not an invitation to RAPE ME

[nashvillebrook]

i posted this at DU a little while ago. i think there's some angles to this that might be of interest to RI.<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=957110&mesg_id=957110">www.democraticunderground..._id=957110</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://johnsoncity.blogspot.com/uploaded_images/rape-793800.jpg">johnsoncity.blogspot.com/...793800.jpg</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br><br>This is one ad in a series produced for the L.A. Commission Against Assault on Women. Lets take a moment to think about what this ad is saying, and honestly examine our attitudes regarding the Duke rape controversy.<br><br>This ad appeared in a 1997 issue of Lürzer's ARCHIVE -- a professional journal for advertising. I've used ARCHIVE as a creative tool for years, and every time I have flipped through this issue, I stop at this ad and think, "one day we will face this in the media and it's not going to be pretty."<br><br>That day has come.<br><br>There's five other concepts in the series, btw -- a homeless theme (this is not an invitation to rape me), a prostitute (this is not an invitation to rape me), a girl in a bathing suit (this is not an invitation to rape me), a phone number on a napkin (this is not an invitation to rape me), and a couple dancing. You get the picture. Don't make me scan them. <br><br>Since the indictments came down yesterday I've been pretty disappointed in the reaction and research skills of my DU colleagues. If screen names are any indication, the problem knows no gender bounds. We can't blame this on the boys. This is a very ambiguous controversy -- and one that pulls on every kind of heart string.<br><br>This issue is clouded by issues of race. Black accuser. White accused. Shades of Tawana Brawley. Don't laugh -- I've seen it said right here on DU. The controversy is clouded by our fascination with court cases. "Calling Judge Judy," might be clever forum repartee, but it minimizes the severity of the crime. Does Judge Judy try gang rape cases? I didn't think so. Some people are angry that Duke is "being dragged through the mud," and that "the whole lacrosse team has been convicted without a trial." This claim comes from the fact that the team has been reprimanded -- as if they were reprimanded for the rape. They were reprimanded for serial violations of code. <br><br>Without examining the merits of the case, we can examine the attitudes that polarizing progressives and democrats on the issue of violence against women. <br><br>Does it make a difference to you that the accuser is an exotic dancer? <br>Does it make a difference to you that she is black and the accused are white? How so?<br>Does it make a difference to you that she returned to finish the gig? Why might she have done that?<br>Do you think she has a motivation for reporting a crime? Or for not-reporting a crime?<br>Does it matter that she is economically less advantaged than the accused? Is she a gold-digger?<br>What about the DNA? Can there be a rape without a positive, one-to-one DNA match?<br>What about the power structure in Raleigh/Durham? How do the cards stack? Against accuser. Or accused?<br><br>How you answer these questions will partially unpack some of your beliefs about rape. It won't reveal all your beliefs, but it will start to crack the code. And remember... where there's absolute belief, there's little room for thought. <br><br>We don't have to "try this case" in the media -- but the media is EXACTLY where we look for a REFLECTION of ourselves. What are you seeing in the mirror?<br><br> <p></p><i></i>

[Hugh Manatee Wins]

I'm furious that ABC ran an article about sex groupies on campuses called "lacrosstitutes."<br><br>A friend of a friend was just drugged and date raped in LA by a man she actually wanted to go out with.<br><br>He took her to his mansion, made a purple drink, and the next thing she remembers is waking up at home with bruises all over her.<br><br>Even going to his place for a date is not an invitation to rape her.<br>But this rich asshole is apparently the kind of man who doesn't want things given to him that he can just take.<br><br>Seems this drugging tactic is pretty damn common. <p></p><i></i>

[nashvillebrook]

i never did the frat party thing in college unless i was there with my boyfriend's band -- but i know women who did. and i've heard some pretty awful stories involving 'drugging' of all kinds. <br><br>i don't want to paint all fraternal orgs with the same brush. surely, men can gather and be perfect gentlemen. <br><br>but this case isn't a typical frat party gone outta bounds. this is large-scale decadence in the fullest meaning of the word. <br><br>i haven't explored this on DU -- but, i think you can start talking about all sorts of cultural decadence -- the Caligula kind -- from this controversy. one of the men is also charged with an assault in DC that has been described as gay-bashing. <br><br>lets connect some dots. <p></p><i></i>

[StarmanSkye]

