the Amnesty Report
Sometimes you just wonder where people's heads are, don't you. I have to say that no one I've talked to today would have said that any woman deserved to be raped. And I heard other people I don't know talking about it too, some of the women sounded shocked. Guys were upset.
Who are these freaking people who think that women who flirt should bear the responsibility if they're raped. 34% of the people who answered this survey thought this. I mean where are these people's heads that they'll quite easily blame someone who's been attacked rather than the attacker.
I was trying to think of some other violent crime where the victim would be blamed. Not easy is it.
Apparently more men than women blamed rape victims but women were there too saying that other women were responsible for being attacked.
34% is a lot of people. A lot of people who put the blame on the victim rather than the attacker. Seems years of feminism hasn't managed to stop women being blamed for other people attacking them. The person who attacks is to blame, they can make the decision about they're going to do. And only them.
I don't know the exact breakup of the figures but say that you could break the 34% up as 20% men and 14% women thinking like this. More men did in the survey than women. That's almost a quarter of men out there on the streets. This is the UK in 2005. Ofcourse that leaves 80% who don't think like this going by these results. As I said none of my friends would think anything like this. But it does mean that about a third of the men and women you pass in the street might do.
A third of the population would blame the victim of an attack rather than the attacker. Interesting to see how they'd react if they were asked the same question about male rape or about child abuse. I suspect they'd say that the male victim wasn't too blame, and that as far as the child went that the attacker was certainly to blame and could've stopped him/herself and therefore is totally guilty. And ofcourse they'd be right on both counts. So why would it be different when a woman is the victim.
I was talking the other day about the fact that I'd come up as a radical feminist in a quiz I'd taken and had been surprized. But people seemed to think it was just another way of saying that I am an academic feminist, which I don't agree with either really, well, not in general. But when I read things like this I have to accept that maybe I am and that men and women are really in two different class groups in society (in this society) which I think is the basis of radical feminism as it was first intended to be. I always think of myself somewhere around the liberal/socialist mark as a feminist though.
You know 34% is a lot of people.
I was going to write about men in feminism. I'd seen a thread on another board (not a feminist site) about whether you could trust a man who called himself a feminist. Obviously something close to my heart. Though I don't think a person has to identify with the word feminist and perhaps in this country rather than a couple of other Europeam countries I'd be wary if the word feminist was used. Having said that I've met a lot of men who I'd call feminist and who'll call other men on quite a lot of sexist shit without making any big deal about it. Infact I've met quite a few men who are more aware or who care more than quite a lot of women. Some women are just misogynists when it comes to other women. Anyway that was what I was going to write about but this came up instead and I'm just too tired to write about both.
The thread annoyed me rather. I have met some really misogynistic men who call themselves feminists. I've also met a lot of men who believe in equality across the board who may or may not call themselves feminists.
It also rather resonated with me because I'd just been thinking about cultural differences as regards to flirting so it was all fresh in my mind. I look on as an outsider really because I don't really get it at all. My usual reaction is to just clam up and stare in disbelief. But from what I've seen I can't believe that 34% people really believe that flirting makes a woman responsible for being attacked. I'd imagine most of the rest of the UK finds it hard to believe too without having to have my cultural take on it.
These people seem to have a very strange moral outlook on violence.
I'll put the links up for Amnesty
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/index.shtml
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news/press/16618.shtml
but they still won't link directly because of how blogger is at the moment.
Who are these freaking people who think that women who flirt should bear the responsibility if they're raped. 34% of the people who answered this survey thought this. I mean where are these people's heads that they'll quite easily blame someone who's been attacked rather than the attacker.
I was trying to think of some other violent crime where the victim would be blamed. Not easy is it.
Apparently more men than women blamed rape victims but women were there too saying that other women were responsible for being attacked.
34% is a lot of people. A lot of people who put the blame on the victim rather than the attacker. Seems years of feminism hasn't managed to stop women being blamed for other people attacking them. The person who attacks is to blame, they can make the decision about they're going to do. And only them.
I don't know the exact breakup of the figures but say that you could break the 34% up as 20% men and 14% women thinking like this. More men did in the survey than women. That's almost a quarter of men out there on the streets. This is the UK in 2005. Ofcourse that leaves 80% who don't think like this going by these results. As I said none of my friends would think anything like this. But it does mean that about a third of the men and women you pass in the street might do.
A third of the population would blame the victim of an attack rather than the attacker. Interesting to see how they'd react if they were asked the same question about male rape or about child abuse. I suspect they'd say that the male victim wasn't too blame, and that as far as the child went that the attacker was certainly to blame and could've stopped him/herself and therefore is totally guilty. And ofcourse they'd be right on both counts. So why would it be different when a woman is the victim.
I was talking the other day about the fact that I'd come up as a radical feminist in a quiz I'd taken and had been surprized. But people seemed to think it was just another way of saying that I am an academic feminist, which I don't agree with either really, well, not in general. But when I read things like this I have to accept that maybe I am and that men and women are really in two different class groups in society (in this society) which I think is the basis of radical feminism as it was first intended to be. I always think of myself somewhere around the liberal/socialist mark as a feminist though.
You know 34% is a lot of people.
I was going to write about men in feminism. I'd seen a thread on another board (not a feminist site) about whether you could trust a man who called himself a feminist. Obviously something close to my heart. Though I don't think a person has to identify with the word feminist and perhaps in this country rather than a couple of other Europeam countries I'd be wary if the word feminist was used. Having said that I've met a lot of men who I'd call feminist and who'll call other men on quite a lot of sexist shit without making any big deal about it. Infact I've met quite a few men who are more aware or who care more than quite a lot of women. Some women are just misogynists when it comes to other women. Anyway that was what I was going to write about but this came up instead and I'm just too tired to write about both.
The thread annoyed me rather. I have met some really misogynistic men who call themselves feminists. I've also met a lot of men who believe in equality across the board who may or may not call themselves feminists.
It also rather resonated with me because I'd just been thinking about cultural differences as regards to flirting so it was all fresh in my mind. I look on as an outsider really because I don't really get it at all. My usual reaction is to just clam up and stare in disbelief. But from what I've seen I can't believe that 34% people really believe that flirting makes a woman responsible for being attacked. I'd imagine most of the rest of the UK finds it hard to believe too without having to have my cultural take on it.
These people seem to have a very strange moral outlook on violence.
I'll put the links up for Amnesty
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/index.shtml
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news/press/16618.shtml
but they still won't link directly because of how blogger is at the moment.
posted by Zeb at 1:30 PM
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