messy said:
Well I know someone who was raped and they were told "he probably just got a bit carried away." (this was by medical staff when she went to get checked for pregnancy after it happened, I know medical staff aren't trained to deal with this sort of thing but they're not going to saying "got a bit carried away" to a mugging are they?) Which although not the same thing doesn't do much to help the problem. And a Canadian officer (in the link I originally posted) did tell women to stop dressing like sluts which is a bit worrying.
He or she should have immediately reported that person. It's disgraceful that he or she was treated in such a manner. I'm starting to work with the Metropolitan Police and literally none of us (in my precinct) would behave in such a manner. There is simply no excuse for implying to a rape victim that he or she deserved it or that the perpetrator isn't wholly to blame. Relay my deepest sympathies to the victim and let him or her know that we're working hard to put pieces of shit like that behind bars with the other animals.
messy said:
And I'm sure there are people bucking the trend, but the fact that a "slut walks" appear to be happening in large numbers over the country with large numbers turning up suggesting that this problem is something a lot of people feel is real (now ofcourse you could argue that its all in their heads). See I see this attitude quite a bit, personally I'm glad its on the decline.
To be honest, a comment from the Guardian really sums up my opinion on 'slut walks':
"I think Slut Walk is a novel approach and hopefully will help prove the point that men actually aren't animals lurking in alleys to rape scantily clad women, as evidenced by the fact that, you know, you can go on one of these walks and not be raped."
I think showy half-arsed feminism like the 'Slut Walk' reeks more of narcissism than any attempt to address any equality issue, real or fictional; people like to have an enemy against which they can pit their anger and feel like they're doing some social good (especially if that enemy doesn't actually exist and therefore can't fight back). I must again reiterate that I've never experienced any of this so called objectification of women and that whenever I've spoken to a sociologist or feminist on the matter their examples of 'objectification' have been asinine attacks on male heterosexuality. You like to look at porn?
OBJECTIFICATION! ... No, masturbatory aid. Novel concept, I know.
I've literally never heard of an instance of objectification from the modern day that wasn't just a flagrant attack on male heterosexuality. Of course heterosexual males will be attracted to women. That oughtn't be a source of shame. It saddens me that feminism has spent so long trying to say that female heterosexuality is something to be proud of, but male heterosexuality is 'objectification'.
messy said:
Even if the whole "rape" issue is over blown (which I really don't think it is, apparently a large majority of cases are gotten out of using "implied consent" e.g she invited you to her room she must have wanted to have sex with you) , the over objectification of women however is defiantly happening.
Sorry I don't have any stats to back this up. So feel free to discredit what I say, but I still believe objectification in video games of either sex is bad. To judge people on a physical basis is stupid, especially since these are the first qualities to decline as we get older.
I'm afraid I'll have to dismiss it out of hand. I've heard a lot of claims that sexual assaults and rapes are dismissed due to sexism and then when I look into the case I find that the officers investigating just couldn't find any way to actually pin down the perp. It strikes me as akin to saying that because we catch incredibly few burglars or muggers (because those crimes are often patternless and rarely well evidenced) there must be an institutional bias in the police in favour of theft.
We live in a system of law where police can't just double pinky swear that they've got the right guy, they need evidence in accordance with PACE, and for that I'm glad; the alternative would be far higher conviction rates with far lower accuracy and I'd rather never jail a criminal than jail innocent people. But this system means that, unfortunately, a lot of criminals get away with their crimes. When the crimes are fairly minor people tend to accept this argument, but when the crimes are massive, like rape or murder, people jump to the conclusion that the police are either incompetent or biased.
Sadly, life isn't fair and we don't always catch the bad guy and when we do catch the bad guy the courts don't always accept our evidence.
Lastly, I'd love an instance of this objectification of women because I'd genuinely like to hear of an instance of this. Perhaps I don't understand what's meant by the term, but it seems to be a very incoherent term: we are all objectified in all walks of life. When one puts on a police uniform one is seen only in that dimension, when one becomes a parent one is seen only in that dimension and, unsurprisingly, when one is engaging in sexual behaviour one is seen only in that dimension. I once heard Germaine Greer make the argument that 'men not seeing women as humans with *ahem* biological processes is objectifying'. What she seems to have missed is that people view others in accordance with their role at that given time, so the idea of a shitting partner is rather incompatible with the role of a sexual mate.
I can only see this objectification being a problem if one were seen
only in one given role, regardless of whether that role had anything to do with gender. If I were seen
only as a cop then that'd preclude me from behaviours in off-duty time (incidentally, that happens), if women were seen
only as sexual partners then that would preclude behaviours associated with other roles like intellectual pursuits, if men were seen
only as stoic providers than that'd preclude men from roles like nannying. But I can't imagine what evidence could be provided in favour of this behaviour since single instances prove no long term trend.