[quote]Mr. Walkway wrote:
[quote]SmilingPolitely wrote:
Then obviously, Orion, you and I will never be able to have a dialog about this. It’s not the end of the world. In fact, I would never be able to have a dialog about this with extreme, man-hating feminists who are always looking to lay blame on the man; because it is too damn fun.
Where you see 45% of those who report rape as proof that half of the women are lying. I see 45% as proof that the only women who come forward are either those who have been so grossly assaulted that they are willing to fight the social stigma and all of the negative comments or those women who are using it for personal gain and the vast middle ground who stays silent because the two extremes are too overwhelming to deal with.
In case you missed my original point, false accusations hurt everyone from the accused to future victims who feel the pressure to keep silent lest they be lumped in with the same scum who have cried wolf time and time again. What I find disturbing is some men’s inability to recognize that there are those out there who will force themselves on women and shame them into staying silent. One faction exists because of the other so why does the middle keep fighting each other?[/quote]
why do real victims keep quiet? do they really believe that their stories won’t be taken seriously?
we’ve already established that a woman can put a man in prison for rape (when no rape transpired) without the slightest shred of evidence…
so why do some women think no one will believe them?[/quote]
Yes.
You are quite wrong about how women are believed.
If they were, do you think Bill Cosby would still be doing comedy? Think about that for a moment. Lying or not you have a very clear example of women who are claiming to be raped and accused is still walking free. I had a conversation with a few guys today and they all believed that a girl/woman who takes pills from some guy are basically asking for sex. So if that happens and you claim rape, clearly you were not raped. Now you tell me, if you are a woman who does something dumb, like takes candy from stranger and wind up getting raped(if it fits your definition of rape!), are you going to call the cops? Are you even going to tell anyone?
Women don’t report it because 1) they aren’t going to be believed 2) they’re not sure if what happened to them was technically rape because of some stupid social contract (like being a cock tease or getting a free meal or taking the free pudding pop) 3) because they were doing something wrong too and are ashamed 4) because they did something stupid and are ashamed 4) because they are in a relationship and feel like they’ve cheated 5) because they somehow caused it and they are ashamed 6) because they don’t want to be a rape victim so they pretend it was all fine–until some day in the future it happens to someone else and they are overwhelmed with guilt because they never said anything 7) because their best friends boyfriend/husband/brother/father did it (or insert any family member) 8) because they knew better, their gut told them something dumb they were about to do was trouble and they did it anyway (and again are ashamed) 9) you really can’t grasp how much burden is placed on a woman to make sure she DOESN’T get raped
Plus any number of other reasons. Remember, most rapes are acquaintance rapes. Which means they are probably in the middle of a lot of drama. And which means the victim probably played a part in putting herself in a bad spot. And which means many rapes probably aren’t even acknowledged by many of you as rape because of your own bullshit problems, which I won’t even start on :P. Why on earth would someone in your life come forward to say something very painful and awful happened to them for you turn around and call her a liar (and a whore!) These are not GOOD reasons to not report a rape, but they are compelling ones to a victim.
As for women who come out later, that has a lot to do with the guilt of seeing it happen to others that might have been stopped if you didn’t hide the truth or go into deep denial.
Here’s an interesting tidbit I learned in college. Most men in prison for rape say they are innocent. That’s not so interesting. What is interesting is that they don’t deny what they did, but they only deny the thing they did was actually rape. But by legal definitions, and why they are in prison, it is rape.
When you get right down to it, there are probably a lot of rape problems that come down to bad communication. I am confident there are cases of rape that fit the legal definition of rape and that I agree are rape that many of you in this thread would probably dismiss as not rape. Not saying you would actually do it, but you wouldn’t consider ‘real rape.’
Just so you know, I have no intention of debating these things with you. If you believe what I’m saying, fine. If not, I don’t care to force you. Also, apologies if you think I’m lumping all of you in with a certain mindset, because I don’t really think you’re all victim blaming slut shamers
(but if you’re not I know you know of people who are, and that’s not just men). It’s just to make a point and statements with 15 disclaimers to not offend every individual are just lame.