You have a very simplistic idea of what being raped is like. Your scenario is only one of many and definitely not the most common one. When you are a woman and suseptible to being raped, then you might have something to say. When a man is the one having the baby and the once expected to raise it and be the primarly care giver for 20 years, then you men might have a say in birth control or abortion, Until then, unless you want to support what the women say, I say you keep out of it. You don't know what an attempted rape is like: I DO, first hand. You don't know what being pregnant is all about. Women do.
I'M a woman, Esme. And I say he's right. So how are you going to dismiss ME and insist that women have to be helpless, unarmed victims?
I've had three babies, and raised two to adulthood (the third is five). I say keep your goddamned legs shut, accept that pregnancy is a possible consequence if you don't, and simple existence shouldn't be a capital crime. Would you like to tell ME to keep out of it?
I've also been assaulted by a would-be rapist (at least, I assume that's what having his fly undone and his penis sticking out while walking down the street meant). That man is dead now. Would you like to tell ME I don't know what attempted rape is like? What being pregnant is like?How are you going to claim your opinion is the only valid one allowable with ME?
What you experienced is not rape; it is someone exposing himself to you.
I have an idea; why don't you practice what you preach and stop telling people about their lives and experiences for them?
What part of "assaulted" did you miss in that paragraph? The exposure was incidental to the event, and I merely mentioned it as an indicator of what he had in mind when he assaulted me, as opposed to say, simply wanting to mug me. Insofar as, after being convicted of kidnapping and sexual assault in my case, he was later found to have murdered two other people - one a 2-year-old girl - I was very lucky to get away from him with just a struggle, some torn clothing, and years of nightmares.
I've have that happen too. Men who expose themselves are generally never rapists. They just get their jollies out of exposing themselves. It is nothing, absolutely nothing, like an attemted rape. In my case I was restrained by someone I had just, within minutes, met who I thought was a normal guy; a knife was held up to my face, and I was told I was going to be raped. That is an attempted rape.
See above re: don't tell me about MY ******* experience and what it was or wasn't. I realize you seem to be treasuring the "only
I am an expert on this subject; only
I can REALLY speak to this" status you're trying to award yourself, but you're just going to have to live with the fact that you AREN'T the only victim of violent sexual crimes on this forum, and you DON'T get to just dismiss everyone else as "not really knowing what it's like". You're going to have to ACTUALLY make an argument.
Had I had a gun, that could have been more dangerous to me, not less, as I was taken by surprise and was already restrained. No one on Earth should ever consider shooting someone who you think might rape you. You don't have a legal right to do that, and you may kill someone who has no ill intent toward you. Shooting a man who exposes himself to you on the street will probably get you a murder charge. If you see yourself as a 'helpless unarmed victim' simply because you don't walk around with a gun, that's a very sad thing. For the very most part, people create situations in which they might be victims of an assault by the choices the make and their own behavior, even by their demeanor. Be smart instead of a scardy cat with a firearm. Arm yourself with brains and knowledge instead of a gun.
You mean, the way you were unable to tell a rapist from a normal guy until he was close enough to physically restrain you? THAT sort of brains and knowledge?
I'll pass, and I'll also pass on the whole "Girl Power, I don't need to be armed to feel armed" pep talk. The fact of the matter is, if you DON'T recognize that you ARE a helpless, unarmed victim if you are, in fact, unarmed, you wind up . . . well, being physically restrained by a guy and threatened with rape.
Furthermore, it does not require "shooting someone you think might rape you" to defend yourself with a gun. As I have already pointed out, most uses of a firearm for defense every year do not involve any shots being fired. I will say, however, that if one is silly enough to own a firearm and not become educated and savvy enough to use it for self-defense without making herself less safe, then she probably SHOULDN'T own a gun. However, that lack of competence is not universal and shouldn't be assumed to be so.
BTW, thanks for using the correct shortened version of my name.
I didn't know there WERE any other shortened versions.
