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| 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!
