Rape is Not a Sex Crime: Disturbing Attitudes in Australian Men

Surveys conducted by the White Ribbon Foundation of Australia revealed shocking attitudes of Australian men regarding violence toward women . More shocking than the statistics themselves were the reactions of Australian men who defended the people surveyed, many of whom stated bluntly that women are to blame if they are raped after being flirtatious with her assailant. This common defense can be seen in newspapers and blogs all over the country, and even on Associated Content, but it is based on severely flawed and dangerous logic.

Rape is in no way a crime of unrestrained sexual passion. Rape does not occur because a man can not control his desire to make love to a woman. If he sees a woman doing a strip tease, licking the inside of her glass, or eating a banana in a suggestive way, this may explain him wanting to have sex with her--but it does not explain him wanting to beat her to a pulp, yell at her, humiliate her, and severely injure her most sensitive body parts. Rape is not sex. Rape is rape.

Shockingly, many men have difficulty differentiating between the two. In fact, a survey of young men in Australia conducted by the White Ribbon Foundation revealed that as one in seven Australian teens believe that it is okay to rape a woman if she was flirting. This might explain why a third of Australian girls are raped by the time they are in tenth grade.

Reactions to this study were distasteful at best, and horrifying at worst. One blogger went so far as to say that these studies were empty "man-hate," and supports the one in seven men who think rape is okay. "Women need to be held accountable for their actions," stated one blogger. To the fact that one in three sophomore-age girls have experienced rape, he responds, "As if women aren't looking for sex."

This attitude reveals a horrifying rift in the way that our society views sex itself, and the boundary between sex and rape is not flimsy only to these few individuals--it is a true epidemic that has destroyed the bodies and souls of millions of girls and women all accross the world.