Rape=/=Flat Tire

[teleen_fiction]

So now women should "prepare" to be raped?  According to Kansas State Representative Pete Degraaf: Being impregnated during rape is just like getting a flat tire, i.e., something they should be prepared for. 

I have no words here.  Only rage.  Also, the link I just provided has his office number, home number and e-mail address.  I'm too angry to call, but I'm e-mailing. 

Just...  What the ever-loving fuck?

Comments

[girlofavalon.livejournal.com]

WHAT THE HELL?!

[teleens-journal.livejournal.com]

I have no fucking idea.

[darth-eldritch.livejournal.com]

Icon: VADER RAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Huh? Wha...???????? WAT ?????? WAT????

Are we going fucking centuries back in fucking time??????????

They want all the family planning centers shut but they want women on birth control at all times so they would be available?????????????????????????????????????

I just.......................no....................

[teleens-journal.livejournal.com]

Yep, that was basically my reaction as well. Fucker.

[darth-eldritch.livejournal.com]

He needs to be sent somewhere where he can't hurt anyone.

[snufflesdbear.livejournal.com]

The site I first read that on got the post "he should prepare to be neutered". Which, actually, was in regard to an animal post I was making, but FB posted it to the wrong page. I LOL'd! Sometimes, FB can make interesting mistakes.

[heeroluva.livejournal.com]

Something that may interest you.

http://evebitfirst.wordpress.com/2011/05/18/a-man-is-a-rape-supporter-if/

[teleens-journal.livejournal.com]

It lost me when it said that any man who had ever gone to a prostitute, supported prostitution or GONE TO A STRIP CLUB was a rape supporter.

[heeroluva.livejournal.com]

Yep, same.

[reddwarfer.livejournal.com]

I read in the comments and the rationale is thus: You don't know 100 percent that the person in the strip club/prostitute is there willingly. Some are there because of sex slavery/pimps/other people that are controlling them. It's the same rationale for the porn argument. If you can't say the person in the sex industry is completely, without any outside pressure or force, one hundred percent willing and not at all coerced, it is possible you're supporting that person's rape.

[teleens-journal.livejournal.com]

You're absolutely right and I would be lying if I said that I hadn't worked with women who were forced into the industry.

However.

That does NOT mean that every man who goes into a strip club (or watches porn or goes to a prostitute) is supporting rape. I'm sorry, it just doesn't. It's painting every man with the same brush and I'm just not cool with that.

And I'm also not saying, "But what about the POOR MENZ!?", I'm just saying that the majority of the men with whom I interact on a daily basis would never rape anyone, would never condone rape and many actively try to help those who are in those horrible situations.

Again, it's saying that EVERY man who does 'x' is automatically 'y' and that just doesn't sit right with me. It's the sort of blanket statement that, quite frankly, makes me see red because I don't consider the majority of my customers to be rapists, potential rapists or rape supporters.

The possibility of supporting someone else's rape is not enough for me to say that EVERY man who does these things is automatically a "rape supporter".

Do I believe that there need to be more stringent regulations across the board with regards to the sex industry to eliminate this sort of slavery? Absolutely. But the problem with activists like the one above is that they turn ALL sex workers into victims and don't respect our basic freedom of choice.

I am not a victim and I quite frankly resent ANYONE who wants to turn me into one or turn my male friends in the industry into 'rape supporters'.

Legalization and regulation are the ONLY answers to stopping the slavery and coercion that's a part of the industry. It's the only way to actually protect those who are a part of it and to stop pimps, police, rapists and politicians from abusing sex workers and allowing underage sex trafficking to continue.

If we devoted the police resources that are currently used to regulate if I have the right sort of tape on my nipples to actually go after those who enslave sex workers (especially UNDERAGE sex workers), there would be no sexual slavery in the US.

My apologies for the rant, but as someone who freely chose to do what I do and who has a lot of male friends whom I respect in the industry, I find blanket statements like the one above to be insulting, condescending and generally rage-inducing, :(.

I do, however, welcome more thoughts from you on this issue, as you always have a perspective that I haven't thought of yet, :).

[reddwarfer.livejournal.com]

I never said the rationale was my opinion. I was just explaining what the rationale was.

As for support, again, it's not about saying support=rape is good. It means...your actions facilitate the act occurring. For instance, if I purchase an item made in a third-world country, using slave or mistreated labour, even if I don't agree with slave labour and I'd never actively have a slave and I'd never condone it and I'd never think it's okay, purchasing that item supports it. Because I'm giving money to something which allows the slave labour to continue.

This article simply expresses ways that rape is allowed to exist through action and inaction and thought and the like.

We live in a rape-culture. A lot of the way our world is constructed facilitates rape. A lot of the way people think facilitates rape. Because of the mistreatment of the sex industry by criminals and legislators alike, there's no easy way to sort the good from the bad, the willing from the unwilling.

However, since rape and agency and women's rights are such a hot issue--rightfully so, it's hard to read the article and get beyond the shock statements to the actually saying. Which is these are the ways men knowingly and unknowingly allow this rape culture of ours to continue.

(I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with the article, but explaining how I read it and what I see she's trying to say)

[teleens-journal.livejournal.com]

I love your shiny brain. :)

And I don't shop at Wal-mart anymore, so I understand where the blogger is coming from a bit.

I just don't care for blanket statements, :(.

[neo-prodigy.livejournal.com]

RED....LANTERN.....RAGE.........RISING.....

[teleens-journal.livejournal.com]

^

[reddwarfer.livejournal.com]

So much rage.

[rinfang.livejournal.com]

I had to wait about five hours before emailing him. My first five attempts were just incoherent rage.

[alafaye]

Even in cases of rape--pregnancy is not the same as a flat tire or insurance, etc. It doesn't matter! *headdesk*

[jsks.livejournal.com]

abraham lincoln is rolling over in his grave because the stupid has taken over the gop. wth.

[teleens-journal.livejournal.com]

IAWTC