Statistics have repeatedly shown that from 1 in 6 to 1 in 4 women have experienced some form of sexual assault in their lives. This includes forcible rape, attempted forcible rape, coercion to perform sexual acts, and so on. And don't forget that many of them are children unable to report anything, unable in many cases even to know what they're experiencing. And believe it or not, there are "perfectly normal" men who can blame a 10 or 12 year old girl for enticing them into rape. Please google Cleveland, Texas.

Allow me to reprise the story of my Women, Crime, and Justice class from spring semester 1999 at Arizona State University - West Campus. Many of the male students were current police and probation officers from the Phoenix metro area. One, a beefy assertive blond of about 35, always sat in the middle of the classroom and virtually always challenged everything Prof. Marie Griffin said about women. The women in the class, myself included, felt this guy's misogyny a mile away.

As we were discussing rape and how the definition had changed over the years and how prosecution of rape charges had changed, this guy insisted, in no uncertain terms, that he had a RIGHT to sex with a woman he had spent money on.

"You mean if I spend a couple hundred bucks on her, take her to dinner and a show and so on, I can't expect something in return? That's not fair."

There was an audible gasp from the class.

Remember, this guy was a law enforcement officer in some capacity. How sympathetic do you think he was going to be if confronted with a situation in which a woman was claiming to have been raped by her date? By her husband? By her ex-boyfriend?

Maybe this guy never actually raped anyone, but do you see how his mindset can affect the behavior of others?

What if he HAD been confronted with a "domestic situation" where a woman was raped by her live-in boyfriend and he had told her it was her own fault? What if he HAD walked away and done nothing? What do you think her feelings would have been? What do you think she would have done the next time the boyfriend forced her to have sex? Do you think she'd have called the cops? do you think she would have reported it? What do you think she would have told her friends, her sisters, her daughters, when they asked her what they should do? How willing do you think she would have been to tell them to call the cops and report it? Or would she more likely have said, "Deal with it, honey, 'cause nobody's gonna believe you."

THAT, my friend, is a rape culture. It's not a culture where men are told overtly that it's okay to rape; it's a culture in which they're told overtly not to, but covertly it's wink wink nudge nudge and "Take it, brother, any chance you get and blame her afterward, 'cause you're ENTITLED to it."