Saturday, September 13, 2014

Mani/pedi rape kit…


Nail Polish And Manicure Set Background by hyena reality
Nail Polish And Manicure Set by hyena reality via freedigitialphotos.net

Yeah, I finally decided I was going to weigh in on the nail polish thing.  I was standing on the sidelines on this one, but I’m finally going for it.

Just a few points I wanted to make:

1. Not all rape victims are female.  Many men aren’t into wearing nail polish.  To be fair, there are also plenty of women who don’t like nail polish.  Why assume that women will want to add something to their beauty routine?

2. The nail polish is invented by men, which to some people seems to further perpetuate the victim-blaming that often occurs along with rape and sexual assault.  Guys are creating a tool for women to stop rapists as opposed to simply stopping men from raping.  This “tool” makes it feel much more like women are responsible for what happens to them if they are attacked.  “Well, you’re responsible if someone drugs you because you didn’t check your drink.”  Wait, what?  We have to be on the offensive and the defensive at all times? 

3. It can be seen as just another tool for women to use to defend themselves, like carrying mace, a taser, or even a gun.  But the thing is – those are weapons, meant to be used to fight back against a crime being committed, not something that women have to do in order to prevent a crime.

4. And, no, rape is not like putting a bike lock on your bike Why not?  We shouldn’t have to assume that our bodies require 24/7 protection!  Yes, stealing a bike is wrong, but rape is rape, asshole!  If you’re looking at crimes within a ranking (and, yes, we do rank the seriousness of crimes, hence the whole levels of misdemeanors and felonies and the ranges of punishments), then rape is a whole lot further along that spectrum than taking a bicycle!  There’s a sex offender registry, but I don’t recall seeing a bike theft registry. 

5. No one is saying that people (men and women) shouldn’t take precautions when it comes to crime.  But when you claim that a failure to take extra precautions (and dipping your nail into every drink that you drink in public is definitely an extra precaution) means that the person “deserved it” is beyond broken.  It doesn’t just happen with rape.  I just saw on my Facebook feed where a woman accused another woman of “asking for it” because someone grabbed her purse out of her shopping cart.  But I find it hard to find anyone on my feed blaming a man for being mugged, even if he was standing drunk at an ATM waving his wad of cash around.

6. Yeah, well, I don’t have a six.  But I’m guessing other people do.  Feel free to share yours in the comments below.  Just remember that I’m a crazy ass feminist, and this is my blog.  This is not a democracy.  So be a douche, and get deleted!