And just exactly what does that have to do with the protection white men with power receive from “himpathetic” men? Must we continue to ensure that all women who are victims will have to put up with a rate of conviction and punishment rate of 6 out of 1,000 victims? Many of those women are black, indigenous, and other women of color…whose perpetrators, by and large, are white, powerful men. What about the injustices THEY suffer, as they are even less likely to be believed than white middle class women?
It is rare, btw, for black men to rape white women. But the reality is that the very system you think protects them from false accusations does not in fact do so.
Patriarchy isn’t just about men oppressing women, it’s about powerful white men oppressing other men AS WELL AS women of all races and classes.
Your “whataboutism” assertion is just another systemic barrier ensuring that powerful white men [and a few token powerful black men] will get away with rape — over and over and over and over.
You are concerned only about phallocentric injustice. Women must endure rape and fear of rape all their lives because people like you worry ONLY about potential injustice for a radically few persons with penises.
No one is asking that men of color suffer injustice. Indeed, most of the women in this fight are also fighting racism, classism, homophobia, and every other expression of domination by white men.
What we are demanding is that women be respected and treated with dignity — as any other crime victim should be.
We aren’t asking for immediate punishment without trial. We are asking that women’s charges of rape be taken seriously and be seriously INVESTIGATED. We ask that people not vilify women making charges; we ask that they not terrorize us with threats against our families and our careers and our lives. We ask that real investigations take place; we ask that the thousands of DNA rape kits be tested so those multiple offenders can be found and arrested.
We ask that police, judges, prosecutors, and jury members not assume that women “invite” getting raped — that they are somehow responsible for the wretched trauma they experienced; that their trauma not be minimized & treated as “no big deal” …and oh, BTW, why would you want this CONVICTED rapist to “lose his future” — never mind the lifelong experience of PTSD that victims must endure and that shape their lives forever.
Bottom line: we ask that the lives and safety of men not be given priority over the lives and safety of women.
Why do you object to that? If you are so concerned about potential injustice against men of color, why are you not EQUALLY concerned about the injustice against women of color experience when their rapists [usually white] goes free so they can rape again, while their victims live in terror that their rapists will return?
Why must victims live with continued harassment, death threats, shame and humiliation as if THEY were the criminals?
If male victims of any crime were treated like this there would be revolution in the streets. And here’s the thing — there are male victims as well [usually, but not solely, by other men] — who are even less inclined to come forward due to the humiliation they will receive from the very same system.
When crimes are not punished, when perpetrators are never caught, and even when they ARE caught they are rarely punished — you basically give them the go-ahead to keep on raping.
And one day one of the victims will be your wife or mother or sister or daughter or granddaughter or cousin or dear friend.
Why are you so UNCONCERNED about the injustices THEY will suffer? Why are you so unconcerned about how making charges — the majority of which are legitimate [less than 3% are proven false] — puts THEIR lives, THEIR careers, THEIR sense of safety, THEIR belief in at least a remotely just world at massive risk?
Women who bring charges — even in the rare instance that there’s a conviction and prison time served — will STILL have to live with the pain and agony not only of the rape itself throughout their lives, but with the shame and humiliation of the trial and aftermath radiating from people who will STILL disbelieve her, or claim that it wasn’t that big of a deal, and/or insist “she asked for it.”
The BIGGEST injustice in this system is that the overwhelming majority of rapists will keep on raping and assaulting more women…of ALL COLORS.
YOU, sir, YOU can ensure that fewer women will be raped by fighting against the rape culture that enables it, that even APPROVES it. YOU can ensure there will be less injustice against men and women of color by doing everything you can to ensure that ACTUAL RAPISTS be brought to account for their crimes.
