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From: ciaraldi@rochester.UUCP (Mike Ciaraldi)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: Re: Re: violence
Message-ID: <2484@rochester.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 23-Oct-84 23:14:26 EDT
Article-I.D.: rocheste.2484
Posted: Tue Oct 23 23:14:26 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 26-Oct-84 06:47:10 EDT
References: <328@mako.UUCP> <597@gloria.UUCP>
Organization: U. of Rochester, CS Dept.
Lines: 66

> 
> > For those of you who believe that the sole motive for all rape is violence:
> > 
> > Do you honestly believe that there are no men in the world that are so
> > desperate for sex that they would, and do, force a woman into unwilling
> > sexual intercourse?
> 
> This is an extreme position.  You will find many who believe that the
> _dominant_ motivation for _most_ rapes is violence.  What does it mean
> to be "desperate for sex," except that one wants to resort to violence
> to correct what one believes to be a denial of a right?


I think you're missing the point.  It is one thing to
say "My family was starving, so I had to resort to violence
in order to steal food for them", in which case your
desperation for food (a real need) drives you to overcome your
aversion to violence.

It is another thing to say, "My desire for a new Porsche was
so strong, I had to resort to violence to steal one",
in which you are justifying violence because of desire for
a luxury.

And it is yet another thing to say, "I like beating people up,
so I do it, and whatever things I happen to acquire along the
way are just fringe benefits."

Whahehter you buy any of these arguments or not, it is still
three different arguments.


On the original topic:
If there are men "desperate enough for sex" that they will
1) pay a prostitute for it
2) marry someone they don't really love
3) pick up random women in singles bars
or any of the other ways of having sexual contact without 
forming a long-term loving relationship  (the way most men
seem to prefer it, although if tyehey find someone through
1), 2), or 3), that's their business)
then I would assueme that there are men desperate
enough to have sex with a woman by force.
Some might do it because they feel they have a "right" to
it, some might just claim to feel that way, and
some might know it's wrong but do it anyway.


As a further continuation, there are occasional drives
to castrate rapists.  If rape is a crime motivated by
violence rather than sexual desire, what good will this
do?  A man can still get an erection without testicles,
so it wouldn't prevent him from raping again.  Since
he did it supposedly not because of his sexual desire,
the castration won't reduce his motivation.
If castration reduces his tendency toward violence, then we
might as well advocate castrating all violent criminals.
Now that's a thought, just not one I care to dwell on
for long!


As always, comments welcome.

Mike Ciaraldi
ciaraldi@rochester
seismo!rochester!ciaraldi