I almost didn't post this since it seems to just confuse people. But it certainly gets conversations started... so I'm posting it against my better judgement.
It's a great example of why the conversation goes nowhere. One man, trying to show his support for women's safety goes unheard and even attacked... one woman trying to have a conversation that actually goes somewhere... a third woman who's just angry and thinks that any suggestion of personal responsibility is blaming the victim.
http://www.upworthy.com/feminist-confuses-fox-news-host-by-suggesting-that-we-teach-men-to-not-attack-wo
Guest Post by Erik Kondo:
"In this case, Threat Reduction is represented by "teach men not to rape".
Risk Management is represented by Self-Defense. And Self-defense is divided into using a firearm vs. deterrence and employing weapons of opportunity such a pen.
This entire debate is nonsense because everyone is talking about different scenarios, but they are all calling the scenarios "rape".
Here is how I make sense of it all.
Teaching men not to rape women is COMMUNICATION in the form of Education. This type of Communication is effective for men who DON'T UNDERSTAND THE RULES. Since the majority of rapes are committed between people who know each other, many of these rapes could be seen as following in this category.
But, there are also those men who DON'T RESPECT THE RULES. For these men, communication is not enough, there needs to be ENFORCEMENT. In these cases, especially when dealing with a motivated stranger attacker, a firearm is a powerful tool of Enforcement.
AND in situations of a lower motivated attacker, using a pen may be enough. In this case, stabbing someone with a pen is both a higher level of Communication then just using your voice and a lower level of Enforcement then shooting someone. It all depends on the situation.
The problem is that everyone in this debate is both right and wrong, but neither side understands the "big picture" thus leading to more misinformation and confusion."
We need to "teach men not to rape" by raising them in loving families where women are deeply respected. That of course assumes there are any people around worthy of respect.... So it's a big subject. In the mean time we also have to deal with the world the way it is now. That' the hardest thing to do.