Rape - why?

[thir]

I think both philosophy and politics and quite possibly religion come in here in this theme, so I wanted to ask what people here think of this kind of thinking:

Look at this picture:

http://www.philosophyinaction.com/bl...ing-for-it.jpg


Is she asking for it, or is it a valid political statement?

Is it really all about power?

Are men really raping women because they hate women?

Why do men rape men in prison?

Is it true that sex plays a secondary or no role in this?

They say most rape is done by people known to the victim. How does that fit in?

It is said that the social barrier to rape is much lower than the social barrier to murder. Is this true? And if so, why??

In the UK so few cases get to court that rape in many areas is de facto a free lunch. why?

Any thoughts??

[Thorne]

First of all, in an ideal world any person, male or female, adult or child, should be able to go anywhere they wish wearing, or not wearing, anything they wish. Unfortunately, we do not live in an ideal world.

For my part, that woman would be completely safe in my presence. Lacking actual, verbal confirmation that she does want it, and more importantly that she actually wants it from ME, she would be perfectly safe. NO means NO, always. And a lack of informed consent ALWAYS means NO.

Is it really all about power?
Are men really raping women because they hate women?

I think these go together. I don't see how someone could rape someone they actually hate. They may hate the fact that women APPEAR to have more power than them, and raping the woman destroys that power and demonstrates his own.

Why do men rape men in prison?
Is it true that sex plays a secondary or no role in this?

In large part this is still a demonstration of power. Yes, there is a sexual component, but I think the ultimate purpose is to denigrate the victim, basically saying to him, "You're just a woman here, and I'm the man."

They say most rape is done by people known to the victim. How does that fit in?

This has been shown to be so statistically, but you have to understand that a fairly large percentage of rapes are never reported. There could be many rapes by unknown persons that slip under the statistics because we don't know they have happened. You also have thousands of cases of women, mostly girls, disappearing every year. The odds are that the vast majority of these involve rape, but are not counted as rape in the statistics.

It is said that the social barrier to rape is much lower than the social barrier to murder. Is this true? And if so, why??

This has been shown to be true, many times. Look at the Steubenville rape case, for one. Students who admitted to rape were held to be blameless by their society because the were, first of all, boys and, secondly, football players. There also seems to be an element of classism and racism in rape cases. A rich white man accused of raping a poor black woman, for example, would be far more likely to get a pass from his society than a poor black man accused of raping a rich white woman. And especially in a a still largely misogynistic society, the female victim is more likely to be blamed for the actions perpetrated upon her. Happily, though, this seems to be changing. Slowly, too damned slowly, but it is changing.

[MirkoSM]

I'm going to skip on the questions answered by thorne(That i fully agree with).
@Thorne, An ideal world is purely based on personal perspectives and opinion.

-Is she asking for it, or is it a valid political statement?

That doesn't deserve an answer, sorry.

-They say most rape is done by people known to the victim. How does that fit in?

It has a lot to do with love,hate,envy,power.... you can't feel those things(or lack thereof) with strangers, in those cases it's purely about dominance/lack of self-confidence(which is less gratifying).

-Is it true that sex plays a secondary or no role in this?

Depends on the situation... in prison the dominance part just fuels the sexual pleasure, whilst in the friend/sibling cases it's a cherry on the top.

-It is said that the social barrier to rape is much lower than the social barrier to murder. Is this true? And if so, why??

In a lot of cases rape is a much worse thing to do to people than murdering them, sentencing someone to a life of humiliation,paranoia,self-loathing,Sexual objectification.... etc.
Some people look on rape victims as disgusting for being weak enough to get raped, asking for it, or just the plain old sexsim... So what.. they were just teenage boys playing around, didn't know their own strength.... and the hormones at that age!
People might lie to themselves that they don't feel that way, but in their hearths A LOT of people feel the way as stated before. People might talk the talk, but they won't walk the walk when it comes to defending rape victims.

I'd advise you to look up psychology behind rape for more info if you're really interested.

[thir]

I'd advise you to look up psychology behind rape for more info if you're really interested.

Yes, I am really interested which is why I post the questions, and yes, I read about it, and find there is little consensus about this topic.