Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site mit-vax.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!harvard!think!mit-eddie!mit-vax!oaf From: oaf@mit-vax.UUCP (Oded Feingold) Newsgroups: net.women Subject: Anti-rape tactics - a conundrum Message-ID: <392@mit-vax.UUCP> Date: Tue, 16-Jul-85 14:34:38 EDT Article-I.D.: mit-vax.392 Posted: Tue Jul 16 14:34:38 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 20-Jul-85 04:30:46 EDT Reply-To: oaf@mit-vax.UUCP (Oded Feingold) Organization: MIT, Cambridge, MA Lines: 41 Summary: It's not what you offer, it's who you are I'll condense Mr. McColm's posting without editorial intent: > Many people have been suggesting many tactics of dealing > with the sudden attacks of rapists, and in amongst these > tactics, I've noticed what I regard as a fatal flaw... > > A rapist is an intelligent, planning, often meticulous human > with a desire to hurt and kill unrelated to his own > survival. The problem with standard tactics in dealing with > rapists is that the rapists hear of them, and plan > accordingly. > > This also brings up the point of men trying to help women > who are facing things like the long walk home at night. > ...The offer for help can be duplicated by a rapist... > [Hence] any method proposed by a man for alleviating rape is > suspect. > Eric McColm I'd like to take partial exception to that. Presumably, if some man is at a party, he's known to the hosts and others there. If he offers to accompany someone home (and others know that's what he's doing,) he's identifiable in case of untoward consequences. Also, if he misbehaves he's in deep shit with his peer group. That may diminish the chance of trouble. The same logic should apply to work and leisure activities, not just parties. So perhaps a partial answer is to choose people who are integrated into a social group (yours?) for your pool of escorts home. That doesn't address the political overtones of men walking women home to protect them. [I don't think I can address that.] Someone who knows more than I about rapists' integration in society might comment whether such a selection criterion has any merit. If integration in social organizations has no correlation with tendency to rape (especially a negative correlation,) then such a selection would have little to recommend it, except for later identification. -- Oded Feingold {decvax, harvard}!mitvax!oaf MIT AI Lab oaf%oz@mit-mc.ARPA 545 Tech Sq. 617-253-8598 work Cambridge, Mass. 02139 617-371-1796 home