Nymeria said:
There seems to be a lot of semantic discussion of terms. I am not familiar enough with India and its laws and customs to know the situation there, I can only speak of experience within the United States.
I think we should do more in the west to help rape victims in terms of counseling and coming to terms with the trauma they suffer. If you've never been raped you may not under the sort of stress it can do to the mind years after the rape. More often than not victims are expected to just move on without having someone to aid them in processing what happened to them. I've even seen first hand victims shamed into raising the child that is a product of rape and how that affects their whole lives and relationship with the child. Even if you want to be selfish about it and ignore moral aspect, victims who receive help become more productive members of society so it is in everyone's interest.
The line in the west is often seeing the gap in mentality of joking about rape or making rape threats and being confronted about it. This forum has been really respectful and I appreciate that. In other places online I have felt the hostility and received numerous threats involving rape. Play online and the second they hear my voice my sex becomes a topic and almost inevitably turns to violent statements such as "You fucking dumb cunt, I'd rape your ass until you bleed slut!" Do I think they mean this? No. I think they feel embarrassed they lost to me in a game, and in their impotence lash out in rage to try to gain power in the situation by scaring me. If brought out behind the wall of online anonymity and forced to sit in front of people you'd likely get a meek "I didn't mean it, it was a joke, I'm sorry".
So on the flip side I think we do have to look into rapists and why it occurs. Is it an institution such as a state, religion, or community that permits it, is it from loneliness, from anger issues, from socio-economic sense of entitlement? It's not meant to excuse, but if we agree it is a problem I think we have to understand its root to treat it better.
On self defense, I've taken classes and major aspect is taking the fear away to know who to escape. In my courses the odds were you'd be dealing with a much larger and stronger attacker so much of the lessons is about making it hard for them and getting away. Having a spray or mace was common as well as maneuvers such as traumatizing the groin of the aggressor and ways to slip out of grips or holds. I'm fine with anyone having tools to defend themselves. The challenge with a fire arm is the training and knowing how much you've escalated the situation immediately. A gun invites the odds of a death significantly, either your own, the attacker, or even a bystander. Have to be prepared for the responsibility and intense training should you elect to go such a route. I personally don't despite having some training in firing pistols and rifles.
In closing, rape is the removal of human dignity debasing the victim below personhood. No one deserves it, from children to women or men. We should always take accusations seriously and pursue proper legal measures on victims behalf. It is normal for many to take years to come to terms with what happened to them. If you think "Why now?" or "But the accused is attractive or victim is not" it shows a profound misinterpretation of what rape does to someone. I think genuine conversations and education is productive in helping deal with the problem.
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i admire how proactive you have been with learning self defense and i'm saddened to hear about the abuse you have experienced while playing online although it sounds like you really kick butt lol
and i do think that more needs to be done to combat this problem, with this thread i was just wondering if people here think the women of india have found a viable solution in arming themselves and it seems like its mostly a no
maybe i should have put in a poll
