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DATE_RAPE

((       
Side trip into "date rape": hard to take the concept as seriously
as many feminists would like.
))                   
                     

Date: Wed 18 Apr 90 19:48:57-PDT
From: Joe Brenner 
Subject: rapo

The three part series on rape at Stanford, as I see it had 
two main themes: first, that the university doesn't do a good 
job of handling such cases, the second that men need to be 
educated about what rape is (so they won't do it by accident). 

There's a third possible message that was ignored, probably 
because it could be mistaken for blaming the victim: 
women need to take more responsibilty for their own
defense. 

It *is* difficult to convict someone of rape, in fact it's 
difficult to convict someone of any crime.  The system was 
set up that way intentionally, and with good reason.  

(On the side of the conservatives who want to chip away at 
the rights of the accused?) 

There's probably room for improvement in the way our legal 
system and the stanford administration deals with rape cases, 
but it probably isn't going to get all that much bettter. ((>>) 
                                                                
(Anyone who expects "sensitivity" and "empathy" out of a bureaucracy 
is crazy.  Personally I would be happy if we could be assured
of competence and fairness.) 

For example, if you want to maintain some control over your 
life, maybe you shouldn't go out and get totally wasted.  

Or if you say no, and the guy you're with ignores it, maybe you  
should walk away from him.  Imagine how this sounds in a court room:
"Why didn't you run away?"  "I just froze."

You might consider some self-defense classes, and so on. 

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