Saturday, October 16, 2010

Why Most Rapists Have a Permanent "Get Out of [Going to] Jail Free" Card

image of card from Parker Bros. Monopoly board game is from here; we can note the figure on the card is white, a man, and not poor--his well-tended moustache was a sign of class privilege at the time

The above video is from CBS News and if it is not playing properly above, it may be viewed *here*. Please disregard the stupid commercial before the news segment: it's important to capitalist media but not to those of us who are sexual assault survivors, that we get sold lots of CRAP before we find out any accurate information about rape. Please also note the racism in the report. Note which cities are targeted in the CBS report. What is the race of the raped person? Also ask yourself this question: What race do you associate with each of the cities noted that were investigated, before they get to the part about NYC's practice of testing all rape kits. This is how WHM supremacist media perpetuate racist myths while telling stories that contain accurate information. And the racism is not just in trying to associate men of color with "the rapists", but it is also by associating only white women as the women who are raped. To erase women of color as a population of women raped by het men of all colors is to perpetuate white het male supremacy. To ignore the rape of poor women is, in the U.S., both an act of classism and an act of racism, as the population of poor people in the U.S. are disproportionately poor. That poor women being raped is almost entirely ignored by the media is one way to perpetuate white het male supremacy. To ignore the fact that one in three women (compared to one in four women nationally) are raped, primarily by white men, when the women are American Indian, is also to perpetuate white het male supremacy.

If you only see men of color shown as rapists on television, ask why that is. It's not because men of color rape more than white men do. It is because the media wants you to think men of color, especially Black and Brown men, rape more than white men do. It's also because the racist police are more likely to arrest a Black or Brown man accused of rape than a white man. If you only see white women shown as the population of women who are raped, ask yourself why that is. It's not because only white women are raped.

If you see more news stories on television about the problem of men being falsely accused of rape than you do of men being accurately accused of rape, ask yourself why that is. It's not because most accusations of rape, by a woman against a man, are false. Well over 90% of accusations of rape by women against men are truthful, accurate, and valid. Most men who are rapists will never be [accurately] accused of rape.

If men who are rapists are not described as domestic terrorists by the media, ask yourself why that is. It's not because men who rape in this country aren't domestic terrorists. It's because women being terrorised by men is not considered "terrorism". It's not considered terrorism because men aren't terrorised.

All of this perpetuates white het male supremacy and systemic and systematic rape as a form of social-political control and domination of women by men, by denying various truths about rape in the U.S.

2 comments:

  1. Criminal "Justice" System, riiiiiiiiiight. Shouldn't it be named something more like Criminal "Classist" System? I'll bet those "unwinnable" cases would have magically become winnable if the victim (I hate using that word, I'll have to come up with another one) or his/her family/associates had ample funds and clout OR if it appears to have some political gain for the prosecutor involved! It has nothing to do with justice at all!

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  2. Yes, Patti,

    The criminally unjust pro-CRAP system. Racist, classist, misogynistic to the core. A system so pro-rape that its male citizens perpetually joke about prison rape and do nothing at all to stop any rape.

    Money, they say, can't buy you love, but it (used to establish clout, social power, and purchase plenty of defence attorneys, sure can buy you a "Get Out of [going to] Jail Free" card.

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