A Culture of Misogyny

Many people believe that the work of feminists is done. Those people are wrong. If we were the kind of country who no longer needed feminists we would have had a female president by now. More women CEO's and in other positions of high authority. We would have less sexual assault and rape. Clearly, we still need feminists because the work is far from done.

For rape victims, the situation is even worse across the pond. In England only 5.7% of rape cases bring convictions, according to an article in the Washington Post. Apparently, the other 94.3% of victims are liars. This cannot just be an outrage to me - where is the outcry about this injustice? The article mentions one case where a judge informed the jury that the defendant was "in a way a good man" because his prior convictions were nonviolent. In that same case the judge instructed the jury to ignore the girl's age - 15 - in their deliberations (the man was 28). Excuse me?!? The judge should be put on trial!

Between a quarter and a third of Brits believe that a woman is responsible for her rape if she is drinking or dressed provocatively. I submit that if a woman is hammered out of her mind and walking down the street wearing only a sandwich board reading "I'm horny!" she still is not deserving of rape! She still has not turned over ownership of her body to you or anyone else.

I realize this article talks specifically about the situation in England, but let's not forget that the situation here is not much better. If we want to make rape less common we need to make rapists accountable for their actions. This means convicting them, punishing the crime, and not defiling the victim's character. There is no other crime - certainly no crime against men - where the victim's character comes into question. When someone is robbed, or shot, we don't ask how the victim put him/herself into such a position to become vulnerable to robbery or gunfire. Why do we do this with rape? Simple. A culture of misogyny.

Let's move on, people. Let's stop paying lip service to the idea that women and men have equal rights and actually become a society where that is true.