It’s not okay to rape a woman.
This should be one of those blatantly obvious things. I shouldn’t have to waste my precious column space over.
However, with the last pair of high-profile rape cases – the alleged attacks on four young women after the MTV Video Music Awards and the rape of a pair of Oregon nuns – I tend to hear people pinning the blame on women, and exonerating their attackers.
I’m reminded of a conversation I had last year with a pair of “gentlemen” about the different levels of rape. Rattlers, did you know that some rape is acceptable and some isn’t? Or at least that’s what these guys were trying to tell me.
Women tend to be even worse about it. They write off rape victims as “whores” and “fast” with malicious glee.
“That’s what she gets,” is the phrase echoed by other women in dorm halls, in work offices, over telephones and in e-mails.
I’m sure that many, many Rattler women – myself included – can recall a bad situation that she put herself in that could’ve taken a bad turn.
With that in mind, I don’t understand how women can be so calloused to another woman that states that she’s been raped.
Be it a groupie trying to meet her favorite star, or a woman of holy status that took a midnight bike ride, no woman deserves to be raped.
It’s not okay to rape a woman, even if she’s wearing provocative clothing.
It’s not okay to rape a woman, even if she has a reputation of being a tramp.
It’s not okay to rape a woman, even if you paid for her drinks.
It’s not okay to rape a woman, even if she told you yes at first.
I’ll repeat that as often as necessary. I’ll repeat this until you guys – and girls – finally get it.
Fellas, if some girl promises you the time of your life at 2 a.m., then comes over to your apartment and changes her mind, leave her alone. I’m not saying you have to drive her home. You don’t even have to call her a cab. You can scrape her clothes off the floor and throw her clothes and her naked behind into the streets, for all I care. It’s not illegal to be a grade-A jerk. It is illegal, however, to force yourself upon a female who has told you no.
No means no. Silence means no. In fact, unless your girl has said yes and she’s rolling the condom on your penis, it’s best to just assume she means no. Women nowadays aren’t very quiet. If we want to have sex with you, you’ll know.
Like the infamous orgasm question states: if you have to ask, the answer is no.
J. Danielle Daniels, 20, is a junior political science student from Dallas. She is The Famuan’s Deputy Opinions Editor. She can be reached at rattlerbrat@hotmail.com.