FMNST

This blog focuses on many human equality issues and positivity: i.e. gender ideals, sexual identity issues, gender rolls, racial issues, cultural issues, intersectionality, body/sex positivity, sex and masturbation, zines, literature, activism, age discrimination, classism, politics and all the in betweens, the good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful. Questions and comments are welcome. Hatred is not.

I am a 21 year old queer pansexual female-identifying feminist/humanist/lover living in the Southwest region of the states. I am passionate, I create fire with words, and I believe that speaking up and making peaceful change is something that always fuels my human need to communicate. Perhaps you feel the same; if you do submit something! Speak up! Rant! Tell me your story! Together, let's make some noise.

Does “dressing like a slut” increase victim potential? Recently, a Toronto cop addressing a group of law students said that women could avoid being targeted for sexual assault by not “dressing like a slut.” His words met with some heated reaction, and as of this writing the Toronto Police Service has had no official response to what the officer has said; they say, however, they’ll be looking into it. This underscores a major issue in law-enforcement and the relationship of police with the public. Keep in mind, this was an officer chosen to speak to the public, not a random conversation overheard at a private function, taken out of context, and blown out of proportion. The officer was prepared for the discussion, and while he acknowledged he wasn’t supposed to say what he said at the time, he still said it, thereby betraying his ignorance of criminal motivation and the ignorance of those in a position to protect the public. He wasn’t speaking from a knowledge of the crime not reported in statistics, and he certainly wasn’t representative of the attitudes of police who specifically deal with sexual assault. He was, however, representative of the fact the average police officer is not in a position to counsel the public on how to avoid crime. While it’s easy to say this is an exceptional circumstance, that law enforcement are in a position to give the best advice, consider this: on a regular and consistent basis, police advise against violent physical resistance to crime. It’s better, they say, to plan and organize the events of your day so that you don’t end up in a confrontation that might require you to defend yourself. Yes, absolutely right, but if awareness alone saved lives, there would not be so many law-enforcement officers dying at the hands of the criminal element. The motivated criminal will circumvent awareness, overpower defenses and carry out nefariously motivated acts regardless of the steps taken to prevent them from doing so. Thus, the criminal intent on doing harm to another’s sanctity of person will attempt to do so, regardless of the attire his chosen target has selected. Sex isn’t what the assault is about, it’s the weapon used. It is the stuff of pop-songs and romantic-comedies and marketing campaigns to say we were so overcome by attraction we could not control our actions. The idea that desire and attraction are at the root of sexual assault is entirely fallacious, and a dangerous mythology to spread. Imagine being alone with your object of desire and being so overcome with passion you are willing to use physical force, intimation, guilt, shame, violence… So amorous you will disregard things like age, mental health, physical consequences, marital status… So completely enamoured you are willing to abuse authority or trust, employ illicit drugs and alcohol or threaten to do the same thing to someone else if the object of your affection tells. Doesn’t sound like an expression of sexual desire anymore, does it? Sexual assault is nothing if not violent, whether in purpose, the ways it is carried out, or the effect it has on a society. Sexual attraction doesn’t explain why supposedly straight men attack other men - whose sexual orientation may not be known to the attacker. It doesn’t explain sexual assault of a geriatric patient or a child in care, and it doesn’t explain why so few rapists can even remember what the victim was wearing at the time of the assault. Sexual assault is often a weapon of war, and has been for centuries. I don’t think a battlefield leads to sexual attraction to the enemy, but it does lend itself to the mindset the enemy must be completely dominated, and his dignity stripped. So called “corrective rape” isn’t about changing a woman’s sexual orientation as much as it is about controlling her sexuality. Sexual assault is violence, not sex, and we are all secondary victims. It’s a particularly sinister form of terrorism, where, in this case, many secondary victims perpetuate a culture of sexual assault by blaming victims, infantilizing men and restricting freedoms on those we seek to protect. -The Best Defense Program

Does “dressing like a slut” increase victim potential?

Recently, a Toronto cop addressing a group of law students said that women could avoid being targeted for sexual assault by not “dressing like a slut.” His words met with some heated reaction, and as of this writing the Toronto Police Service has had no official response to what the officer has said; they say, however, they’ll be looking into it.

This underscores a major issue in law-enforcement and the relationship of police with the public. Keep in mind, this was an officer chosen to speak to the public, not a random conversation overheard at a private function, taken out of context, and blown out of proportion. The officer was prepared for the discussion, and while he acknowledged he wasn’t supposed to say what he said at the time, he still said it, thereby betraying his ignorance of criminal motivation and the ignorance of those in a position to protect the public. He wasn’t speaking from a knowledge of the crime not reported in statistics, and he certainly wasn’t representative of the attitudes of police who specifically deal with sexual assault. He was, however, representative of the fact the average police officer is not in a position to counsel the public on how to avoid crime.

While it’s easy to say this is an exceptional circumstance, that law enforcement are in a position to give the best advice, consider this: on a regular and consistent basis, police advise against violent physical resistance to crime. It’s better, they say, to plan and organize the events of your day so that you don’t end up in a confrontation that might require you to defend yourself. Yes, absolutely right, but if awareness alone saved lives, there would not be so many law-enforcement officers dying at the hands of the criminal element.

The motivated criminal will circumvent awareness, overpower defenses and carry out nefariously motivated acts regardless of the steps taken to prevent them from doing so. Thus, the criminal intent on doing harm to another’s sanctity of person will attempt to do so, regardless of the attire his chosen target has selected.

Sex isn’t what the assault is about, it’s the weapon used.

It is the stuff of pop-songs and romantic-comedies and marketing campaigns to say we were so overcome by attraction we could not control our actions. The idea that desire and attraction are at the root of sexual assault is entirely fallacious, and a dangerous mythology to spread.

Imagine being alone with your object of desire and being so overcome with passion you are willing to use physical force, intimation, guilt, shame, violence… So amorous you will disregard things like age, mental health, physical consequences, marital status… So completely enamoured you are willing to abuse authority or trust, employ illicit drugs and alcohol or threaten to do the same thing to someone else if the object of your affection tells. Doesn’t sound like an expression of sexual desire anymore, does it? Sexual assault is nothing if not violent, whether in purpose, the ways it is carried out, or the effect it has on a society.

Sexual attraction doesn’t explain why supposedly straight men attack other men - whose sexual orientation may not be known to the attacker. It doesn’t explain sexual assault of a geriatric patient or a child in care, and it doesn’t explain why so few rapists can even remember what the victim was wearing at the time of the assault. Sexual assault is often a weapon of war, and has been for centuries. I don’t think a battlefield leads to sexual attraction to the enemy, but it does lend itself to the mindset the enemy must be completely dominated, and his dignity stripped. So called “corrective rape” isn’t about changing a woman’s sexual orientation as much as it is about controlling her sexuality.

Sexual assault is violence, not sex, and we are all secondary victims. It’s a particularly sinister form of terrorism, where, in this case, many secondary victims perpetuate a culture of sexual assault by blaming victims, infantilizing men and restricting freedoms on those we seek to protect.

-The Best Defense Program

  1. fmnst posted this