"Seems this drugging tactic is pretty damn common."<br><br>Man, I FLIPPED me when I saw that above. I immediately thought about the economic and political balance-of-power (such as it is) in this country (and elsewhere, likely), which is based on a domestic version of neo-colonial class-war exploitation, maintained by perks and priveleges extended to the status quo and the power elites in the political, economic, and military spheres. We've had tantalizing glimpses of the interface of sexual oppression, intimidation, blackmail and manipulation with the consolidation and practice of power. It would seem that the circumstances of date-rape may well be one tactic of blackmail OR bribery coercion used to compell degrees of cover-up or complicity by reluctant participants with all sorts of unofficial, covert criminal actions by the PTB. <br><br>I can't go farther than that right now, and it may not even go very far, but just something about how date-rape as a 'secret', difficult-to-prove crime (probabaly impossible when there's enormous economic disparity between perp and victim) is of a 'kind' with numerous forms of abuse of power, arrogance, contempt and violation of human/civil rights that are seen in the rightwing neocon-artist political and military fields -- and esp. considering that political control is all about the myth of male dominance (thanks Hugh!). Not sure what to make of that tho, if anything...<br><br>Starman <p></p><i></i>

[CyberChrist]

Dress like a slut, <br><br>Dance like a slut, <br><br>Smell like a slut, <br><br>Talk like a slut, <br><br>and you'll be treated as a slut.<br><br>It doesn't condone the acts of men who think that this is ok, but it's a two-way street. Women can't go around dressed like Paris Hilton skank-clones and not expect men to be sexually aroused and do things that they normally wouldn't do. And men can't go around and letting their hormones do the thinking.<br><br>A lot of these young guys probably watch a good bit of porn and frankly most modern porn is very mysogynist and the women are treated as little more than semen recepticles. So while it's disgusting to see this kind of behavior and these kind of stories, I can't say I am exactly surprised. Modern Western men have no clue as to what self-control is and modern Western women have no idea as to what modesty is all about. <p>--<br>CyberChrist<br>http://www.hackerjournal.org<br>My brain is hung like a horse.</p><i></i>

[blanc]

cyberchr what is the masculine equivalent of the term "slut"? <p></p><i></i>

[Project Willow]

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>It doesn't condone the acts of men who think that this is ok, but it's a two-way street. Women can't go around dressed like Paris Hilton skank-clones and not expect men to be sexually aroused and do things that they normally wouldn't do. And men can't go around and letting their hormones do the thinking.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>Yeah, I got to bulloney shite on that one. I thought we did away with those kinds of attitudes back in the 70's. "She made me do it" is not either a defence or an explanation, it's blaming the victim. Sexual arousal is one thing, you can be aroused and still be respectful. Boundary violations, insulting, degrading, abusive behavior and rape are in another catagory. Rape is about power and violence. If a man becomes abusive in the presense of a sexually attractive female, that's his problem and his responsibility.<br><br>It's outrageous actually, men dehumanizingly objectify us and then complain if we attempt to use that objectification to gain some small measure of power for ourselves. <br> <p></p><i></i>

[antiaristo]

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="font-size:small;">Sex cues ruin men's ability to make decisions</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--> <br><br>Ian Sample, science correspondent<br>Wednesday April 19, 2006<br>The Guardian <br><br><br>A glimpse of an alluring woman is all it takes to ruin a man's decision-making skills and the more testosterone coursing through his veins, the worse the problem gets, researchers claim today.<br><br>The finding is unwelcome confirmation that those most likely to be in a position of power are most susceptible to the subtle influences of the opposite sex.<br><br>Bram van den Bergh and Siegfried Dewitte at the University of Leuven in Belgium set 44 student volunteers aged 18 to 28 a financial game to test how they reacted to fair play. The game required the students to split into pairs and before half of the games, one of each pair was shown images of a sexy woman or asked to rate how much they liked a variety of lingerie.<br><br>The results showed that men exposed to what the researchers call "sexual cues" accepted unfair play far more than men who were not. The researchers later ranked the men according to their testosterone levels and found that the more testosterone a man had the worse he fared in the tests, they report in the journal, Proceedings of the Royal Society B.<br>"We all think we are rational beings, but our research suggests ... that people with high testosterone levels are very vulnerable to sexual cues. If there are no cues around, they behave normally, but if they see sexual images they become impulsive," said Dr Dewitte. "It's a tendency, but these people are not powerless to fight it. Hormone levels are one thing, but we can learn to deal with it."<br><br>Testosterone levels were gauged by measuring the ratio of the index finger to the ring finger. A low value, suggesting a ring finger longer than the index finger, is a result of high testosterone and is found more commonly in men than women.<br><br>The researchers are conducting tests to search for a similar effect in women, but have so far failed to find a visual stimulus that alters their decision-making behaviour.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1756387,00.html">www.guardian.co.uk/uk_new...87,00.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <p></p><i></i>

