Unpopular Opinion

I’ve found that throughout the United States, it is popular for women to hold up signs advertising the message “Teach men not to rape.”  They seek to show the folly in our society – that we teach women how to avoid getting raped instead of teaching men not to rape.

There is no doubt that rape is bad.  It has been implanted in our brains ever since we were born – from when our parents told us to keep our hands to ourselves in kindergarten, when we watched the first episode of Law & Order: Specials Victims Unit, when we saw that story on the news about the unfortunate incident that happened to a woman walking to her car alone past midnight.  Rape is consistently portrayed in a negative light; in no way has ‘society’ taught men that rape is “ok” or “good.” 

So what’s so bad about teaching women some preventative measures to avoid being raped?  The fact that college security teaches women to watch their drinks when they’re at a party, walk to their car to with their keys wedged between their knuckles, keep pepper spray with them in case of an emergency, practice the buddy system, or learn basic self-defense isn’t shameful to society – it’s helpful.                 

Just because we have established that rape is wrong – just like robbing banks, massacring innocent people at gunpoint, and stealing people’s credit card information – it doesn’t mean that it will stop.  Stealing thousands of dollars from a bank is wrong, but it still happens.  Killing people by gunpoint is wrong, yet the incident is Connecticut has left twenty-six victims dead.  Stealing people’s credit card information is wrong, but then again identity theft is a common occurrence.  The fact of the matter is rape will never stop. 

America is well past the stage of psychologically teaching people that rape is wrong.  It is in countries like Saudi Arabia, where the victims are blamed for putting themselves in this situation and are sentenced to prison and lashes in civil court, that must work to spread this message.  American citizens need to realize that rape is and always will be wrong, but learning ways to prevent it isn’t.