Men Gone Wild!
No, that isn't what the latest study in the UK focusing on whether women who have been raped were drugged or drunk is about. It's just what I wish it where about. However, yet again, we focus on the behavior of women when it comes to rape. Even though it is the men who commit the rapes, we don't see study after study bruited about in newspapers about why men are raping. A couple of critiques of the study hit the nail on the head.
"The media doesn't want to look at why men want to have sex with comatose, drunk women, often covered in vomit, often lying in streets, on the floor, without any notion of what's happening to them."
Yes. Precisely. The standard answer you get from non-feminists of "Because that's how men are" is some of the most man-hating BS around. Most men patently do NOT do this. Most men are not rapists. But it's feminists who won't accept that answer who get accused of thinking all men are rapists, not those who spout the "That's how men are" line of thinking.
And Ruth Hall, of Women Against Rape, said: "It is not news that women are drinking. Men drink as well but don't expect to be raped.
I'd take that one even further. I'd wager that men who get drunk are more prone to wind up in fights and get injured or killed. Really, men are the victims of violent crime more often than women are. It's only in rape that they are less often victims. So where are all the studies and hand-wringing about men drinking and getting hurt?
I don't know whether or not such studies exist. The fact that you never hear about them in the media doesn't mean someone isn't conducting them. However, the fact that you never hear about them in the media is indicative of how we view rape victims vs. victims of other violent crimes. We don't blame victims of other violent crimes for the crime committed against them.
I was once on a jury for a murder trial. The victim was shot and killed in a bar after a fight with the defendant. Let me tell you what didn't happen. The defense attorney did not suggest the victim shouldn't have been at the bar drinking. The defense attorney didn't suggest that he "asked" to get shot. The defense attorney didn't spend any time reviewing the victim's past behavior. The defense attorney only focused on whether or not the defendant was the one who committed the crime, trying to prove that we couldn't be sure beyond a reasonable doubt that he had.
The following things are or may be true: If the victim had not been at the bar, he would not have been murdered. If the victim had not been drunk, the initial verbal argument might not have escalated to a fight. Yet not only where neither of those things the focus of the defense, they were not even brought up by the defense. No one tried to excuse the crime by focusing on the behavior of the victim. Because we accept that it was the murderer who was responsible for the crime, and while the victim's behavior may not have been pristine, it doesn't matter.
Why don't we extend that logic to rape victims? Could it be that society protects male behavior at the expense of women?