Rape Threats and Free Speech

more idiotic and sad/maddening than funny, but jjmaxx sure nailed it!

 

Not sure what you are asking? Do they let people impersonate them via FaceBook?

Perhaps if you explained the issue more fully to me, I'd be happy to ask him.

 

Ask him what they call it when someone gets hold of their phone for example and posts a status on FB using their log on - this is almost always something the person wouldn't say. So if the account owner is really into cycling, it might be something like 'Bob is selling up his bikes because he's realised cycling is an idiotic sport and he prefers knitting.'

Of course, some groups will post pretty offensive things, but even something as inoffensive as I've used as an example is known generically as 'fraping' - a contraction of 'Facebook rape.'

That's what I mean by rape culture being normalised even in social circles who are horrified by the idea. It has been normalised to such an extent it is now used to refer to anything which is a violation. Even though using it in that context means that inevitably people start to diminish the seriousness of rape as a concept, even though I suspect that's a subconscious thing for the most part.

 

It is very sad. Studies show that movies and television portray women in a sexual fashion more than an intelligent or authorative one. It's not even close, either. Women are relegated to objects of desire or a conquest for men.

I know there are certain people in this thread that think that a constant barrage of 'women-as-objects' entertainment isn't producing negative results in our youth. How anyone, especially a woman can think this, is truly beyond me.

The movies, music and the porn-laden internet is flooding our young men with images of female subservience. It's a complicated problem that involves parents as well as society as whole. Eventually people, especially men, will need to stand up for women and say enough is enough.

The question isn't does the over-sexualization of our culture affect the treatment of women, becuase we know it does. The question is how long will we let it go on before we stop it.

 

Who would threaten to rape someone? If you going to rape someone it would be better (not actually a good thing at all) to find the opportune time to do it & then do it. If you threat, I am pretty sure you just locked the door shut for yourself.

 

And who is it in this thread you think believes this? Maybe you should ask them if your assumption is correct. Then you might want to consider if "ten-year-olds watching porn and our six-year-olds listening to Macklemore" says the same thing as "constant barrage of 'women-as-objects' entertainment".

Macklemoore? Seriously? That's the example you think of as objectifying women? Wow!

A critical analysis of Macklemore

How is supporting homosexuality the same as objectifying women?




So, with that off topic crap and mischaracterization of what people have posted here out of the way, let's get back to the thread.

I am much more concerned about the over-sexualizing marketing to those 10 yr olds than I am worried they are sneaking peeks at porn on their IPads.

And you can find many examples in other forums of my raging against the image of the large breasted nurse in the skimpy outfit for the damage it does to the professional image of nurses that should be elicited when one thinks of a nurse. When you talk about these particular issues, I'm in the choir.

 

I feel like anyone who thinks that media is not part of culture does not understand culture.
I feel like anyone who thinks culture cannot affect them does not understand psychology.
I feel like people who think that censoring is never effective has not seen the studies.

When cigarette ads were banned from television, cigarette sales took a giant hit. When women were seen on TV wearing pants instead of dresses, pants sales to women took off. When we refused to talk about gays, we never discussed gay marriage with anything but disgust. When we started to show blacks being brutally attacked on TV news, the civil rights movement sped up.

The question is not whether media affects us, the question is what we are willing to censor. Is outright racism worth censoring? What about subtle racism? What about blacks who are racists to other blacks? How do you censor shades of gray?

Often I feel like anti-censors are on just as much of a high horse as the pro-censors. Ideology and practicality cannot be completely separated.

 

It's called a subset. Easily accessible porn and Macklemore are a part of the over-sexualization culture in our society.

How should we rate whether an artist creates something positive we want our children to emulate? Well, since he is a singer/rapper, we must judge him based on his lyrics. His most popular song 'Thrift Shop' contains more obscenities than I can post here as well as a reference to artist R. Kelly, who is infamous for urinating on women and was on trial for statuatory rape. But you seem to think he's pro-women and doesn't objectify them at all. Well how about another song on his best-selling album?

Seriously? Look, I have no problem with adults listening to anything they want, but our children should not be exposed to this kind of stuff. I understand Macklemore is not THE problem, but he is a prime example of the kind of garbage our youth is listening to. Add to that prime-time television, movies and video games you have a overwhelming culture of sex and violence, which invariably leads to an increased risk of sexual violence.

So a large-breasted woman on a beer commercial is more worrisome than a child watching hard core pornography?

So if the image hurts your profession, you are against it but if it hurt young girls, who have to deal with insecurities and shame, you think it's okay?

 

That's the thing: people who commit rape as well as people who threaten women with rape don't understand "normal" logic in this respect. I knew a couple when I was a teenager and when they were breaking up (she wanted to break up, he didn't), the guy kept harassing the girl (mostly phone calls, text messages, and e-mails) and eventually threatened her with violence, some of it sexual in nature. Didn't do him or her any good, I can tell you that. Luckily he never realized those threats.

 

The effectiveness of it is a secondary issue to me. I'm generally against censorship of materials for adults because I favor free expression and feel it should be highly valued, even if there are negatives associated with some of it.

