Discussion on Rape

My textbook in Sociology Class is called Society: The Basics.  It is written by John J. Macionis.  https://play.google.com/store/books/details/John_J_Macionis_Society?id=gTAsAAAAQBAJ

I've often discovered that I do not agree with the author (which is probably why I have so many topics of questionable opinions to share).  In Chapter 6, Sexuality and Society, Macionis states that "some people think rape is motivated only by a desire for sex, it is actually an expression of power, a violent act that uses sex to hurt, humiliate or control another person."  He makes a valid point in some circumstances, but I have to disagree with his down playing of the importance of sexual desire and instead rebut that it plays a major role in rape.

Men and women think differently and I know several times in my life I've 100% believed a girl was into me and then come to find out that she wasn't interested in dating me at all.  I was completely astounded by how poorly I read her signs.  It isn't a stretch then to see that a man could believe this in a date rape situation and delude himself into believing she wants sex even though she says no.  A normal man would recognize that he read the signs wrong and stop, but there are many unbalanced individuals in the world. 

The best thing to reduce the incidence of rape is to change society in three ways.  First, men need to teach and pressure other men into a society where this behavior is not an option and men who do this will be ostracized from normal society.  The thought that comes to mind is in prisons where a pedophile is persecuted to the point that they have to be put in solitary confinement for their own safety.  Normal society can't take it to that extreme, but rapists need to become as hated as a pedophile in prison.  This will act as a deterrent to many men.

Second, women need to be taught and understand that there are men out there who can't control themselves. Regardless of the messages I hear that women can 'dress how they want, behave how they want, they still don't want to be raped', they need to understand that it is tempting to men.  To illustrate, it would be like me carrying a thousand dollars around in my hands and walking through a dangerous neighborhood.  I don't want to be robbed, I have the right to carry my money how I want, but I need to be aware of the fact that there are people who can't control themselves and will rob me and I need to be smart.  

Third, we need to teach young women how to protect themselves.  This is not a practice many young girls are taught and it is foolish not to because it is so easy for a stronger man to overpower a small woman.  I think that several weeks every few years should be devoted to teaching girls self-defense in school during P.E.  The time when boys are being taught wrestling would be a perfect time for girls to be taught self-defense.

I hope you understand that my suggestions to women does not mean I think it is their fault.  I just think women need to be cautious of this potential crime and not put themselves in a situation where an unstable man could do this to them.  They can protect themselves through vigilance, training and, if need be, removing temptation.  Until this problem is reduced to a fraction of it's current rate, women need to be on guard and understand that their freedom to dress and act as they want can have terrible consequences.  

Comments on Minority Diversity

Post 1

Background: I was asked to take this quiz: http://mije.org/diversitygame?gclid=CIW1t-yE2qECFRQN2god-BJYMA for my workplace communications class to learn about diversity.  I then had to write a paragraph in response to the quiz.  I did not agree with the message of the quiz.  Below is my response.

It would have been helpful to start the challenge knowing this was hosted by a journalism website and not a scholastic one.  The questions presumed that I knew more about journalism terms in general.  Not knowing these affected my score and had nothing to do with my understanding of diversity.  Also, I’m not sure what the point of the timer is, not to mention again, these quick paced questions were mostly journalism related.

This quiz rubbed me the wrong way because I’m tired of hearing about the need to have a certain percentage of minorities.  When I was attending UNL, I found out that they had to have a certain percentage of minorities enrolled.  I also found out that some of the minorities did not have the qualifications necessary to attend the school, but had these waved simply to get more minorities enrolled.  This type of behavior is racist because it is not treating races fairly.  It is disrespectful to all people regardless of color to enroll a person just to meet a percentage.

This quiz constantly brought up this topic of favoring minorities to meet a percentage.  It mentioned choices of promising the next management position will be a minority, not freezing a position for which a minority was next in line, hiring more minorities, etc.  None of these options were rated as the best answer, but they were usually the second best answer.  On the surface, this looks like it is doing its job of promoting diversity, but at the cost of being racist.  Anytime something is done, whether it is good or bad, just because of race, it is a form a racism. The best candidate for positions, regardless of color or gender should be hired.  As long as we continue to point out someone’s gender or race, we’ll never have true equality. 

Being a white male, I realize that it is hard for me to know what it is like to be a minority, but based on current population trends shown by the U.S. census, white men will soon become a minority in the U.S. within the next 30 years (http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/13/18934111-census-white-majority-in-us-gone-by-2043?lite).  Financially and politically, it will take much longer for white men to become a minority, but the fact is that the change is coming.  Based on this information, we need to ask ourselves, at what point do we stop talking about color.  In our struggling economic times, instead of caring about a percentage of minorities, we need to be more concerned with hiring the best people for the job so that we can remain in business to even have employees.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that the best teacher I’ve had in my adult life with regards to race is South Park.  I know the show is vulgar, stupid and disgusting at times, but there are three episodes that handle race, tolerance and diversity better than anything else I’ve ever seen.  It doesn’t just give a message to the people being intolerant, but it gives an excellent satirical message to the people trying to teach it.  The three episodes are Season 4 Episode 7 “Chef Goes Nanners”, Season 5 Episode 12 “Here Comes the Neighborhood”, and Season 6 Episode 14 “The Death Camp of Tolerance” (warning, this has a stupidly, gross subplot).  I’m not saying I know better than the book or your teaching (because I don’t) and I really don’t want to be offensive, but in the forum of scholarly discussion, I feel these episodes make the point better.  All three can be found for free at http://www.southparkstudios.com.

Hello!

While working my way through my coursework to earn my Associates Degree in Information Technology, I've realized that I am fairly opinionated on some of the more social subjects.  Whether it be Sociology or Work Place Communications skills, I've often butted heads with some of the teachings.  I spend a lot of time writing out well reasoned arguments supporting my opinions for assignments that are worth only 5 points.  I just wish I could share these thoughts with a wider audience than just my teacher.  Hence this blog.

I'm going to post my papers here.  They are not always backed by fact and they vary in subject, but I think you'll either love my message or hate it.  Either way, I look forward to a civil discussion to hear of your opinions.  Enjoy!