Not Sex

This post is about sex and related topics, btw. (also, I should be working on homework.)

The thing is I'm also not sure where to start. I can start with this: I was involved in an internet argument about rape. also I just read a book about rape. a Natural history of Rape, actually. Written by scientists. (biology, Mr. Thornhill and anthropology, Mr. Palmer) Stating and making a case for rape being about sex and less violence or power. (it states that males with less influence, wealth, thing women want would be more likely to rape, but men with access to women will rape too.)

The argument was whether or not dress had to do with the likelihood of getting raped. My stance as most of the people that were vocal (except the opposing opinion, one woman)was that wearing revealing clothes will draw attention to the young woman in question. Her argument was we were blaming the victim. We were not, we were saying that a rapist would notice someone wearing revealing clothes and depending on the situation would be more likely to rape her-- provided she was vulnerable. Not saying that would be the only possible woman a rapist would pick.

I decided to read the book because, of another internet argument. I wondered if rape could be genetic. I did a search and found a site about scorpionflies. (pieces from the book of the book) Female scorpionflies (I can't find the page I read) prefer to mate with a male that brings a gift of saliva or a dead bug. She will avoid males without gifts. If a male does not have a gift but still wants to mate he has some sort of limb– a clamp located on the top of the abdomen. He will use this organ to hold a female while he mates with her. The organ has no other purpose; if the organ is covered in beeswax it prevents the male from forcing sex, but he can still mate with her if he has a gift.

The book argues that the majority of woman raped are when they are the most fertile (15ish to 22ish) and that they have the most psychological pain compared to younger or older females raped. This is because it greatly impairs their reproductive success. (they didn't get to choose; their mates might leave them; etc) (I was called out in the debate, because of that. "funny that was the first thing that came to your mind." I cited my source later, but she'd already said it was a mysogonistic thread and left.) The book states that rape is either an adaptation or by-product of one (the authors disagreed.) The fact that most rape victims are young women is one of the reasons they say for rape to be sexually motivated.

If rape was all about power why wouldn't rapists just beat women? and why do women experience more psychological pain after being raped versus being assaulted? If men rape just to prove their manliness, why wouldn't women rape to prove that they are more powerful then the patriarch? Some social scientists, the book states, would say that rape is entirely learned and getting rid of the patriarch would stop rape, but again if it's about power that also wouldn't work, especially if it was a matriarch. (of course, that's not a statement for it being biological(genetic and environment)/about sex.) If it is about power why do most rapists only used enough force to subdue the woman and most let them live?

If rape is about sex, wearing 'sexy' clothes will attract more attention from a rapist. That does not mean that only sexy women get raped. This also doesn't mean it is her fault. It is just something she should be aware of. It's not her fault. It is not the only reason women don't report rape. (because they think they will be blamed because they dressed sexy.) One other being their males might leave them, believing they have damaged goods or that she wasn't raped, but was covering for consensual sex. reproductive success is lost by a rape.

Just because it most probably have evolved does not make it right. I am not blaming any victims of rape for being raped.