From: guncer@enuxha.eas.asu.edu (Selim E. Guncer )
Subject: Re: Words Feminists find Demeaning!
Organization: Arizona State University
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 06:32:47 GMT


In article <1992Jul30.035909.26809@ucunix.san.uc.edu>, minhaszt@ucunix.san.uc.edu (Zafar T Minhas) writes:
> In article <1992Jul29.160237.5820@fmg.bt.co.uk> ghbr@fmg.bt.co.uk (Hossein Bagherzadeh Rafsanjani) writes:
> >In article <1992Jul28.081051.1618@cco.caltech.edu> bes@cco.caltech.edu (Behnam Sadeghi) writes:
> >
> >> Let's see.... in the "fundamentalist" (whatever that word means) country 
> >> of Iran, you won't find 1/3 of women being sexually assaulted, as is the 
> >> case in the U.S.  
> >
> >How do _you_ know?  And why these millions of sexually assaulted women are not
> >applying en masse for immigration to Iran (or other "Islamic" countries) in
> >order to live in "safe" environments over there, I wonder.
> >
> >-hossein
> 
> hossein man, there is no logical connection between getting raped and going to
> iran, so your point is rather moot (i know you were being sarcastic). but
> hey what percentage of the women who get raped actually try do get justice?
> an even more poignant question to ask would be what percentage of women change
> there lifestyle as a result of being raped? i am not talking about carrying
> a mace can or anything like that i am talking taking real preventive measures

Women have to change their lifestyle in order not to be raped?? Just what are 
these "women" are you talking about? "Rape" is NOT the result of the woman's
(or victim's) actions but of the rapist.

You are suggesting that a woman, because of her appearance or social 
behaviour, invites the rapist.  A woman wearing a bikini or a black sheet,
has the same probability of being raped if she happens to be at the wrong 
place, wrong time.

> in order so that such a thing does not happen again? in iran and other muslim 
> countries, there is no denying that rape occurs but there is no way that even
> close to 1/3 of the women get raped, i would not even say 1/5 of them do, that
> is because the cultures of the muslim coutnries (and many other asian and 
> african non-muslim countries) have created a way of thinking that tries to
> prevent the situation from happening in the first place.

I strongly disagree with the above statement. There is no indication that
the number of rapes in Muslim countries is substantially lower than
the western counterparts. One should consider that the mentality
of the rape victim being responsible (as seen above) is widespread and is 
the leading cause why rapes are not reported to the police. One can routinely 
encounter news where the father/husband of a female rape victim beats or
murders his daughter/wife for bringing shame to his family.  However, this 
is not solely a characteristic of Islamic societies, but of patriarchial 
societies. The concept of "virginity" is so fanatically abused that
the father is more interested in his daughter's vaginal tissue than
her being beaten and raped (What a shame (!) for the father who can not
hang the blood stained bedsheet of his daughter in the street, the morning 
after her wedding.. ).

Another point to think about is this. The object of rape is not in most
cases sexual satisfaction, but humiliation of the woman. This is already 
by far achieved in patriarchial systems so sick minds do not have to
resort to abusing female physical weakness to satisy themselves (a plus
for patriarchy in preventing rape :-)).

> 
> sincerely
> 
> zafar
> 
> ps are you in any way related to that hashemi guy?


Selim Guncer

--
Selim E. Guncer               | Jaca negra, luna grande,
CSSER-ASU                     | y aceitunas en mi alforja.
(602)-965-4096                | Aunque sepa los caminos
guncer@enuxha.eas.asu.edu     | yo nunca llegare a Cordoba.. (FGL)
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