Blog Post 16: Rape Prevention

On Thursday, the class talked about how to prevent rape. I find the ways posted by Elizabeth very interesting. According to her article, one of the preventions for rape is not to stop the rapist by using physical resistance, because physical resistance could anger the rapist more and increase the possibility for physical violence. Instead, a woman should use verbal language to distract the rapist and change his mind. I think this is actually a very clever way of resolving the situation of rape. As the article suggests, man rape for different reasons; they either have sexual fantasy about the woman or are angry with the woman. If the man is fantasizing about the woman and forcing himself on her, the woman could use conversation to show him she is not the idealistic woman for him, so it turns his desires off. If he does not fantasize her anymore, he wouldn’t want to have sex with her. I think it’s also interesting sometimes shouting for help can stop a rapist’s movement. I think shouting gives a temporary shock to the rapist because it makes him think someone might hear him and break in to help the victim; this gives the victim the opportunity to push him off and run away. To me, it may be more likely for the rapist to let go if he fears to be caught, unless he is sure nobody will hear them.

The article also shows that it’s important for women to sense the man’s sexual intent and escape early. But I feel like some men are very quiet and calm, and it’s difficult for woman to read their facial expression. Especially if a woman is interested in the man, she will let her guard down and open her heart to him, this puts her in a dangerous situation. If the rapist is clever, he might seduce her into sexual intercourse by manipulating her emotion. So I guess women also need to have good self-control on their mind and emotion in order to avoid being taken advantage. But if the incident took place at a bar, it will be unlikely a woman can stay clear after a few drinks with a guy, so it might also be important she doesn’t get herself too drunk to know what the guy is planning after her.

I think a woman should know herself enough to get in touch with a guy. This is because man and woman have different ways to communicate their thoughts, which could cause misunderstanding and conflict. For me, I feel like I always irritates a guy when I was talking to him, so I know I should probably avoid being in a private situation with a guy alone because I know I can’t handle that situation once he gets provoked. But I know for some women, they know how to handle a guy when he is angry, they are mature enough to sit in a bar and hanging out with a guy. But for girls like me, they should know they are not so experienced with a guy and back off.

Another article posted by Elizabeth is about the traits of serial rapists versus single victim rapists. The article shows that serial rapists don’t try to kiss their victims before raping them, instead they threat their victims by weapon. In addition, serial rapists make conscious decisions before rape while single person rapists often do not (because they are drunk). This article suggests that it’s harder to avoid serial rapists than one time rapists because serial rapists are way more complex. Most girls don’t believe that their male friends are serial killers until they found out that they are. If serial rapists are more likely to disguise themselves to be good people, then maybe it’s important for women to pay double attention to guy friends who they just met, and don’t trust a guy by his appearance. Women should know they could trust a guy before hanging out with him.