Day of Blogs

In my first post here, I said “I believe that sexual violence is perhaps the most harmful, blatant, and yet insidious manifestations of patriarchal power.”

I of course do believe this. Sexual violence is an epidemic specifically targeting women. And men make up a huge, vast majority of those who commit rape and sexual assault. But it’s important to remember that men can also be raped and sexually assaulted — and sadly, they are. According to RAINN, 1 in 10 rape survivors is male. Three percent of men have experienced rape or attempted rape in their lifetimes. These numbers pale in comparison to the numbers of women who are sexually assaulted, but that hardly makes them insignificant. We also have to remember that women are indeed capable of sexual assault and rape.

About a month ago, James Landrith bravely wrote his story about being raped by a woman while he was passed out. It’s an important read. It also inspired Renee at Womanist Musings to write a post on the topic of rape committed against men.

Whether or not I agree with Renee’s conclusion that rape may have little to do with gender depends on how you look at the statement.  I don’t believe that rape has little to do with gender — I think that gendered socialization makes men much more likely to rape and women much more likely to be raped by them for a reason.  I do believe that it has very little do with sex, both sex as an act, and sex as a biological indicator.

There is nothing innate in the male body or brain that causes them to be more likely to rape. There is nothing innate in the female body or brain that causes them be more likely to not rape.  A person doesn’t rape or not rape because he/she has a penis, and doesn’t rape or not rape because he/she has a vagina.  If I did believe that who rapes is biologically determined, I wouldn’t do the work that I do, and I’d be letting rapists off very easy.

I’ve never raped anyone, and it is not because I’m a woman.  It is because I have never chosen to rape.  Choice is always the deciding factor.