I’m tired, so very, very tired of worrying about the poor rapists, the poor men who don’t respect women’s boundaries, the poor misogynists, those poor, poor guys. I’m so fucking sick of being more worried about the genitals they decided to use as weapons than the mental health and physical safety of the women they assaulted. No one is saying that setting a man on fire is an ideal response. But being sexually assaulted isn’t an ideal situation.
We live in a world where women who are raped are constantly chastised, blamed and emotionally (or even physically) spit on because they didn’t defend themselves well enough. We live in a world where one of the first questions a woman is asked upon disclosing a sexual assault is “did you fight back?” We live in a world where “why didn’t you fight back harder?” rolls right off the tongue. A world where people can still get away with arguing that it’s impossible to force a woman into sex, that a woman who really doesn’t want it can stop her attacker. We live in a world where it’s still frequently thought that a woman is better off dead than raped, and that fighting back without regard to your very life is seen as a prerequisite to basic respect.
Greek woman allegedly set attacker’s genitals on fire…or…the story of “you didn’t fight back hard enough” versus “oh that poor sexual assaulter! that woman is batshit!” - in other words, you need to read this. (via aaminah.) (via aishah) (via writinggirl2writingwoman)
Cara, this post is amazing.
Seriously, people, read the whole thing.
(via katoleary)
(via gauntlet)
