Rape Culture in the United States Improperly blames Women for their Sexual Violation

Thanks. I'm going to try and take a new approach at debating and number our key points for organizational purposes before getting into the videos; 1. I can agree on this definition of rape culture. However you have to explain why you believe an investigation into what could have caused a crime to take place, need not be necessary in a court or any situation of the sort. I fail to see any media or court flat out blaming the woman (at least partially) for being raped. I've seen people say it could have possibly been avoided if certain precautions were taken, however nothing about it being fully or partially the victim's fault (yes, even in other scenarios, and I'll jump into that in my second point.) 2. This type of "blame" (it's taking all factors of the situation into consideration, something mandatory in any type of criminal investigation) is seen in other crimes. I'll give you a good example - In grade eleven, I was mugged by a couple guys when I got off school. My wallet was buttoned up safely in my back pocket. The police ended up being called and they paid me a visit at my home later that night. You know what one of the questions they asked me was? It was (word for word) "what were you wearing?" And you know what I didn't do? I didn't start throwing a hissy fit saying how dare you blame me, I didn't ask to be robbed! I answered with what I was wearing at the time. It's more than a reasonable question, considering a lot of gangs wear certain brands of clothing, and they could have mistaken me for being in a gang due to the type of clothes I was wearing. They didn't say "it's your fault you were mugged," they gave me ways to avoid future events such as this, including a list of "heaty" brands of clothing that attract negative attention, and who I should and shouldn't interact with, as well as different ways to present myself. I took all their information and advice in, and used it to avoid similar situations in the future. So why is it when it happens to a woman, it's all of a sudden victim blaming and anyone who asks a question is a part of a "rape culture"? 3. I like how you bring up mugging, however being robbed is not a part of "rape culture." Like I said before, nobody is blaming anyone. If I had my wallet on my shoulder while I was asleep in the middle of a field and someone walked by and took it, would it still be a crime? Absolutely. Would it still be punishable by law? Absolutely, someone took my personal property. People should not steal, just like they should not rape. However they do. And we have to accept this and take precautions to avoid horrible events like these. Is there a difference between a girl being forcibly raped in an alley while she's screaming for help, and a drunk girl going back to a guy's house and being flirty and all that but saying "no" before anything really sexual happens, but the guy keeps going anyway? Well, both is rape. Both can be punishable by law. Both can be severely traumatizing for the girl. However... in the second scenario, the girl could have done a lot to avoid the situation. That's the only difference. Just like I could have taken extra precautions to avoid being mugged, the girl could have taken extra precautions to avoid being raped. Rape is a horrible thing, but to say "teach men not to rape instead of women to avoid rape" is absolutely absurd. There are some sick people in this world who are just that - sick. We need to avoid them, men included, and to blatantly ignore the fact that sick people exist in order to fulfil your feminist utopia is just wrong. Advising people in general to take extra precautions to avoid bad situations is not blaming them - it's giving them advice. Sure, some people will be jerks about it, but that's far from the majority of people. And the people who do actually say it is completely the girls fault for "leading him on" or something are also the types of people who we should try to avoid. Not everyone thinks the same, and forcing everyone to try and think the same just won't end well. 4. You're cherry picking the idea of "victim blaming." A cop asking a woman what she was wearing when she was raped is the same as a cop asking a guy what he was wearing when he was mugged. It's simple criminal investigation procedures. Cops aren't "blaming" anyone. 5. Misogyny is the hatred of women [1]. What makes you think the media hates women, or really anyone hates women, based on a simple question that's basically required in any type of criminal investigation? 6. "There is a vocal minority that blames women..." Yes. There is also a vocal minority that blames men for everything. However this isn't such a minority anymore... [2] 7. Meanings and context of words change and evolve over time. For example, "literally" now means the exact opposite of "literally"... as well as what "literally" originally was [3]. If I'm playing Call of Duty and I 720 no scope wallbang some camping noob, and I say "wow I raped him," am I advocating rape? Hell no. Do I support misogyny? Hell no. Do I think actual rape is a joke and shouldn't be taken seriously? ...Hell no. Can what I say be offensive? ...Hell yes. However people say offensive stuff all the time. It's up to the person hearing it to take offense to it. I don't take offense to blatant racism because I don't feel a need to get upset over someone feeling the need to personally insult me over nothing, so I'm sure others can do the same when there is zero intent to offend. I can guarantee you that next to nobody uses the word "rape" in a game like Call of Duty, or figuratively or just wherever, actually has malicious intent and hates women. That's ridiculous. Let me fully respond to your videos next round, as I've run out of characters, hopefully that's okay. Conclusion No sensible person legitimately believes someone deserves to be raped. Nobody advocates rape, and the very few people who do are just that - very, very few. We cannot change sick people, so it's reasonable to avoid them. Thanks for a good start to the debate, looking forward to a great next round! [1] http://dictionary.reference.com... [2] http://www.womenagainstmen.com... [3] http://www.salon.com... [4] [5] http://www.jsonline.com...