Saturday, March 06, 2010

Simple steps to reduce rape culture

This post by Tigtog at Hoyden About Town is fantastic. It cites studies that show that non-violent rape may be perpetrated by men who are repeat offenders much more so than by otherwise good blokes who make one-off bad decisions.

What I love about this post, though, is that it makes sensible, practical suggestions about what everyone can do to never validate the kind of thinking that justifies rape, as well as how to protect vulnerable people without expecting those people to restrict their own lives in response to the threat of these sort of predators.

If you don't already read HAT, do read this post. Keep the tips in mind and share them with your friends. This is the kind of thing that can actually change our culture, if we just all accept responsibility for it. It's worth noting, though, that the points about not validating comments that denigrate women are much more powerful coming from men. A bloke who already hates women is unlikely to care much if a woman fails to validate his misogynist remarks. So this is a specific call for men to act to counter rape culture. Are you up to it?

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