On Strippers & Rape
Kathleen Parker does a beautiful job of weighing all the equities involved in the Duke alleged rape case.
One point I would add, however: Whatever the facts of the Duke case turn out to be, certainly we can all agree that no woman ever deserves to be raped. But perhaps we should also agree that women, like men, must bear responsibility for the choices they make to put themselves in a position where a particular outcome is either more or less likely.
Take a male NASCAR driver -- who's hit and maybe killed by another driver. It's certainly not the first driver's fault -- it's the second's. But it's also childish not to recognize that, by his decision to drive race cars, the first driver made the accident possible (if not likely).
Similarly, strippers who visit a house with a bunch of drunken college athletes have to recognize that they are asking for trouble. Same goes for a bunch of college athletes who decide to mix alcohol with inviting a stripper to their party. Everyone involved should have realized that they were upping the chances for something very bad to happen.
That's okay; making choices is every man and woman's God-given right (so long as the activity they're choosing to engage in is legal). And it doesn't excuse the action of the wrongdoer, whoever it was. But it seems to me that by distinguishing the assignment of responsibility from the imposition of blame, we are able to clarify the opinions (or even the biases) swirling around cases like the one at Duke.
One point I would add, however: Whatever the facts of the Duke case turn out to be, certainly we can all agree that no woman ever deserves to be raped. But perhaps we should also agree that women, like men, must bear responsibility for the choices they make to put themselves in a position where a particular outcome is either more or less likely.
Take a male NASCAR driver -- who's hit and maybe killed by another driver. It's certainly not the first driver's fault -- it's the second's. But it's also childish not to recognize that, by his decision to drive race cars, the first driver made the accident possible (if not likely).
Similarly, strippers who visit a house with a bunch of drunken college athletes have to recognize that they are asking for trouble. Same goes for a bunch of college athletes who decide to mix alcohol with inviting a stripper to their party. Everyone involved should have realized that they were upping the chances for something very bad to happen.
That's okay; making choices is every man and woman's God-given right (so long as the activity they're choosing to engage in is legal). And it doesn't excuse the action of the wrongdoer, whoever it was. But it seems to me that by distinguishing the assignment of responsibility from the imposition of blame, we are able to clarify the opinions (or even the biases) swirling around cases like the one at Duke.
posted by LadybugUSA at 3:55 PM
1 Comments:
If the woman's claims are substantiated, the guys who did it should be severely punished. If her claims are bogus, she should be severely punished. Let the chips fall where they may.
Post a Comment
<< Home