Ariel Levy’s chapter discusses the provocative clothing choices and promiscuous behavior that many teenager girls participate in today. These girls’ choices may be motivated by a wish to be desired by the “boys.” This often causes teenage girls to try and one up another. Levy offers examples of numerous girls in middle school who perform oral sex on buses or make videos of themselves masturbating in hopes of gaining attention as well as popularity. The girls ranged from various socio economic classes, which show that this problem is prevalent amongst varied groups in society. Sex too often becomes an activity to gain acceptance instead of something that is meant for pleasure and intimacy. The author concludes her chapter with criticism of Bush’s administration increased funding for school education promoting abstinence from premarital sex. Wouldn’t it be more effective to have sex education which focused on safe sex and voluntary sex? Levy often blames teenage promiscuity on society but offers little criticism of the parents who do not adequately educate as well as monitor their teenagers. It would be more effective to educate children both at home and in the classroom with regards to contraception and safe sex. All teenagers need to remember that sex should be voluntarily activity and not peer pressured. Levy’s chapter bridges into a discussion regarding rape, introduced by Susan Brownmiller. Too often girls are seen as asking to be raped because of the attire they choose to wear or the promiscuous manner in which they act. Rape is an act violence; there is no justification.
Susan Brownmiller discusses the history as well as the myths of rape within her book, Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape. The author’s clarifies that rape is not primarily a sexual crime but rather an act of violence. Rape is an act of male dominance over women which leave women in a constant state of terror. Her book confronts the myths of rape. “All woman want to be raped,” “She was asking for it,” and “if you’re going to be raped, you might as well relax and enjoy it” (Brownmiller 272). It is interesting to note that her book was published in 1975 yet is still applicable today. When approximately one out of four women will be raped during their life, it shows that little, if any, progress has been made since the 1970s.
Whitney Walker’s article, “Why I Flight Back,” accompanies Susan
Brownmiller’s discussion on the fear that is often instilled within women. Ms. Walker explains her experience of taking self-defense classes in order to gain confidence and diminish the dominance that men have gained over women. Ms. Walker promotes these classes for all women. The author suggests that if women learn to defend themselves, the incidents of rape will diminish. These classes will provide women with a sense of confidence and make them feel less vulnerable. In Mrs. Walker’s case, she gained the ability to defend herself successfully against perpetrators. She explains that if someone is robbing an individual, she should hand over her wallet but if someone touches an individual sexually, she needs to respond defensively. When women fight back, the burden of fear that numerous women carry with them will decrease.
Emile Morgan offers a detailed description of the four rapes she has experienced in her article, “Don’t Call Me a Survivor.” This article was one of the more difficult things that I have read. This woman lives everyday recollecting the horrors she underwent. Can an individual who has been gang raped by a multitude of perpetrators for six hours and twenty-six minutes ever forget this incident? Yet, criminals who participate in such acts most probably live their lives with little or no remorse. The worst part was that her family, friends, and law enforcement, made little effort to support this teenager. Society needs to change. Rape is widely prevalent and too often overlooked. The abuse of alcohol and drugs commonly play a role in forced sexual behaviors. Women should not blame themselves for causing such acts of violence to occur. As Susan Brownmiller explains, rape is an act of violence and society needs to treat it as a crime.
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I agree with Alex's point that children should be educated at home about sex, which presents an opportunity to discuss the emotional/intimacy factors in addition to the basics of biology and health risks. The classroom is not an ideal space to represent sex as an act of intimacy. It is awkward for a science teacher to also have to discuss issues about sex, romance, and relationships, and I think as a result it becomes very standardized. Sex becomes separated from intimacy because it's easier to present as a scientific topic than an emotional, intimate one. Teachers can give lists of facts regarding birth control or STDs and avoid the more difficult and touchy subjects. Statistics can be repeated and memorized, emotional subjects cannot be adequately addressed with fact sheets. Sex Ed in schools fuels the separation of sex and pleasure because it presents it as a scary behavior with inherent risks. Of course, it is still completely awkward for parents to discuss sex with their children. But the parent-child relationship is much more appropriate than the teacher-student one for such difficult issues. The teacher-student dynamic is characterized, especially in public schools, by explanation of facts and then memorization and regurgitation on the part of the student. With numerous exceptions of teachers who care and develop close personal relationships with their students, there is no way for the average teacher to help students navigate the complex world of their growing sexual identities. Now, STD and birth control information is available to anyone through the internet. Parents and teenagers can both find out the hard information they need without a textbook. Sex ed in schools a relatively recent development, only staring in the early 19th century. It faces a lot of obstacles, including that public schools tend to standardize curriculum, which results in teachers being limited to rigid predetermined lesson plans. Parental and community involvement, which faces obvious challenges because it cannot be required or monitored, are the only ways to reconnect sexuality with intimacy.
ReplyDeleteAlex makes a number of important points. Mainly, that rape is too often overlooked and generally not taken seriously enough by society. The evidence shows that there are thousands of rape cases that go unreported because women feel ashamed and/or afraid of the consequences or retaliation. As Alex says, rape is simply an act of violence. And as such, rape should be treated with the gravity that other violent crimes are treated with. Our society, particularly the patriarchal section, needs to recognize the rampancy of rape and sexual violence, and understand that such a crime is a life-scarring one for the victim. Women in America are all too often raped and then without a support system to help them through the trauma. Maybe it’s because it is so common that people don’t take it seriously enough? Regardless of the reason, society’s perspective on rape needs to change drastically in order to eliminate this evil.
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