Who is worse; Kyle Sandilands or Adrian Bailey, Justin Bieber or Peter Dupas, Todd McKenney or Ivan Milat? I bet everyone would say "the latter" in all those comparisons. So why is it that the former is so maligned when, overall, they aren't all that bad to begin with? I was recently introduced to a new term, "rape culture": The idea that not only is violence against women ignored as a major problem in our own (and indeed most western) societies, it is actively encouraged. But which part of the public adds to rape culture? I believe it is often the activists themselves who have become distracted from who the real enemy is. Last night, I read an article regarding the tricky topic of rape that a facebook friend had posted. My impression of the author was that he was pretentious (he used the word "piquant" for christsakes) and that he was more about making himself seem like a moral authority than undergoing any kind of investigation into the issue. It's the kind of journalism I loathe. So I had no problem commenting negatively about him. The response to my comment was hardly overwhelming. But from the couple of people who did respond, the message was clear; "if you're against one person who conedemns rape, you're against everyone who condemns rape." It seems to me that this is the very kind of distraction that leads to the very culture that activists say they work so hard against. Or perhaps once again, as one activist told me, I've become a victim to "uninformed opinions".
in Coburg, Victoria, Australia
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