Given the relative vulnerability of men to sexual assault (all it takes to disable them is a swift forceful kick, or, at closer quarters, a good grab, pull, twist – almost anything, really) (whereas women have to be partially undressed and then immobilized), it’s surprising that we hear far more often about rape than – …
Category: violence
Jul 30 2013
Parents furious? Please.
http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2013/01/15/parents-furious-after-young-boys-suspended-after-playing-with-imaginary-weapon/ I’d be uncomfortable around any child who enjoyed pretending to kill–anything. Especially if that child was going to grow up to be a man, was going to be flooded with testosterone for several years. I’d also be uncomfortable around any adult who considered that behavior “a game”.
May 12 2013
Take Her Seriously
I used to think that the problem with rape was that women weren’t being explicit – they weren’t actually saying no, partly because men weren’t actually asking. Perhaps because there’s (still?) something shameful about sex that makes people reluctant to come right out and talk about it. Or maybe that would destroy the romance. Whatever. …
May 08 2013
War Rape
It’s not just an enthusiastic spillover of violence and aggression. The act of sexual intercourse is too specific, too far removed from the other acts of wartime violence and aggression. Shooting a person twenty-five times instead of once or twice would be such a spillover; forcing your penis or something else into a woman’s vagina …
Apr 29 2013
How to End War
At one time, bank tellers and secretaries had a certain prestige – the time when such positions were held by men. Schoolteachers used to be schoolmasters – before women entered the classroom. People who boast that many doctors in Russia are women fail to mention that doctoring in Russia, well, someone’s gotta do it. The …
Apr 03 2013
In Commemoration of the Holocaust
I’m not saying it didn’t happen. I’m not saying that, in any way, it was okay. But I’d like to point out that a devout Jew would’ve done, would do, the same thing to the Germans – if God told him to. ‘Oh but God would never command such a thing.’ Take a better look …
Mar 20 2013
Whose Violence?
I initially wrote this piece in the mid-1990s. It was published in Philosophy Now in 1999 when I was a columnist there. Ten years later, in 2010, I posted it at my other blog; it seemed required. Another three years later, I’m posting it again, here, because the people in power in mainstream media apparently …
Mar 01 2013
Entertain Me. Hurt him.
Given the violent content of many prime time dramas and sports, both of which are considered entertainment, it is apparent that many of us consider it entertaining when people hurt other people. What does that say about us? That so many people find violence entertaining should be deeply disturbing. Instead, it’s so normal, it’s unremarkable. …
Dec 21 2012
Rules of Combat
Why are there rules of combat? Rules apply to civil interactions and games. Combat is neither. Rules give the impression of fairness, decency, civility. They thus make war permissible. But if war is really about defending your loved ones, wouldn’t you do whatever is necessary? Wouldn’t you ‘fight dirty’ if that’s what it takes? Rules …
Nov 06 2012
I’m too drunk. No I’m not.
According to the Canadian Criminal Code, (self-induced) intoxication is no defence against charges of assault (33.1): if you’re drunk, you’re still able to form the general intent to commit said assault. And yet, with regard to the sub-category of sexual assault, belief that someone is consenting is cancelled if that someone is intoxicated (273.1(2)): if …
fiction