[Hugh Manatee Wins]

Just a hypothesis here on my part-<br>Would this explain why male sexuality is so much more visual than women's?<br><br>Question:<br>Since evolution seems to have specialized the genders for a division of labor regarding survival of the species, men being larger and more violent as defenders against predators and women being smaller and nurturing as childbearers, would it follow that <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>since 'friend or foe' is determined visually, this same hypersensitive visual cueing</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> in men is also at play in sensing a potential mate?<br><br>Seems to me this is why less socially evolved men (fearful and controlling) are shaken by the 'power' women have over them like kryptonite to their Superman fantasies. <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=hughmanateewins>Hugh Manatee Wins</A> at: 4/19/06 6:06 pm<br></i>

[Chiaroscuro]

<br>It doesn't condone the acts of men who think that this is ok, but it's a two-way street. Women can't go around dressed like Paris Hilton skank-clones and not expect men to be sexually aroused and do things that they normally wouldn't do. And men can't go around and letting their hormones do the thinking.

<br><br>Nonsense. IF men lost control when sexually aroused strip clubs could not afford to operate unless the women were behind unbreakable glass while the customers humped the furnature like unneutered dogs hump anything that holds still long enough.<br><br>Sexual arousal is involuntary. The sex act itself is voluntary. If the the mere sight of a woman's body not covered by a burka or nun's habit it is time to make a date with the hand. The victorians covered everything up but it did not stop sexual violence. Some Islamic countries cover women with burkas yet there is still rape.<br><br><br>

A lot of these young guys probably watch a good bit of porn and frankly most modern porn is very mysogynist and the women are treated as little more than semen recepticles. So while it's disgusting to see this kind of behavior and these kind of stories, I can't say I am exactly surprised. Modern Western men have no clue as to what self-control is and modern Western women have no idea as to what modesty is all about.

<br><br>Again nonsense. Sexual violence has existed in every society from ancient times up today whether there was what we now call modesty or not.<br><br>Media does influence but rape existed before porn. It exists where women are covered from head to toe and where feathers in the hair are full dress.<br><br>Again relief exists when a consenting partner isn't handy so "he had to do it" is a lie.<br><br>Again since men don't leap upon women like unneutered dogs any handy object when the urge strikes shows there is control involved. How many times has men attacked Paris Hilton in public? Could it be the fear of being jailed for a public attack suddenly inspires self control or is it bodyguards that would squash the man like an ant? <p></p><i></i>

[anotherdrew]

Q: "what is the masculine equivalent of the term "slut"?"<br><br>A: man <p></p><i></i>

[blanc]

not sure I understand that another drew dress like a man and you'll be treated like one doesn't usually mean if you wear a suit you can expect to be violently sexually assaulted<br><br>many many derogatory terms for women, gross shortage of equivalents for men. why? must mean women are jolly bad in so many different (and contradictory)ways and men are just ok? <p></p><i></i>

[Col Quisp]

Your comments are beyond belief. If I didn't know better I'd say you were a troll. Maybe you are, come to think of it. <br><br>Rape is not about sex at all. It's about control and power. Dressing "like a slut" whatever that means doesn't cause rape. So, in your book, women are not allowed to express their sexuality lest they be deemed "asking for it?" <br><br>I spit upon you.<br> <p></p><i></i>

[anotherdrew]

there are plenty of things to call men: "hey limp dick", "that guy's a one-baller", "Sissy", "wimp", etc. Then there's all the gay-related things, "fag", etc... I'm barely even scraping the top of the iceberg,<br>===<br>anyway my post above was just a joke, interpreting the word slut as meaning "female who wants a lot of sex" the term for such a male would be: a man.<br>===<br>I know you're out there, I can hear you typing... anyway...<br>===<br>Still, the contruction: male-slut is being used more and more frequently. The Lacrostitutes are chasing the male-sluts on the team for instance. Better to behave like bonobo's than the other chimps I supose.<br>===<br>slut isn't always derogatory anyway, just like nigga has it's use in some circles, slut does too. It's all about the intention of the person throwing the word out. The word itself is just an empty sign, the interaction and situation fills it with whatever meaning. That being said the negative connotation is surely the most common. <p></p><i></i>

[anotherdrew]

quisp, yes, surely cybrcrst must be pilloried for such a Moslem attitude. Still, total visual arousal and it's concomitant brain-shutdown shouldn't lead to more than brief staring or a hopefully out-of-earshot "oh my god" comment to a friend nearby. <p></p><i></i>