From: bobb@vice.ICO.TEK.COM (Bob Beauchaine)
Newsgroups: alt.atheism
Subject: Re: Words Feminists find Demeaning!
Date: 30 Jul 92 19:51:35 GMT
Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton,  OR.

In article <1992Jul30.153440.21083@cco.caltech.edu> bes@cco.caltech.edu (Behnam Sadeghi) writes:
>In article <zlsiida.1087@fs1.mcc.ac.uk> zlsiida@fs1.mcc.ac.uk (dave budd) writes:
>
>Of course, there is rape in Muslim countries.  No body could reasonably
>think otherwise.  In addition to rape, you may add other crimes such
>as robbery, murder, financial embezzlement, etc.   But the question is
>not the existence of a certain crime, but the level of prevalence.
>
>As for the figure of 1/3 of women being sexually assualted, this is FBI
>statistics.  I must admit I suspected this figure to be too high as well.
>However, a survey published in LA Times indicated that this figure is
>probably under-estimated.
>
  I supspect that the figure of 1/3 includes a broad spectrum of
  crimes referred to under the umbrella of rape.  This would
  include:

    * Forcible rape by a stranger
    * Incest
    * Date rape 
    * Spousal rape

  Most people automatically think of the first when they hear the
  word rape.  The last two weren't even considered rape in the US
  until relatively recently.  "Date rape" can even be considered
  rape when the woman agrees to sex if she feels she was coerced
  into acceptance.

>You say:  "I claim we just don't hear about [rape in Islamic countries.]"
>I don't know about other Muslim countries, but in Iran instances of rape
>are reported in the media.  And women who accuse somebody of rape don't
>end up in jail as you seem to have heard [This doesn't mean that the person 
>who is accused automatically ends up in jail either].

  But of the four categories I listed above (as well as others I
  most certainly missed), which are classified as rape in Muslim
  countries?  Can a man rape his wife in Iran, for instance?

>I have been mugged twice in the U.S., once by a White man and the other
>time by two Hispanic men.  But I don't think I can make any logical
>inference from this about the incidence of mugging in terms of the
>race of the offenders.  To borrow a phrase from your first paragraph, 
>this would amount to "extrapolation from small samples."    Since you
>consider such extrapolation as invalid when applied to Westerners, you
>must refrain from arriving at conclusions about Muslims based on such
>extrapolations, espcially when the size of the sample is just one person.
>

  I too have been held at gunpoint twice in my life.  This is where
  I share agreement with those who say that a woman can increase her
  chance of not being raped by prudent choice of clothing and
  habits.  I was held up twice because I worked in jobs that
  statistically had a high potential for robbery.  Likewise, a woman
  can increase her chance of being raped by frequenting areas of
  town where rapes occur dressed in a manner that brings attention
  to her sexuality.  

  Before you holler "sexist", consider that I am not placing the
  blame for the rape (or robbery) on the victim.  Rather, I'm being
  realistic is my assesment of placing yourself at unecessary
  personal risk.  After all, if you don't want stangers entering
  your house, you put a dead bolt on the door.


/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ 

Bob Beauchaine bobb@vice.ICO.TEK.COM 

"If I have to resurrect you, I'll resurrect you, whether you like it
or not!"
	 Paul to Jesus, _The_Last_Temptation_of_Christ_

"For dying is not to be feared--it is the final comfort.  As we all
learn, eventually."

  --Robert Heinlein