Subscribe to Breaking NewsWithers: Calling for rape as retribution
Happens all the time. A cretin will be caught, and found guilty, for anti-gay violence and message boards will be filled with calls of prison time where rape is punishment.
Usually the wish is for the culprit to be another jail-mate’s “prison bitch.” These calls for rape as retribution are usually penned by men (hard to imagine women jumping on the bandwagon). Maybe the anonymity of the internets allows us the privilege to type mess we would never say in public. Could be “prison as fantasy” is so ubiquitous in gay male porn that it seeps into our consciousness. I do not know the reason, but hoping a odious human being is raped is a sick wish.
Yes it’s the cheap movie joke, or manufactured fantasy, but sexual assault in prison is no laughing matter. Sort of strange that needs to be said, but I’m tired of reading comments that could have been penned by a standard frat-boy yokel . Considering the number of people in detention centers in the United States (2,310,984 according to Justice Department numbers), it should surprise few that sexual attacks in prisons are a problem.
Before you tell me it only happens to those who deserve it, remember assaults are reported by people who spend only a night in jail for minor offenses.
“This is something that could happen to a kid who has no priors and who happens to make a mistake,”said Brenda V. Smith, an American University law professor.
No one is asking we turn our care and support from our victims of violence, and there is no contradiction in wanting people punished for grave misdeeds and left safe from attack. However, if you yell someone needs to be raped for doing grievous wrong, the difference between you and those who stalk is minor at best.
A few days ago, there was an article posted on this site regarding a theater production based on the mind of Matthew Shepard’s killer. The comments for that article are (I believe) part of what prompted this post. (Withers, please feel free to correct me, but this was the connection I noticed.) Go read those comments, then re-read Withers’ post. It might give you some insight.
Someone said it: these calls for rape or usually angry venting. I doubt many people would truly want to see someone raped as punishment for a crime.
However I think Mr. Withers missed a big point that is driving this sentiment: the ridiculous imbalance in our serving out justice. Minor drug crimes like possession get jail time. We are absolutely worked up over “alcohol crimes”. Anyone who has served on a jury is very likely to have witnessed an over zealous DA trying to take away someone’s driving priveleges over a beer.
I believe many people, like me, are angry to see homophobic bashers, very violent burglars etc just go to jail for life or not too many years. I wonder why our society has people like Mathew Sheppard’s killer under our care? Why don’t we just get rid of him? Yes, we will make mistakes, so we could limit it to certain circumstances where we know for sure. Maybe I’m wrong and we shouldn’t be killing people, but the sentiment is there..he is better off in jail? Then simply get rid of him. He has shown himself to be not capable of existing in society, and our response is to give him a better life.
It is anger over unfair justice….and I’m referring to a case where the guy was caught. Too often we hear of crimes that police do not properly see as important or seem to agree with the assailant that gays should be beaten up.
So it is very tempting to call for rape when someone commits a hate crime…don’t forget the choice of punishment by these angry web posters is very specific as the homophobe would be hurt more by it, seemingly (probably not true at all).
It is tempting…but as Mr. Withers says, not a temptation we should give in to.
Rape is about power. It’s about domination and humiliation. It’s predatory. I just said something about this in the thread about the new epilogue to “the Laramie Project.” Having a visceral desire for something horrible to happen to somebody else is understandable as a reaction, but who really wants that wish to come true and stand as a representation of who they are? If you invest yourself that much in insisting somebody else be violated that way, it’s time to check yourself. This has nothing to do with forgiveness or passiveness–it has to do with living with yourself. Who really would choose to be the person who responds to a day’s crap by violating somebody on such a deep level? If you’re half as moral as your indignation would make you think, look at what’s in you once you act on impulse.
I remember listening to NPR once, in ‘94 or so, and there was a story about the frequency of male/male rape as the civil war dragged on in Bosnia. Try to Google it sometime and you get very little that’s on-point, whether for that specific theme or for more general discussion. It happens, though, it definitely happens. Very often it’s str8 men who are violated by other men, and it has nothing to do with “gaydar” or any of that. It’s about power. In a battlefield scene, that’s about as complete a domination as you’ll get, ’cause you left the victim to live with their shame (especially in a macho culture).
