A woman has lots of consensual sex. Is this evidence that she is a slut? The rhetorical answer we are looking for is "yes".
A woman has lots of nonconsensual sex, i.e., rape. Is this evidence that she a slut? The rhetorical answer we are looking for is "no".
Suppose you lack information to definitively know whether the sex was consensual or not. Is she a slut? Maybe. And therein lies the problem.
"Maybe" assigns a positive probability to her being a slut, and assuming you are among the great many who feel that being a slut is a bad thing (how would you feel if the label were applied to you or someone you care about?), you have assigned the woman a positive probability of this highly negative label as a result of what may actually have been rape.
Interviews with survivors indicate that the social stigma of becoming labeled a slut, internalized into the feeling that one is an inferior person, is one of the greatest harms of rape. This harm is perpetrated not just by the rapist but also by every single person who believes that being a slut is a bad thing: that's you (with high probability).
Attempting to decrease the harm of rape by focusing on rapists has a feeling of "Blame Canada" to it. We would rather not think that the problem is also ourselves.
Previously, about Rush Limbaugh, and Steubenville.
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