She's back, and she's pissed
There is an article on CNN.com today that discusses the issue of whether or not Sarah Palin knew that women in the town of Wasilla (of which she was mayor at the time) were being charged for their rape kits by the police department.
The article is here:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/21/palin.rape.exams/index.html
Before I get started: I do not care about your opinions on Sarah Palin. Your politics are your business. Whether or not she knew what was going on at the time, is your opinion. My issue is with the comment below, and I do not care to discuss anything but this comment.
And in the comments section, is this response, from "beth":
Health care is not a Constitutional right, so why should the government automatically pay for a rape exam. Sure, it is for a potential crime, but the government doesn't pay for people to get cancer treatments and those people are dying. Also, I think that taxpayer dollars frequently pay for abortions, which is to me a horrible crime in itself, since many are simply "unwanted" pregnancies, and not the result of a rape. The Constitution does mention that we all are entitled to "life." By-the-way, as a women myself, I wonder how many women are actually innocently raped, or are many leading guys on by dressing scantily and getting themselves into bad situations and at the last minute trying to bale out. Women have to accept some responsibility for their actions, too. Don't give others the wrong impression about your intentions. There are exceptions to this, but with millions of abortions each year and all the secrecy behind them because of privacy issues, I wonder the circumstances...I doubt there are that many strangers jumping out of bushes and attacking joggers.
Where do I begin?
First of all, it is clear from this response, and many others, that most people have no idea what a rape kit is for and why it is used. For a complete liste of contents, you can conduct any one of various internet searches, or speak directly with your doctor, if an "unbiased" description is what you are looking to find. A rape kit contains tools for collecting medical evidence that can be used to prosecute a criminal act. It does not offer any health services beyond the possibility of collecting samples, which can also be used to determine whether a person has contracted HIV/AIDS or other STDs from the sexual assault. Contraception is not part of the rape kit, and other medical treatment is considered separate from the rape kit as well.
Therefore, it does not make sense to refer to this as a "health issue," for morality reasons which I'll get into later, but for the specific technical reason that the rape kit is designed to gather evidence of a criminal act. Do taxpayers pay for gathering evidence of other crimes? Of course they do. They pay for murders, burglaries, and every false 911 call that police are dispatched to investigate. I do not make any distinction between paying for the investigations of these incidents and investigating a rape. It is the duty of our civil servants to treat these all as crimes, and trying to cut corners for "taxpayers" is thinly veiled at best.
Let's go line-by-line:
Health care is not a Constitutional right, so why should the government automatically pay for a rape exam. Sure, it is for a potential crime, but the government doesn't pay for people to get cancer treatments and those people are dying.
Immediately, this comparison does not make sense. No one can "cancer" you. This is wholly unrelated to the issue at hand. What is unbelievable is rape being relegated to the status of a "health care" issue.
Rape is a crime. It is a crime of violence. It is a crime which is marginalized in all corners of the world, a crime so heinous that men who are the victims of it hardly even report it. But if it were a man's issue, do you doubt that it would be addressed? Rape harkens back to the oldest attitude in the world: Women are second-class citizens. Crimes against women are the woman's fault. Crimes against women in countries like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are not wrong, they are the result of "cultural differences."
If apartheid is no longer accepted and is perceived as barbaric and from the 17th century, why are places that stone women to death and treat them with less rights than dogs allowed a free pass? Why is racism met with contempt when women are concealed head to toe and not allowed to leave the house unescorted?
The answer is too deeply ingrained in our world to bother with semantics. Women. It is because they are women, and trading oil and maintaining alliances will not matter unless the cleansing is ethnic, the treatment racially motivated. This is a strong statement to make, and I believe that ethnic and racial crimes are equally horrible. It is time we elevated the status of women's rights to the same level, with people feeling that same instinctive recoil of contempt at those who would allow horrible crimes to be perpetrated.
Also, I think that taxpayer dollars frequently pay for abortions, which is to me a horrible crime in itself, since many are simply "unwanted" pregnancies, and not the result of a rape. The Constitution does mention that we all are entitled to "life."
Regardless of what people think about abortion, the fact is it is not a crime right now. Morality issues aside, it is a legal procedure in the United States of America. Rape is a crime. Rape is not legal.
Taxpayer dollars do not pay for the majority of abortions. I don't know if they ever pay for them. It's something I'll have to research. Clearly, "beth" has never heard of women who don't get abortions because they can't afford them, or of the effort they go through to find the money to pay for the procedure. An abortion can cost anywhere from $350-$1000, which is a huge deterrent all on its own. This contributes to the high birth rates among teenagers and young women who are poor, and cannot afford an abortion even if they feel they cannot support a child.
