Feminist Perspectives On Rape

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The topic of rape often raises many questions about its origins and reasons. Though I agree that rape, throughout evolution, could have been a form of reproductive behaviour, like “Why Men Rape” (HR1) suggests, it was not the only use of it. I believe that rape has turned into a systematic, learned behaviour in the modern world. A generic answer to the question of why individuals do certain things, is simply that they are able to. There is little fear of retribution because terrible acts such as rape and assault are controversial and stigmatized. In our world, women are often blamed for their experience of rape. They are being told not to dress or act in certain ways in order to avoid provoking men. In some cultures women are seen as a their…show more content…
The primary reason for rape is not necessarily reproductive, therefore I think that saying it is an evolved form of reproductive behaviour is wrong. As the “Feminist Perspectives on Rape” (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-rape/#WarRapGenRap) article mentioned, there is war rape, where civilians are being raped - soldiers asserting their dominance, showing power, using it as a weapon of war or claiming a prize for military victory. Another type of rape is genocide…show more content…
For example, it is not too uncommon for a mother to tell her daughter not to dress a certain way because it is wrong, “slutty”, promiscuous, or simply not “lady-like”. When women criticize each other, allowing themselves to rate how appropriate or inappropriate they dress, they are giving men the “OK” to do the same. How can we expect men to treat women differently, despite the way they dress or act, if women do the same amongst each other? We cannot. More people are becoming aware of this issue and try to fight social stigmas. The article in The Star about the Toronto “SlutWalk” (http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2011/04/03/sluts_march_against_sexual_assault_stereotypes.html) shows the fight against the norm in our society, where we teach girls and women how to avoid rape, rather than teaching boys and men not to

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