The weaker sex.

We have all heard that term, but according to many fundamentalists.....It is really in reference to the men.
Yup. There is a pamphlet being handed out to some women in the US....It is titled "Women and Girls"....

"You may have been given this leaflet because of the way you are dressed," it begins. "Have you thought about standing before the true and living God to be judged?"

So I am thinking that women are getting that "Women and girls" pamphlet when they are judged to be wearing "revealing" or "trampy" clothes.

“Scripture tells us that when a man looks on a woman to lust for her he has already committed adultery in his heart. If you are dressed in a way that tempts a men to do this secret (or not so secret) sin, you are a participant in the sin,” the leaflet states. “By the way, some rape victims would not have been raped if they had dressed properly. So can we really say they were innocent victims?”

Notice the word "some"......Weasel words because they cannot actually back that up with any facts. Many women already do not report rapes, it has been drilled into our heads for many years that we may have brought it on ourselves...

The victims have all been women, ranging in age from 65 to 91. One rape victim played piano at her church on Sundays. An 81-year-old woman scared off an intruder with a gun, firing several rounds for good measure. A 66-year-old woman was attacked twice, despite having moved across town following the first assault.

Gee, I wonder what they were wearing? In their own homes of course... 

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) - Portsmouth police say just after 10 p.m. Sunday night, a 65-year-old woman was raped in her Castle Heights home. Detectives say the woman opened her front door after hearing a noise outside and the suspect forced his way in.

That is another series of rapes of elderly wonen in Virginia. All in their own homes. Happens a lot all over the world as a matter of fact.

Babies and small children are raped. Women and girls and even boys are raped as an act of war. Women are raped in parking lots, in cars, on dates. They are drugged in public places and then taken away  to be raped, AND Judges will allow the victim to take the blame even then, because it is a "crime of opportunity"...... Women are raped by their husbands.

Men are raped in prisons and other places as well. At a lesser number, but it still goes on. 

Does anyone ask what he is wearing? Not usually, but a lot of assumptions are made about the victims sexual orientation. Another way to blame, he must have wanted it.

The thread that runs through each and every one of these horrific examples? In each and every circumstance? There are those who would always side with the men doing the act of violence. Somehow, someway, they will always find a way to excuse the violator. His weakness as a man just gives him a pass. He cannot possibly be expected to think like a human being with that "thing" in his pants overruling all the societal rules that all must follow if we wish to live in safety. Nope. Men are just not capable of thought and rationality. They are far too emotional.

Many women just do not report. They would rather forget, get on with their lives. Or, they may have experienced what blame will come to them from the police or the judicial system. Even friends and family.

This blame the victim mentality has far more bizarre consequences in our society. Women say some rape victims should take blame - survey. 

A lie oft repeated. All. Your. Fault.

There has even been a lot of people who blame the victims of murder. We see that when it comes to Canada's missing women. Blamed for the lives they led, for addictions, maybe they were a sex worker? The Police have been very slow to react when a disappearance is reported, they do not deem some "worthy" of their time?

One of the victims of that "crime of opportunity" I mentioned above committed by Fernando Manuel Alves said: 

She remembers, most vividly, most painfully, the cops (the good guys) trying to blame what had happened on her, telling her she was a married woman who was embarrassed about an indiscretion. Even after evidence of large amounts of drugs being found in her system, a broken nose, bruises all over her body, the cops were still unsympathetic, telling her that they had been called in on the weekend to deal with this. She remembers being resented.

So sorry that my rape interfered with your football game Officer. I should have arranged the "crime of opportunity" on a weekday between 9 and 5? 

In many countries women are physically punished for being raped, even murdered in highly visible stonings....Some countries force women to marry their rapists, this case is particularly twisted but not that unusual.

Women in many countries are forced to wear covers from head to toe, to ensure that they do not tempt the weaker males, because according to fundamentalists men just cannot help themselves. 

How is that any different from the Fundies here in our western society? You tell me. I keep trying to point out that they are the same all over the world.

Nuts.

We also have the problem that many religions excuse so many crimes against women and girls simply because they......do. How many Catholic preists get the full protection of their church, even after committing crimes against children? They get a pass, because the church thinks women are lesser beings, more like animals. There is no other reason. They get a pass often enough when it comes to boys too.The church has tried to blame the Liberal media, the sexual revolution and Gays for deeds committed by their own. But what it comes down to is an inherent belief that male weakness, is perfectly excusable. BTW, gay men are not statistically pedophiles. That particular "honour" goes to the "straights". Straight men with a sickness and a need to violate a child.

When women go to clergy for counselling after being sexually assaulted or raped, they may be counselled that they are at fault. The more fundamentalist the denomination.....

Finally, evidence exists to suggest that individuals with more fundamentalist religious convictions hold more negative attitudes toward victims of rape (Sheldon &
Parent, 2002).

Here is part of the abstract from that study.....

Qualitative analyses demonstrated that clergy take into account the woman's resistance, provocative behavior, decision making, marital role, and unusual behavior when assigning responsibility for rape. The results indicated that most clergy blame the victimand adhere to rape myths; therefore, they need to be more educated about sexual assault.

Many women do go to the clergy first.

Kind of interesting that all of the people that a woman who has been raped would go to first, be it medical professionals, the police or a spiritual counsellor; those same first interactions are often with those that have preconceived notions about placing blame. 

The Harper Conservatives recently started saying that they are very concerned over maternal health in other countries. But within that frame, they are not willing to talk about birth control, abortion, morning after pills, or actual violence towards women. 

I think of it as being kind of a way to blame women for their own predicaments, and punish them by forcing them to pay for an act of violence that may have made the women pregnant in the first place. 

Some healthcare providers here and in the US do not want to provide even a smidgeon of information to rape victims about the morning after pill. Does the "she asked for it" mentality have some part of that fanaticism? Or is it truly all about the bebeez? Hard to say, they are fetishists on so many levels.

The punishment is simply more subtle here in Canada and the US.....But it still goes on under a slightly more "civilized" veneer of mixed messages:

Women are supposed to remain chaste and untouched. They are supposed to be strong and firm on this. They shall dress in such a way as to not attract attention from men who cannot control their "urges". They shall not go out at night unless they have a man with them. They shall not walk in places deemed "unsafe" or the assumption is made that they "wanted" it. AND. When a man slips you drugs or waits until you pass out? Well, you should have KNOWN that the guy who takes advantage just could not control himself!

Ya. Sex with an unconscious woman is such a turn on, like necrophilia.

To top it all off, we are to remain under the control and the protection of these same men, because we are also too weak and emotional to possible make any decisions on our own.

Thank goodness for enlightened men, who can and do control these so called "urges". Fellow humans and earth travellers.