Teachermahn’s got a good point. When we find the attackers in cases here, name and shame. Put their pictures out there. Let the general community draw its own conclusions.
I couldn’t agree more with all the comments here outside of Leeanne’s. I myself am a gang rape survivor and I myself would never wish rape upon anyone!!!! It is a horrible life altering experience… My cousin, on facebook, and her friends were joking about a man that got raped by a stripper who penetrated him anally… My spouse told them rape is never funny regardless of which sex it occurs to. And I thank her for that because I would have said the same thing. All I know is that every day I hope that rape cease to exist in this world. I know it won’t but at least I can hope!!!!
I won’t comment on Leeanne! As a survivor of male on male rape while deployed in the military during a war I MUST agree with James. Victims, at least me, want their assailants punished with rape. An eye for and eye, so I felt that way. I did not report it and years later I received an apology letter from one of the assailants, the nerve. He asked me for my forgiveness. I decided the best I could do was throw the letter away and let GOD deal with his forgiveness.
Years later I don’t feel the same. I don’t want him raped, I want him and his “buddies” to be singled out in public so that their macho perception can be exposed and they can be humiliated like I was.
Sexual assault is never an appropriate punishment. Period.
http://stuffqueerpeopleneedtoknow.wordpress.com
Wow, I’m pretty confused about the first comment here, but I felt like adding something even before I read that comment.
I think Withers was referring to gay people asking for rape as retribution for crimes against gays. He says that “Maybe the anonymity of the internets allows us the privilege to type mess [sic] we would never say in public”. Agreed, IF your premise is that they want to be flamers. However, I think it’s anger in the moment. I still think that MOST people don’t want to see someone raped as retribution for a crime. If I am wrong, I’m living in a totally different world. You can’t always believe what you read on the internet.
I don’t quite understand what Leeanne is on about and, from the gist, I am grateful of the fact.
I couldn’t agree with the article more; although I don’t think any particular demographic is culpable for such repellent rhetoric. It crops up all over the place.
Leeanne, your logic is so painfully flawed I don’t even know where to begin. You claim that James has no idea about rape, and then go on to say that men being raped is totally different from women being raped. Amazingly he isn’t talking about women being raped anywhere in this article. He also doesn’t hold up women as special for not wishing retribution upon those who rape them. He is talking about homophobic violence, and having homosexual sex using as an act of violence against those who attack us. This issue is amazingly not about gender at all. It’s about homophobia.
Also, as he doesn’t claim women don’t wish rape upon those who rape them. He says that’s not the proper response, and I’m sorry to say much as it is the natural human response it isn’t the evolved response.
Your attack on him is uncalled for, illogical, and off topic. If he were talking about women being raped by men anywhere in this article and sharing some opinion on that unfortunate act of violence in our society then you would be on target. Unfortunately he isn’t and you aren’t.
For pete’s sake, Leeanne, did you actually READ this column, or did you just decide you wanted to attack a MALE author for talking about RAPE!? Sounds to me like you’re advocating the very thing that Withers is railing against: violating another person by forcing them into sexual intercourse against their will. Is a fantasy the same thing as actual perpetration? Of course not! Maybe you were just upset because he called you out (although not by name). And I challenge you to ask a man who has been violated by another man EXACTLY how he feels about it. You think women are the only people capable of being thoroughly destroyed by an act of sexual violence? Please, for the sake of your self and all those you come into contact with, please open your mind and your heart just a smidgen. Or just re-read the last paragraph of this column. Sheesh.
Withers: thank you. I don’t always agree with your perspective on issues, but I do appreciate that you put your opinions forth withOUT threats or calls for harm of any kind. I have, in fact, always appreciated your rather consistent calls to vigilance on this front, as I think this sort of vigilance is something ALL people should practice. Cheers, man. Cheers.
Your writing should clearly just be read by males. You have no idea about rape and you really shouldn’t even be discussing it. And male rape? Completely different from female rape. And I assure you females wish rape upon men about as much as you men rape females. So what’s that now adays? 10 times in a minute?