 

I think that as long as a certain serious crime is rampant in the society (such as rape is) care should be taken with allowing content that will actively encourage that crime. Simply, our species isn't yet evolved enough for rape jokes. Once rape becomes properly and consistently punishable in such a way to actually vastly diminish its incidence, we can learn to see the funny side of it. Until then, the opportunity for raising awareness should come first.

 

Or, conversely, rape will be so commonplace the stigma will diminish

 

[MENTION=53984]Garball[/MENTION]: No, rape of women was commonplace throughout history (in war, it could happen to men too) and many thousands of people lost their lives, or spent their lives, forcing the society to stop the torture.

It is this very flippant attitude towards another human being, who is ripped in half to never feel whole again, a feeling as bad as murder because it takes your entire life away in an instant, that I fear is the consequence of the explosion of violence and pornography in our society.

People are content with the most common serious crime being a taboo when it is discussed from the point of view of the victim, and a joke and masturbation material when viewed from the point of view of the perpetrator. That's a crystal clear message that the only stigma that exists attached to rape, is towards the victim.

Don't you think it's strange that nobody stated in this (or any other similar thread) their own experience with being sexually assaulted? It doesn't have to be only full on rape, serious harassment at work or school or even near-rape experiences are just as traumatising (psychologically speaking) and even more commonplace. Considering statistics, there should be at least 3 such personal stories here. And yet, you'll never hear them. Did you ever ask yourself why that is?

 

There's actually a rape thread in the research section -- lots of harrowing stories there. I've noticed that when a person is here anonymously (no pic, no blog, etc.), it's easier to come forward with personal stories like that. But when one is here not so anonymously, sharing such stories with strangers feels like a bad idea, oversharing. Indeed, one doesn't want to be stigmatized.

 

Besides, threads like these are often viewed (or started!) by drooling predators. No need to feed their fantasies.

 

[MENTION=53403]KaTrian[/MENTION]: Thank you, I must have missed that thread. But I am glad that it's there

[MENTION=1349]Cogito[/MENTION]: Thank you for proving my point. Victim is always silenced, for one reason or another, and when reasons run out, then the victim needs to be silent so that someone doesn't get the kicks off of their story. Or so that others don't feel depressed or even traumatised by listening. Whatever the reason, the expectation is silence. It's logical on the surface, but in reality, it only perpetuates the taboo, which hurts the survivors most.

This topic is like any other, and yet, it's the victim (or a survivor) point of view that is almost universally missing.

 

does anyone else find it significant that humans are the only animal that commits rape, or indulges in sexual behavior for any reason other than procreation?

and that in all other dual-gendered species the female is the one to initiate sexual congress, either by releasing pheremones, or exhibiting some type of behavior that sends a clear signal to the males that she's 'in the market' for a partner?

food for thought...

 

Is that the case? I thought both of those things were found among some ape populations as well. It has been a few years, but we did a unit on this in an anthropology class in college, and the instructor brought in some literature on it, though I can't remember where she got the material at this point.

 

@maia: Actually, rape is very common in certain types of apes. Orangutan females live solitary lives, just with their offspring, and are frequently raped by unflanged males. I've been taught by a professor of anthropology that female orangutans developed an evolutionary 'cure' for this - they can only conceive if they orgasm, and they only orgasm if the mating is consensual. Also, they sometimes seek protection of flanged males, from the rape gangs of the more immature apes.

As far as sex for pleasure, loads of animals do it for pleasure, most notably chimps and bonobos, who have extended periods of sexual experimentation and promiscuity prior to starting to have offspring. They pleasure themselves and others, indulge in oral sex and same-sex experimentation, group sex etc. Also, many animals, especially cats, lions etc will kill babies to force the females to begin oestrus again. So. I'm sorry to say, what we humans are going through, is not an exception in the animal world

 

[MENTION=35110]jazzabel[/MENTION] you may find this interesting: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0674033248/?tag=postedlinks04-20

 

Thank you for recommendation [MENTION=18889]Steerpike[/MENTION]. I just bought it on amazon, it looks like a very interesting book.

 

It does look interesting. I didn't notice the price the first time around. Yikes!

 

Here is an article regarding homosexual behavior in the animal kingdom. If I recall correctly, one documentary I saw as a kid mentioned that, e.g. some spotted hyena females have sex among each other just for pleasure, so it's definitely not a purely human trait. It was also said that female hyenas establish patterns of dominance by essentially raping the weaker females.

That being said, while animals too have sex for pleasure as well as practice rape, I'd say that one of the differences between us and them is the level of malice involved; quite a few human sexual predators have given new meaning to the word 'cruelty,' while animals are usually driven by baser instincts/urges/motivations.

 

Rape in the animal kingdom is more common than you'd think. Such behavior has been observed in birds, insects, reptiles, marine mammals, and fish. In fact, it can be argued that rape is an evolutionary phenomenon.

 

I'm pretty sure Bonobos have sex for bonding rather than only for procreation. And I'm not sure male lions killing cubs so the female comes into heat is exactly the lioness' sex by choice but I wouldn't want to anthropomorphize too much about that relationship.

And I have no idea where to put necrophiliac frogs in this herirarchy.


And Thirdwind's post reminds me of that fish species that has the macho male and the sneaky little male that use different strategies to get their sperm into the female. Not sure who is the rapist in that scenario.