Honest question:

[mistertrickster]

A London study investigated attitudes about rape victims given their behavior preceding the rape (such as "she was drunk," "she went to the man's apartment," "she went to bed with the man" etc).

It then concluded that a surprisingly high number of respondents blamed the victim for her rape.

One of the hosts of the group where this was posted wrote:

7. I doubt the results would be much different among DUers. nt

http://www.democraticunderground.com/11391727#post7

*****

My question: is it fair to conclude that this poster is saying that the DU community (of which we all are an active part) is no more supportive of rape victims than the general population?

The poster and I have a difference of opinion as to whether it means that or not.

[Union Scribe]

1. It sounds like that, yes.

With the "nt" punctuating the statement, I can't see it meaning anything else.

[jorno67]

2. she doesn't know us

Last edited Wed Feb 15, 2012, 10:55 PM - Edit history (1)

Her loss.

[lumberjack_jeff]

3. Ya gotta play the ball where it lies.

Some posters have a very constrained idea of what it takes to be a progressive, and are more than willing to ostracize those who, in 99% of situations, would be strong allies.

That's just the way it is.

Don't take it personally. It's not really honest disagreement. Deep inside they know (if nothing else based on the profusion of self-defense courses, weapons and advice) that people do have some degree of control of their own situational safety. It's simply convenient to use that observation as a kudgel with which to beat male DU'ers.

[WhoIsNumberNone]

4. One interesting thing about the survey

-it was a survey of women.

"Almost three quarters of the women who believed this said if a victim got into bed with the assailant before an attack they should accept some responsibility."

Based on where this was posted, I'm not surprised by the tone of the responses.

In just a couple of decades we've gone from 'blame the victim' to 'the victim need take no responsibility for her own safety'. If you cross the against the light and some sociopath speeds up to hit you, does it change the fact that you shouldn't have been in the street?

[mistertrickster]

6. Right . . . conflating "take some responsibility"

and "blame the victim" is not fair, but that seems to be a game some people play.

[mistertrickster]

7. As a long-time poster here, I hate being told I'm "not liberal enough."

I mean, screw that. This is the most liberal community on the web.

We've set up "safe haven" support groups so that participants can tell us how fascist and repressive we are.

Maybe these groups are disappointed that they don't get more support--be it the feminists, or the LGBT, or the Socialists. Okay, fine, fair enough.

But to claim that D_U_ is no better or just as bad as the general society is just total bullshit.

And the proof is that you don't see any of those groups at FreeRepublic, where people really are fascist and repressive.

[WhoIsNumberNone]

8. I feel you

I'll just leave it at that, since I see above that the thought police are monitoring this forum...