(Ah, now I get it. Just wasn't parsing your previous comment the right way, for some reason.)
Nothing too original or insightful. Basically, %lbrgeneralisation mode = on%rbr that we mystify both sex and gender more than is healthy. Two consequences of these are that men (a) don't empathise with women as easily as with one another (leading to a lack of respect) and (b) think 'sex' is the answer to a lot of complicated problems (insecurity, anger, boredom, etc etc). I think the combination of those two has a lot to do with why so many men who wouldn't dream of nicking another man's wallet are willing to coerce a woman into sex.
But that over-mystification is harmful in lots of other ways too. It creates an environment where parents believe it's somehow harmful for kids even to know the basics about how their own reproductive organs work (see this story, for instance, in which Seventeen magazine was pulled from thousands of stores for an article titled 'Vagina 101'), which hurts kids through STDs, unplanned pregnancy, and - probably most common of all - needless worrying about things that are perfectly normal. With adults, well, how pathetic is it that a good portion of the male population still turns green at the gills at the mention of menstruation?
It also sets up the expectation that people will pick their friends almost exclusively from their own gender; I doubt many of my LJ friends live that way, but there are a great many people out there who do. (I suspect, with no solid evidence whatsoever, that most rapists would fall into that category.) Quite aside from any other consequences, eliminating half one's potential friends from consideration purely on the basis of gender undoubtedly leads to a vast number of missed opportunities.
I don't think eliminating that mystique would entirely eliminate rape - there would still be the occasional sociopath - but I think it would greatly reduce the incidence. Most people, no matter how loathsome to the rest of the world, don't view themselves as bad guys; according to a study I came across earlier this evening while looking for some other stats, something like 84% of male rapists didn't believe their actions were rape, which probably has a lot to do with how they excused it to themselves. Better empathy for the opposite sex would presumably make that particular illusion harder to sustain.
It might also go some way to reducing the harm that rape does. While it's a complicated issue, I think the mystique is probably part of why rape seems to be so much more traumatic than a similarly violent non-sexual assault would be.
no subject
Nothing too original or insightful. Basically, %lbrgeneralisation mode = on%rbr that we mystify both sex and gender more than is healthy. Two consequences of these are that men (a) don't empathise with women as easily as with one another (leading to a lack of respect) and (b) think 'sex' is the answer to a lot of complicated problems (insecurity, anger, boredom, etc etc). I think the combination of those two has a lot to do with why so many men who wouldn't dream of nicking another man's wallet are willing to coerce a woman into sex.
But that over-mystification is harmful in lots of other ways too. It creates an environment where parents believe it's somehow harmful for kids even to know the basics about how their own reproductive organs work (see this story, for instance, in which Seventeen magazine was pulled from thousands of stores for an article titled 'Vagina 101'), which hurts kids through STDs, unplanned pregnancy, and - probably most common of all - needless worrying about things that are perfectly normal. With adults, well, how pathetic is it that a good portion of the male population still turns green at the gills at the mention of menstruation?
It also sets up the expectation that people will pick their friends almost exclusively from their own gender; I doubt many of my LJ friends live that way, but there are a great many people out there who do. (I suspect, with no solid evidence whatsoever, that most rapists would fall into that category.) Quite aside from any other consequences, eliminating half one's potential friends from consideration purely on the basis of gender undoubtedly leads to a vast number of missed opportunities.
I don't think eliminating that mystique would entirely eliminate rape - there would still be the occasional sociopath - but I think it would greatly reduce the incidence. Most people, no matter how loathsome to the rest of the world, don't view themselves as bad guys; according to a study I came across earlier this evening while looking for some other stats, something like 84% of male rapists didn't believe their actions were rape, which probably has a lot to do with how they excused it to themselves. Better empathy for the opposite sex would presumably make that particular illusion harder to sustain.
It might also go some way to reducing the harm that rape does. While it's a complicated issue, I think the mystique is probably part of why rape seems to be so much more traumatic than a similarly violent non-sexual assault would be.