AuntB v. KayB

Kay Brooks has caused a stir with a post (What cowed men aren't allowed to say") about a recent rape in Nashville's Bicentennial Mall area. AuntB--as John Hutcheson says "takes what Brooks said and draws a chalk line around it, if you know what I mean." Yes, I know what you mean, but I think there is third way to view the issue.
Here's ("Who Does Kay Brooks Hate More–Men or Women?" « Tiny Cat Pants) some of what AuntB says on the matter:

"Those of you who’ve been reading me a while can, I presume, point out the ways in which Brooks thinks women should just suck it up and accept their status as second-class citizens:
–According to Brooks, we are not to go outside alone after dark, especially not to public places, like parks.
–Being raped isn’t merely a crime, it’s a “lesson” (presumably in what happens to us if we forget that we don’t have the right to walk around in public).
–If you are raped, you have to accept personal responsibility for it. In other words, though Brooks tries to say that she thinks the victim doesn’t “deserve” what happened to her, she’s also turning right around and saying that she bears responsibility for it. This stuff is pretty vile. But look at how Brooks talks about men. –Men who won’t blame rape victims for their rapes are “cowed.” (Yes, America, I swear to god, Kay Brooks manages to hit the trifecta of misogyny there. Let’s count it out, shall we? 1. Women are to blame for their rapes. 2. Being called a female [a cow] is an insult. 3. Men who don’t agree with her are acting like women, which, of course, is an insult of the highest order.)

–Men are monsters who cannot help but rape. She even calls them monsters.

–And there’s nothing other, non-rapist, men–like police officers–can do to make women safe in public."

AuntB,
I'm not sure what to think about Kay's post--at best it was merely insensitive to the victim, but I think it is wrong to place any responsibility on her. The victim may have acted carelessly or foolishly, but fault has a moral element.

And I don't think Kay "hates' men or women. While Kay is a friendly acquaintance, and I generally agree with her on issues, I think she may have breezed by the tragic, horrendous and personal aspect of this particular crime--as well as the tragic, horrendous and personal aspect of the "institution" of rape, and jumped to the policy considerations of trying to rid Nashville of the threat of rape. Law enforcement requires resources, and resources are limited; thus, there are limits to what we can spend to remedy this problem and exhorting women to avoid situations like this is "free."

But I'm still having trouble understanding your point about not being able to prevent rapes, as if any efforts to avoid being a victim represent a concession to rapists or are not wasted effort. I don't think that's true, and I think it can be deterred. I think that rapists are as cowardly and self-preserving as any other perpetrator (perhaps they are the worst), and I think they can be deterred. I kind of doubt that anyone on this thread could outdo me in severity of punishment I would support for rapists--and I bet Kay feels similarly. If I were the DA as well as the father/husband/brother of this victimized woman, I would seek to crush this rapist and hope my daughter/wife/sister would do as much as is reasonable in the future to avoid scum like this rapist. In my estimation, entreating women not to be easy targets is FAR from promoting burqas or female curfews.



**And this is a minor point, but "Cowed" has nothing to do with women, unless one uses it with the intent of asserting that women are more likely to be subdued or intimidated. Women, or men, can be "cowed."