Women, stop drinking unless you want to get raped.

A very bold statement, I know. Allow me to elaborate.
Probably a good idea to point out from the start that the title is intrinsically linked to the article this post (read, rant) is based on. It is used in an ironic sense and in reference to that article. I say this to avoid the inevitable fuckwits that read the title and then comment before reading the rest.

Okay, uncomfortable pre-emptive threats out of the way, lets get to the point...

College Women: Stop Getting Drunk

Yeah. Read it and let it sink in before we go further.

Yeah. Now because you're a clever person and you are in awe at what you just read, read it all again just so you know you aren't dreaming.

Is this the world we now live in? "Well... if you hadn't have gotten drunk it would never have happened. Now wipe the semen off your face and get back on to the streets you whore".

Yeah, I'm definitely paraphrasing at this stage but the message is ultimately clear; If you get raped while pissed, you shouldn't have gotten pissed, you silly cow. Never mind the fact that someone harmed another human being and left lasting emotional scars that will ruin her life forever, lets just blame the alcohol.

Rape is a societal issue. It is not a victimless crime. It is a very real thing that hundreds of women go through every day; abusive parents and spouses, strangers in seedy bars, people you thought you knew...

It's about time we took a step back to look at the whole picture. The problem here stems from the fact that as a society, we are still a very male orientated culture. There's a reason there's less requirement for a "men's rights" campaign, the same reason a "white pride" march wouldn't necessarily fit modern society (other than EDL, that's okay apparently, for reasons I'm not quite sure about). There are exceptions, Fathers For Justice being a good example, but on the whole, it isn't necessary. Men are not an oppressed minority.
Try this for me. Walk down a city street until you find an advert on a billboard. Better yet, turn on your TV and watch an advert on there. Look at the side of a bus. Look for one containing a half-naked female (usually seen swooning towards the camera as though the very thought of being glued to the side of a bus gives her a tingly feeling).

Now take that woman, and replace her with a man. Don't replace the clothing (by all means replace the swimwear with the male equivalent), just replace the face and body. Now stand, look at your creation, and laugh at how ridiculous it is. Congratulations, you've just proven that male-orientated advertising reduces women to eye candy (and puts needless pressure on other women to match that image, but that's another rant). Any time you couldn't conceivably replace the woman in any advert with a male dressed in an equivalent fashion, you're looking at sexist advertising. You see it everywhere.

Now this advertising plays an important part in something called rape culture. If you don't know what it is, read up on it, its a complex thing that deserves more attention than I can give it.
Take the "Blurred Lines" video as an example (if you haven't seen it, its probably best that you spare yourself the effort). The title itself is a reference to the "two-face" nature of rape itself, the "blurred lines" between what can be conceivably be considered as rape and assault, and what cannot.
The lyrics of the song make numerous references to women "wanting it" when clearly not asking for it, and the lyrical genius makes numerous comparisons between women and animals. People say sexism is a thing of the past, but if 20 years ago women "belonged in the kitchen" and today they belong in a barn, can we really pretend we're making progress?
 The artist is also very honest about the fact that the  track was written to be "tongue in cheek" and was supposed to be degrading to women all along. Oh, well the fact that you're being ironic (and have spent a few thousand pounds on a glitzy video to showcase that irony)  make it perfectly okay. You're off the hook, you lowlife piece of shit.

Rape culture itself can be simply defined as the integration and acceptance of rape in society. This sounds a little strange, and I'm sure no one i know would openly accept rape as the norm within society, but the problem first comes from defining rape.
We like to think of rape as being something that doesn't happen in the area we happen to live. Something that very few people are capable of doing, perhaps it happens in poor areas, or on the dodgy estate with the house that has a sofa in the front garden. In actual fact, the majority of rape doesn't happen in the shadows, it happens out in the open. Rape is such a difficult crime to convict people for, and this is mostly because of the culprits... the majority of rape victims (as with murder) knew the attacker beforehand. The rapists that we hear about on the news are not the kind that I am interested in - they are serial killers who prefer to murder the minds of their victims to leave the rest of their body to suffer torment, they are the lowest of the low. No, the rapists that should worry people most are the ones that you live with, the ones that you drink with, the ones that you have grown up with... the "insiders".

I'm not saying this to scare people, what I'm saying will link back to the article I already posted. We never hear about these rapes because they are generally never reported. Not because the victim is too scared to admit to it, but because they know very little can be done about it.
The image of a rape as being a violent thing isn't usually correct either. Let me put it bluntly:

If a woman says no, and you carry on anyway (whether she tries to defend herself or not), you are a sex offender.
If you decide to "cop a feel" when you see a pretty woman at the bar, you're a sex offender.
If you in any way expose yourself to someone in a way that could be deemed threatening, you are a sex offender.

You see, this is what rape culture is. This is the type of behaviour that isn't seen as negative at all, it's seen as being normal, "boys will be boys"... it disgusts me.

This is the reason that we have articles telling women to stop getting drunk to avoid being raped.

This is the reason we have full page adverts of semi-naked women to advertise unrelated bullshit in magazines.

This is the reason there are whole portions of the Internet like the "lad's bible".

As a society, we refuse to accept that women are treated as second class citizens. Yes, women may have equal pay (or at least, more equal than a few years ago) and be eligible to apply for most jobs (still some way to go though), but when you look at a woman and see nothing but a pair of tits for you to ogle, you're as much of a victim of rape culture as the woman being beaten by her husband, the woman walking home from a bar alone, the woman being publicly humiliated for believing he wanted more than just sex... the survivors. You've been enslaved by a culture that is taking over, brought up to treat women like disposable income, something closely associated with wealth, a sort of portable dicking machine.

So now, take in the article one more time. Now think about it closely.
Is it right that we are telling innocent women to stay away from certain types of behaviour in case it provokes a reaction in men? Is it right that we are telling those same women to wear less revealing clothing to prevent unwonted advances? Is it right that we are completely failing to understand the impact and implications that certain actions can have on other people? You thought that groping her arse was funny? How about you grope her tits as well, bury your head in them, you've already started now.
Why are we teaching women how to avoid being raped, rather than teaching men not to rape? Whether you look down on women, or fear them, do you really think that touching someone without consent is a good way of making your attraction known? If we let this type of culture take over, it really will take over. 

I'm a bloke. I don't expect to understand everything there is to know about women.
I've always been very open about the fact that I consider myself to be a feminist, most people act very surprised, as though males couldn't possibly want equal treatment of the opposite sex.
The fact is, Feminism should be an important part of everyone's lives regardless of gender.
It doesn't mean I hate men because of their oppression of women, it means i respect people regardless of their gender, and believe that everyone should be treated the same. You wouldn't be openly racist, so why should it be okay to be openly sexist?

I fight for gender equality because I used to be that guy. I used to be the guy who watched the adverts and read the articles, I've treated women as eye candy and I've hurt a lot of them along the way. I may never have been physically abusive but not all scars are physical.
I've seen others close to me that have either been victims of rape culture or have participated in it, and I have seen the scale of the damage it can cause.


I hope you remember this rant the next time you look into a woman's eyes. I hope you see her eyes looking back at yours and consider for a fleeting moment that we might one day live in a world where both eyes are seeing the same thing.
Feminism isn't for women, feminism is for everyone; THAT is what feminism means to me.

Introduction

This blog isn't for you. This is all for me.

Every time i encounter something shitty, I will post about it here. Every time I get pissed off for no good reason, that goes on here too. And when I have a bad day and feel like breaking someone's nose? Yeah.

A lot of things piss me off, and if you follow this blog, you'll soon find that out.
Tatty bye x