At Other McCain, we confront feminism constructing the reality that rapists are rapists for want of enough mass meetings instructing them not to rape.
Oh, of course. Because if you sat down a group of 18-year-old males and said, “Hey, guys, having sex with a woman against her will, yeah, that’s, you know…bad” over and over and over again, then rapes would stop. Because, teaching. Teaching solves everything.
What is the basis of the assertion that we do not “teach men not to rape”? Does the basic process of socialization not instruct men not to do violence? To keep their hands to themselves? To treat others as they would wish to be treated? That their sexual instinct is not a license to harm others? Is there a single criminal who has not heard these platitudes repeated ad nauseam?
There used to be a saying about horses and water, but modern education has probably rejected it as archaic and dogmatic. Some people seem to be under the delusion that, with enough lessons, a horse can be made to drink. Also, that education is not something a human can reject, and in the majority of cases in the majority of schools, does reject.
Let’s take this a step further. If teaching was effective, then teaching women how to avoid rape could also prevent rapes from happening. But clearly, the young feminist up top believes that this will not work. Teaching will not work for her, but it will work on The Other.
The typical response is that an insidious “rape culture” has infected the minds of young men, as a natural consequence of their patriarchal masculinity, and it is this which must be undone so that rape will not happen. This has the virtue of blaming warlocks and Bilderbergers: its abstraction becomes as mystical as its reasoning is circular.
Q: What causes rape?
A: Rape culture.
Q: What is rape culture?
A: Those things in the culture that induce men to rape.
Q: How can we determine that rape culture exists?
A: Because rapes happen.
Q: How can we do away with rape culture?
A: By suppressing those things in the culture that induce men to rape.
Content Blues 
[…] great follow-up at Andrew J. Patrick’s […]
Your perspective is thought-provoking and I’m not necessarily arguing with what you’re saying. I think, the point that I get from the image, is really the issue of victim-blaming. That it’s the person who gets raped fault is a thread in a lot of our culture and that’s problematic. “How to avoid getting raped” pins the fault in the wrong place.
First, please feel free to argue. Especially with the inherent graciousness you bring to the table.
Second, while I certainly agree that the victim of a violent crime ought not be blamed, and the perpetrator of same prosecuted, I don’t equate “counseling prudent behavior” with “blaming the victim.” This is not a question of one’s rights. A woman has the right to her own person, and to bestow her amorous favors on whom she pleases. And I have the right to my own property, free from theft. But if I leave my gym bag on the passenger seat of a street in Baltimore known for auto break-ins, I’m increasing my risk. That doesn’t make the guy who smashes my window, roots around in my glove box, and makes off with my gym bag while hilariously missing my TomTom any less a thief or a criminal. Nor does it mean I’m not allowed to damn the whole City of Baltimore, its denizens, its Keystone Kops law enforcement, or its Tammany Hall government in the saltiest of terms as I drive home with a new garbage bag window. But it does mean that when my wife points out that my bag placement was imprudent, I accept the truth of her assertion. Obviously, the gravity of the two crimes don’t equate. But I don’t feel that counseling young women on how not to increase their risk is an offensive act, Rather, it would be irresponsible to do otherwise.
Now to the male half of the equation. The socialization of young men can absolutely be done better. Imparting values of honor, decency, and gentlemanly behavior ought be a priority. But we have instead made punch lines of them, and contrary to the picture assertion above, feminism is not going to be much use in restoring them. Indeed to the extent that feminism treats them as patriarchal rape-culture code-speech, it is, in fact, part of the problem.
Such is my opinion, anyway.
[…] The Magic of Teaching […]