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From: sunny@sun.uucp (Ms. Sunny Kirsten)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: Why men worry about being falsely accused
Message-ID: <2282@sun.uucp>
Date: Fri, 7-Jun-85 05:31:11 EDT
Article-I.D.: sun.2282
Posted: Fri Jun  7 05:31:11 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 9-Jun-85 02:21:25 EDT
References: <809@mtgzz.UUCP>
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Lines: 46

> I agree, rape is a crime of violence, regardless of motive.
> However, many people are extremely angry about rape as an issue
> and an event. Angry people call for extreme measures - long sentances,
> the death penalty, castration, etc. Angry people lash out in
> a broad sweep at all kinds of supposed "causes" of rape, including
> pornography. Finally, angry people call for ways to make rape convictions
> easier, to ease off on the victim, to allow the evidence to be
> weaker for a conviction.

It is not uncommon for the psychological *cause* of rape to be anger.
The rapist is *actually* angry at some woman in his past (probably mom),
and takes it out on a random passerby, or one who looks like her.
It is unreasonable to expect a raped woman to not be angry at the anger
dumped unjustifiably on her by some man who didn't have the balls to
dump it where it belonged:  on (probably) mom.

Men don't grow up with enough disrespect for women in general to commit
rape, in a vacuum you know.  There have to be reasons for his disrespect.

1)	Mom
2)	Society
	A)	Peers (other men)
	B)	others (   women)

By the time he rapes, it's pretty late to fix his relationship with mom,
if that was the cause, and is a long slow psychotheraputic process not
often available to your average incarcerated rapist (may we offload
discussions of incarceration vs rehabilitation into net.politics.theory?)

I believe other postings have indicated that there is sufficient societal
reinforcement of the worthlessness of women on the whole that it doesn't
take much peer exposure for a man with any tendencies to disrespect mom
to fall over the brink into disrespect for women in general, and thence
into disrespect of any given example thereof, and thence into rape.

But what do I know?  having neither raped nor been raped?

I still say patriarchy is the problem.

And, no, matriarchy is not the solution.

Why was it ERA didn't pass?

				Sunny
-- 
{ucbvax,decvax,ihnp4}!sun!sunny (Ms. Sunny Kirsten)