about leaving religion, her experience with the Christian Patriarchy and Quiverfull movements, the detrimental effects of the \\\"purity culture,\\\" the contradictions of conservative politics, and the importance of feminism.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/author\/libby\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Novel Approach to Rape Prevention","description":"\"In response to claims that men are unable to restrain themselves from committing rape if they see women in skimpy clothing, members of law enforcement agencies around the country have called for men to blindfold themselves when they are in places where they might encounter a female wearing a tank top or a short skirt. \u201cFor years, we have been told that men don\u2019t understand how to respond to the sight of a woman wearing, say, gym clothes \u2013 that as far as they are concerned, if they can see the outline of her body, then that\u2019s an invitation to sex that they are simply unable to refuse,\u201d said one police chief. \u201cIf that\u2019s true, then we have no choice.\"\"","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/01\/a-novel-approach-to-rape-prevention.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Novel Approach to Rape Prevention","og_description":"\"In response to claims that men are unable to restrain themselves from committing rape if they see women in skimpy clothing, members of law enforcement agencies around the country have called for men to blindfold themselves when they are in places where they might encounter a female wearing a tank top or a short skirt. \u201cFor years, we have been told that men don\u2019t understand how to respond to the sight of a woman wearing, say, gym clothes \u2013 that as far as they are concerned, if they can see the outline of her body, then that\u2019s an invitation to sex that they are simply unable to refuse,\u201d said one police chief. \u201cIf that\u2019s true, then we have no choice.\"\"","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/01\/a-novel-approach-to-rape-prevention.html","og_site_name":"Love, Joy, Feminism","article_published_time":"2013-01-15T21:47:48+00:00","author":"Libby Anne","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Libby Anne","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/01\/a-novel-approach-to-rape-prevention.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/01\/a-novel-approach-to-rape-prevention.html","name":"A Novel Approach to Rape Prevention","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-01-15T21:47:48+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-15T21:47:48+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2"},"description":"\"In response to claims that men are unable to restrain themselves from committing rape if they see women in skimpy clothing, members of law enforcement agencies around the country have called for men to blindfold themselves when they are in places where they might encounter a female wearing a tank top or a short skirt. \u201cFor years, we have been told that men don\u2019t understand how to respond to the sight of a woman wearing, say, gym clothes \u2013 that as far as they are concerned, if they can see the outline of her body, then that\u2019s an invitation to sex that they are simply unable to refuse,\u201d said one police chief. \u201cIf that\u2019s true, then we have no choice.\"\"","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/01\/a-novel-approach-to-rape-prevention.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/01\/a-novel-approach-to-rape-prevention.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/01\/a-novel-approach-to-rape-prevention.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Novel Approach to Rape Prevention"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/","name":"Love, Joy, Feminism","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2","name":"Libby Anne","description":"Libby Anne grew up in a large evangelical homeschool family highly involved in the Christian Right. College turned her world upside down, and she is today an atheist, a feminist, and a progressive. She blogs about leaving religion, her experience with the Christian Patriarchy and Quiverfull movements, the detrimental effects of the \"purity culture,\" the contradictions of conservative politics, and the importance of feminism.","sameAs":["http:\/\/patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/author\/libby"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/845"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11993\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}