Tag Archives: sexual assault

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From the Acton Institute Power Blog -
Persecution Of Christians: Will It Get Worse?

Even Christian-majority states are experiencing unprecedented levels of exclusion, discrimination and violence. The 2015 World Watch List reveals that a staggering number of Christians are becoming victims of intolerance and violence because of their faith. They are being forced to be more secretive about their faith.

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SWEDEN: Surging Scandinavian Rape Wave Attributed to Who?

According to 1onews.com, “A woman’s chance of being raped in Sweden during her lifetime is about one in four which is about the same as the chance of being raped in a war torn country such as Syria or Iraq. When it comes to rape, Islamized Sweden is already in a state of war. Sweden does not publish statistics on immigrant crime. If we want a clue about who is committing these tens of thousands of rapes and other types of sexual assaults, we can look at to another Scandinavian country, Sweden’s neighbor Norway. In Norway nearly 100 percent of all Oslo attack-rapes (where the attacker and the victim did not know each other) in the last five years were committed by immigrants from “non-Western” countries. In the Norwegian city of Stavanger, 90 percent of rapes are committed by “immigrants.”

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Girl Meets God in the Classroom, Part 1

I had used Lauren Winner’s Girl Meets God once before in class, an honors freshman colloquium on the theme of metamorphosis of body, heart, mind, and spirit. On the first or second day of discussing the book, comments made by a few students surprised, stunned, and, ultimately, silenced me.

“I wasn’t raised with any religion,” one student said, “so I can’t relate at all to this book.” A couple other students agreed.

And Part 2:

This one.

Dear Mom and Dad (and whomever else I made a hypocrite in the eyes of God), the letter-essay begins.

I suppose all the baptismal water has evaporated out of my pores by now. Every inch of my body must scream sin to you. I wonder what happened. When did I make you feel that you failed as a disciple of Christ? I am sorry that I made it impossible to keep the promises you made twenty years ago while I was crying in your arms in a gown of white. I feel guilty knowing that even though you believe in the existence of heaven, you do not have the reassurance that you will meet me there one day. I am sorry I do not believe in what you do.

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Summary of the OIA Method

  1. Observation – what does it say?
  2. Interpretation – what does it mean?
  3. Application – how do I need to change?

I'll be referring to this often, I think.

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Why are 'Christian movies' so bad? Talking about Jolie, Zamperini, 'Unbroken' and wisdom from Robert Duvall...

I feel exactly this way about a "Christian book" that I'm reading.

 

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The "slutwalk" is a series of rallies that started when a police constable in Toronto suggested that one way for women to stay safe is to avoid dressing like sluts.

The feminist firestorm was quite impressive.  The beat of the drum began..."we can dress any way we want to."

 

From Wiki

There have been a number of responses to the SlutWalk phenomenon, not all of them positive. For example, Australian commentator Andrew Bolt observed that guidance on how to dress in any given context is simply risk management, and such advice need not exclude opposition to victim-blaming.[20]Rod Liddle agrees, saying "...I have a perfect right to leave my windows open when I nip to the shops for some fags, without being burgled. It doesn’t lessen the guilt of the burglar that I’ve left my window open, or even remotely suggest that I was deserving of being burgled. Just that it was more likely to happen."

But Jessica Valenti says: "The idea that women’s clothing has some bearing on whether they will be raped is a dangerous myth feminists have tried to debunk for decades."

Mary Kassian responds with Five Problems:

1. It absolves girls of risk-management responsibility:

Using an example from her own hometown, Kassian reinforces the idea that looking like a victim often results in being a victim.

One aspect that was missed in both articles is the statistic (I'm also reading "Rid of My Disgrace") that many women who are sexually assaulted know their attackers.

On one hand, if the attacker is a person who is seen every day, it doesn't matter how a woman dresses.  If the attacker is about power and violence, that will come out, no matter who modestly the woman dresses.

On the other hand, if the attack is what we call "date rape" - if you dress like an invitation, you might get an RSVP.

2. It equates sex with power:

Here's the thing - in the world, sex IS power.  In a world where sexual harassment is defined by how a woman perceives the situation, not by how the man intended it, sex is power.

In a Christian book, where sexual assault is so broadly defined that a man who asked twice for sexual intimacy from his wife, after being refused one is guilty of "assault" - sex IS power.

Is it right?  No, but it IS.

In dressing like sluts (it's the term they want to use) these women who participate are stating that they can openly display their sexuality in any public forum they wish, while men have to deal with it in silence, they are claiming the power.

3. It teaches girls it's cool to be crass

This is the paragraph where Kassian decries the crassness of the word "slut" - I'm not sure I disagree, but there are way worse words out there.  The word has a valid meaning and it's part of our language.

The protesters want to "reclaim" the word.  Considering what the definition is, I'm not sure why all that many people would want to reclaim it.

4. It casts men as oppressors

Get rid of male privilege and you'll get rid of the problem. (...) Female to male domestic violence is statistically just as prevalent as male to female.

Kassian is correct here.  The problem is not male privilege. it's violence.

5.  It encourages sexual permissiveness

Again, correct.  but I think that she gets it a little sideways.

Okay, let me get this straight. SlutWalk thinks that we live in a culture that's too permissive with regards to men forcing women to have sex. But it also thinks that it's healthy for women to be sexually permissive.

She's treating it as a false dichotomy- I don't think it is.

I don't agree with the world's permissive sexual standard, but I see past Kassian's portrayal.

Permissive sex is okay according to the world.  Being FORCED is not.

The final paragraph is spot on.

Sexual violence is a horrific sin. But SlutWalk isn't helping matters any. Sadly, I think it's just shooting women in the foot. It's creating a mindset and culture that exacerbates the very problem it says it wants to solve.

 

 

 

 

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I just purchased the book, and already I've got concerns.

Sexual assault is a serious crime, it wrecks people.  It needs to be addressed, it needs to be stopped.  Women who have been sexually assaulted need to be ministered to with the utmost of love and care.

BUT>>>

when the definition of "sexual assault" is so broadened to the point where anything qualifies, the term becomes meaningless.

Those people who have been sexually assaulted - it undermines the seriousness of what they truly have been subjected to.

I have a friend who was "gang-raped" when she was 12 years old.  She had a child as a result.  She is affected to this day.  That qualifies and it is REAL.

When I was a pre-teen, I was "pantsed" by a neighbor boy.  We were in a field (I think pulling weeds in a bean field or something of the sort) and he was messing around and grabbed my shorts and yanked them down around my ankles, underwear and all.  Under this broad definition, that qualifies.

Please, don't undermine the reality of my friend's pain, but telling me that a childhood prank was "sexual assault."