ext_89655 ([identity profile] johnpalmer.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] firecat 2005-12-03 04:44 am (UTC)

Ref: rapist not like an ice patch...

An ice patch is something that can cause an accident, without malice. A woman walking in a bad part of town is not at risk of something "just happening" (like a motorist hitting a patch of black ice)... she's in danger of someone making a decision to rape her.

It's not saying "the victim is powerless". It's saying "rape doesn't just happen because a woman was careless. Rape happens because a rapist rapes her."

(NB: I use "man raping women" because it's the most common version of rape, not to deny other possibilities.)

As for the rest, I'll grant you, yes, there are people who can be nastily callous about any crime. But it doesn't approach the casual callousness of rape.

At the root, people will at least acknowledge the pain of victims of theft. People don't bitch about how *terrible* it would be to make false accusations of theft when it's certain that a theft occurred. Yes, people can be callous assholes about a lot of things. But more people are even more callous and even bigger assholes when it comes to ignoring the reality of rape.

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