Men, Masculinities, Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Violence

This whole theory is about a social gender role being forced on men.

The issue is agreeing that there are social gender roles, but disagreeing as to what the nature of those roles is.

If you posit that men's nature, either socially or genetically, is the root cause then you need to compare to a control group to get an idea whether these things are really true of men or just people in general. The paper tries to look at male victims, but admits it has little data, and mentions female perpetrators as an afterthought.

The overwhelming majority of data has not even looked for female perpetrators and there has been historic opposition to such research on the grounds it would detract from women. So an untested assumption has been built-in to the groundwork of this research.

Whether you believe that males are more likely to be perpetrators, or you believe that females are not recognized as perpetrators, you are conceding that there is a cultural link between males and rape.

Except their hypothesis goes way beyond just stating it's a cultural role. If you take a cultural role as the base you can get "teach people not to view men as rapists" about as easily as "teach men not to rape". Accepting culturally created roles doesn't entail accepting the hypothesis of this paper.

We know black people in America are convicted of more theft than white people, we can be pretty sure this isn't genetic by comparing different studies. Some is probably purely economic, some is probably police bias and some is probably cultural. Does this mean "teach black people not to steal" is a good message to send?

Instead, as you can see in this article I posted, it's about "teaching" men that rape is not biological, despite the messages that they get from society and media and that rape is artificially associated with masculinity. It helps men fight back against the oppressive gender expectations they face and liberate themselves from these stereotypes. Just like feminists "teach" women to liberate themselves from gender stereotypes and roles that they get from society and the media.

This is where the native gets so bizarre I start to wonder if I live in the same universe as the people writing these papers. I went to a school were sexual harassment happened if the accuser said it did, period. I think I was 6 the first time I was told "don't you ever rape anyone" after a sexual assault aired on the news. This was directed pointedly at me for no reason I could see and I was incredibly confused as to why anyone would think I would and was basically told "because you're a boy" (I'm actually genderqueer) when I asked. Since before puberty it has been very clear to me that being male-bodied is a socially acceptable reason to assume someone is a predator and thus discriminate against them.

We currently have college faculty saying "it is the responsibility in the case of the male to gain consent before proceeding with sex," in the case of two drunken individuals. Women who have sex with minors, especially boys, do not receive the same kind of treatment as men. Is this because we teach men to rape or is it because we teach people to view women as victims but not men?

Whether you believe that males are more likely to be perpetrators, or you believe that females are not recognized as perpetrators, you are conceding that there is a cultural link between males and rape.

I think it is relevant. Their hypothesis is not that there are differing perceptions of men and women but that there is a culture that creates a predisposition for males to rape. This is both in direct contradiction to the culture I see and by framing rape as a male behaviour, even if culturally induced, it undermines our ability to deal with female perpetrators.

If our culture creates a tendency for poor people to steal that doesn't mean we have a "theft culture" or that society endorses, approves of, or even subtly encourages such action. We shouldn't waste time looking for social messages that reinforce the idea that poor people should steal or try to analyse what "theft myths" exist that justify their behaviour. You can handle the situation with carrot or stick but nobody is going to pretend it's actually culturally supported.

The majority of the studies referenced have operated under the assumption that this is a male phenomena and in almost all cases have not even gathered the data that could be used to contrast.

I also have a problem with the timing of this moral panic. Much like the moral panic over gun crime it coincides with a massive drop in overall rates. Yearly rates have consistently fallen. The crisis is being resolved yet the general attitude is that it just started and is not being dealt with. While lifetime rates remain high they do not necessarily reflect current victimization rates. Yearly rates for men and women are nearly even when made to penetrate is included as rape. http://freethoughtblogs.com/hetpat/2014/09/08/quick-update-on-cdc-sexual-victimisation-stats/#more-631

http://freethoughtblogs.com/hetpat/2013/09/04/the-startling-facts-on-female-sexual-aggression/

"Teach men not to rape" disingenuously implies our current approach is not working and that we currently aren't teach men not to rape. Perhaps worst all the continued focus on what men do and the corrispoding idea that "men can stop rape" says to male victims of female rapists that they don't matter and could have stopped it.

/r/FeMRADebates Thread Parent Link - sm.ee