“You deserve rape”, your sign read. You call yourself "Brother Dean" and apparently you have advocated extreme viewpoints like this often for the past few years at the University of Arizona
You disgust me. You infuriate me. You completely baffle me. I sincerely hoped our society had come further since the medieval ages, but I guess people like you are still holding onto these twisted, misogynistic, archaic beliefs.
All kinds of people, exercising their ever-extending definition of free speech, yell at students when they walk across campus; people telling us we are going to hell because we are not Christian, people telling us to go to confession, people telling us Judgment Day is coming and that we better get out our bibles. Most of these people yell at us for strictly religious issues, and it does not really faze me.
What we are used to seeing
The person who yells, “You deserve rape” does worry me. He is not preaching any religion, not offending Catholics or atheists. He is, essentially, offending everyone with a body. While your rants were directed toward women, you offend people of all religions and beliefs, as you are arguing for the dehumanization of people, which would make them deserving of rape in your eyes.
No one deserves rape. No one deserves the months, years or the lifetime of emotional scarring and intimacy issues that rape can create. In addition to the immense emotional abuse, the physical abuse can have lifelong tolls as well. Sexual assault is a prominent cause in the spread of HIV, as most sexual assailants do not use protection, and the forced behavior more easily causes injuries that allow for the transmission of sexual diseases. The effects of rape can damage the body and mind of the victim for years.
What could a woman possibly do to deserve being forcefully given an STD? The answer is nothing. She should not be responsible for anyone else’s sexual irresponsibility, and you cannot steal her sexual consent.
You argue that, “If a woman dresses provocatively, gets blackout drunk, and is wearing really revealing clothing, then I would say she is partially responsible for the rape”. Women have the freedom to do what they want. They can wear what they want, and drink what they want, where they want and when they want. They deserve the freedom to live their lives, as long as they are not infringing on the rights of others. Victim blaming is absolutely ludicrous. If a woman is wearing a tank top and shorts when it is hot outside, she does not deserve rape. Just because you can see her oh so enticing shoulders, does not mean you are entitled to her body. Even if she is naked, you are never entitled to her body. She must willingly give it to you, and even at that point, you are not entitled to it.
When your attacks focused on women’s clothing choices, you degraded them for dressing “immodestly” in shorts. Didn’t we leave belittling women for their clothing in the 1900's? I thought we had made progress when we went from wearing only dresses, to shocking pants, to even short skirts all in one century! Alas, then you dragged us backwards again. Women are earning impressive positions in all types of difficult fields, pushing to eradicate the gender bias in the workforce, and you are still basing their worth on their clothing choices? You tell girls that their parents won’t be proud of them, as they go to class at a university they worked hard to get into, just because they are wearing shorts? What about the woman with the 4.0, or the President of the Students Association, or the woman that earned a full ride scholarship? Are they worthy of no judgment besides the fibers that cover their bodies? My parents are damn proud of me, and I can tell you it has nothing to do with what I am wearing, because I am more than the clothes on my body. I am an accumulation of accomplishments as a human, and what I wear does not change that.
Furthermore, I am “sorry, not sorry”, for wearing shorts when it is hot outside and not wanting my legs to suffocate in my jeans. It is important to note that, despite any weather conditions, I can still dress how I please without being deserving of punishment. Beyond the shorts, apparently even yoga pants aren’t acceptable for you. You say, “Yoga pants are a sin”. I am pretty sure it is the men that lust at women’s bodies in yoga pants that are the sin in this situation, not the choice in how the women dresses herself. When we hear about a rape and question, “What was she wearing?”, we are perpetuating victim blaming, while we should be asking, “What was he thinking?” of the rapist.
Beyond a women’s choice of clothing, you believe she is deserving of rape for her choices relating to alcohol. If she drinks to the point of intoxication, she does not deserve rape. If she is “black out drunk”, as you say, she is obviously past the point of consent, and this becomes a lapse in the rapist’s judgment, not hers'. The act of sex requires two people; therefore, it requires consent from both sides. You cannot take this right to consent away from her because she is expressing other rights, such as choosing what to wear or how much to drink. None of these choices change the need for consent from both parties engaging in sexual intercourse.
Just because she is wearing fewer clothes than you, does not mean she is less of a human being than you. How can you preach that it is morally wrong and deserving of punishment to wear shorts, while you are saying it is completely acceptable to invade someone’s privacy and essentially rob them of their sexual consent? Why is raping another human being acceptable, while wearing shorts not?
It is interesting to note that you consider yourself an adequate preacher of the Christian religion. You believe you are backing your outlandish beliefs by Christian principles of purity, but your argument falls short in many ways. You wear shirts that proclaim “The Virgin Club” that advertise your said purity. Why are you promoting rape then? Why do you promote the taking away of said purity? The act of rape is forceful and arguably un-pure, in your terms, as you are engaging in sex. You cannot argue that “you deserve rape”, while you also preach that sex is a sacred act saved for marriage. Why do you get to decide when to have sex, but the victim of rape does not?
I hope that many Christians cringe at your vulgar message that you associate with their religion, and that others react to your message in astonishment and anger. Whether you actually believe what you preach, or are just hungry for attention, I hope the message to all of us remains clear: No one deserves rape.
