Blog Post 12: Feminist Response Group and Anti-Rape Wear

In today’s discussion the class talked about feminist response. The class talked about the article “The Danger of Anti-Rape Wear.” I think it’s interesting that this article address the issue of gender inequality. It says man always tells woman what to do but they never take action themselves. I think it’s interesting that the author questioned why can’t man stay home and let the woman go out at late night? Because after all it’s the man who are attacking the woman. This is a very interesting argument and I can see how strong minded this female author is. But I don’t disagree with the idea that woman should stay home at night, because realistically men are more powerful than woman, no matter how idealistic the thought of overthrowing male dominated society is, people need to face the fact man are indeed the dominator of this society, and this domination is culturally shaped by society. When majority of people believes in man are stronger, it’s hard for the feminists and the minority group to gain power. People think woman may encounter danger at late night with good reason. Practically women are observed as both physically and emotionally vulnerable. And this character is hardly changed because it is passed on by genes or biological evolution. Woman are born to be shorter and thinner than man; and they are born to have more emotional swings. Physical appearance does affect the way society perceives man and woman. This is why men are expected by society to act stronger but woman are allowed to be weak. If woman really want to be stronger, they should not only change their attitude or thinking but also their actions. Women could learn to empower themselves by the way they talk; when a man is attacking a woman by verbal assault, a woman knows how to retreat or defeat by using words. A woman could also just walk away from a man if the guy is unwilling to cooperate. A woman could do anything to avoid man laying hand on her, like asking bystander’s help. A woman could call her friends or family to seek for help too.

I think in the issue of sexual assault, it’s reasonable for woman to blame man for what happened, but the incident of rape is certainly not caused by man only, it involves both a man and a woman. So it’s hard to tell who holds the major responsibility because there is no evidence to prove who or what triggered the incident. It could be triggered by the guy’s behavior, or it could be triggered by the victim’s ambiguous response, we don’t know. So if there is someone to blame or take action, it should be both the male perpetrator and the woman who is perpetrated. The law should identify the true nature of man and woman; it shouldn’t just blame woman just because woman doesn’t talk as much as man does. The gender inequality not only expressed from the issue of rape but also from the legal and justice system. In my opinion, in romantic relationship, man are always the one who keeps complaining but it doesn’t mean they are not responsible for the fight; their female partner tend to listen to their complaints because they are way more mature than their male partners. Man are likely to be the kid who needs to be coddled; woman always take care of their male partner’s emotional stress, that’s why they keep their mouth shut and listened to them patiently. In the incident of sexual assault, it’s very likely a man started the whole incident and blame it on woman, but this doesn’t mean woman are the ones that deserve to be blamed or hold responsibility for the incident. The justice system should clarify or define the difference between man and woman when both confronting conflicts before giving righteous judgment about who should be blamed.