Reddit asks rapists why they did it
In a controversial and lengthy Reddit thread, rapists had a chance to explain why they did what they did. The question posed which elicited a massive response was: “Reddit’s had a few threads about sexual assault victims, but are there redditors from the other side of the story? What were your motivations? Do you regret it?”
The motivations were varied. In an article on Jezebel, Katie J.M. Baker categorized the rapists’ reasons that ranged from mixed messages to peer pressure to objectifying women, among others. One said: “She ran to my bed and didn’t want me to touch her. I didn’t understand what had happened. This hypersexual person who had offered to give me head suddenly didn’t want to touch me.”
But what struck Baker most was how rapists and would-be rapists get so “disconnected from reality that they don’t even feel the need to look women in the face to be sure they’re interested.” She shares one reddit to drive home her point: “…It was then I looked at her face. She was petrified. I at that point pulled myself together, rolled off her and apologized. My hormones were RAGING. I asked her why she didn’t want to. I told her what I thought above. She started to cry.”
Baker believes that a discussion on rape is important if we want to truly understand how the rape culture gets perpetuated. She cites Charlotte Shane’s essay on The New Inquiry which asks that “sobriety and clarity” reign in these discussions. The ideas of Shane, a writer and prostitute, may not necessarily be popular but her call for “honest conversation” is certainly a breath of fresh air on such
a hotly-debated issue as rape: “We should not be so desperate to establish the seriousness of rape that we stigmatize intelligent discussion of it.”
The Reddit thread has just opened up the doors to a more open discussion of the matter although it might not be the best place for it, Baker writes. But it’s a start. One reader, InvaderSzym, agrees: “I think we should be listening to this. Understanding this. Because then we can start showing people “THIS IS RAPE CULTURE” These ideas, these thoughts, these actions. The way these rapists are acting.
And we can start to change it. It’s not about them saying how hard it was to rape people. It’s about saying… This is what a rapist thinks like. And this is why they think it.”
Category: News In Review