And again, abortion is legal. Unwanted pregnancies can be terminated. You do not have to abort your child. Many women are morally against abortion and would never have one themselves, but do not feel they can make that choice for another person. No one is "pro-abortion." No one. No one sets out to find themselves pregnant with a child they don't want, or do want but can't afford to raise. Society tells women to "man up" and treat the pregnancy as a gift, but if they can't even afford the vitamins for pre-natal care, how can they be expected to survive in a society that only cares for the child when it's in the womb, and will do little to help when it's born?
By-the-way, as a women myself, I wonder how many women are actually innocently raped, or are many leading guys on by dressing scantily and getting themselves into bad situations and at the last minute trying to bale out. Women have to accept some responsibility for their actions, too. Don't give others the wrong impression about your intentions.
Again, this harkens back to one of the oldest attitudes in the entire rape issue. Blame the victim. Blame the woman. She deserved it. She dressed that way. She talked that way. She wore a skirt. She kissed him first. She touched him. She went upstairs with him.
SHE SAID "NO."
That's the only thing anyone needs to hear. Yes, there are things we as women can do to protect ourselves, and that involves making smart choices. But those choices are not about how we dress or act. Be careful walking alone at night. Don't invite a stranger into home when you've just met. Again, these are choices we can make that may help us avoid a situation we had no idea we were walking into at the time. That's about it.
But sometimes it's three in the morning, and a woman must walk home alone. Sometimes their judgement about a person can be wrong. And there's no way of knowing that in advance.
Those choices have nothing to do with how women dress or act. Women should be able to dress and act as they please. They should be able to be the coquette, the flirt, the prude. Most women are many things rolled into one, and to act as if any person who is demure is any less vulnerable to rape only perpetrates the idea that if it does happen to a sweet, innocent virgin, they should take the blame. Being a victim who has been raised with the mentality that "I acted in a way which brought this attention to me" must multiply the horror of the act, because those women truly believe that they are at fault for what happened. That is a terrible thing.
"NO." If it is as simple as training women not to dress or act a certain way, then how hard is it to train the men? Train every man, from the day they are born. Tell them, no matter what she said or did, no matter how blue your balls may be in that moment, the second the word "NO" leaves her lips, back off. Just back off. The choice is made. It's over. "NO." Protect yourself from any confusion, son. Just stop. Just get up. Just leave. Worry about hurt feelings in the morning. They've made it easy for you. "NO." It's done.
NO.
Acting, dressing, or looking a certain way does not invite rape. Intentions do not invite rape. You always have the right to bail out. To refuse. To say no. It may be harsh and cruel to hear "no" at a certain stage, but accepting anything less than a full stop on the part of both parties further muddles the issue.
Rape is not invited. It is unwanted, and it is not a choice. Rape does not invite responsibility on anyone except the man or woman who forces themself upon another.
There are exceptions to this, but with millions of abortions each year and all the secrecy behind them because of privacy issues, I wonder the circumstances...I doubt there are that many strangers jumping out of bushes and attacking joggers.
Abortion is a separate issue. I've touched on it here to address some earlier statements, but this link makes it clear that a whole other issue is on this person's mind. So I'll just skip ahead to the last part.
I doubt there are that many strangers jumping out of bushes and attacking joggers.
Finally, something this person is right about. Yes, right. Most rapes are not people jumping out of the bushes. They are not strangers. They are a person the victim knows, and often trusts. They are a friend, or a friend-of-a-friend. A husband or a lover. And this is the reason that the majority of rapes aren't reported. Because who would believe it? Who would believe that John would do this to you? You can't believe it yourself. How did this happen? Did I do something? Was it rape?
I said, "No."
I have known three women who were sexually assaulted. I'm sure there are more women that have not shared their stories with me. The descriptions below grow progressively more graphic.
1)
The first is a girl I knew on and off in high school. We always shared the same circle of friends, but never liked each other that much. I went to college, she went elsewhere. At some point we met again, and due to some strange circumstance or another, the topic came up. And she had been raped. By her current boyfriend.
I'm holding back some of the details, but the basic logistics are these: She was asleep in their shared bed. He woke her up and wanted to have sex. She wasn't in the mood, and wanted to go back to sleep. As is her right. He persisted. Eventually, he climbed on top of her and held her arms down so she couldn't move. She repeatedly told him she did not want to have sex. He forced himself on her and had sex with her anyway, holding her down.
Then he went back to sleep.
She was still with him at the time I was made aware of this.
2)
The next person is a college friend. She had been seeing an older guy, about ten years her senior. They hadn't begun dating yet, but she was a bit interested in him. They were hanging out at his apartment when he made a move and kissed her. She kissed back. Eventually, he pushed her down on the couch. My friend is a small girl, about five feet tall. She's not any match for a man who won't let her go. She started to tell him to stop, started begging him to stop. He flipped her over to her stomach, pushed her face into the couch, and raped her. She was crying the whole time.
I remember standing in the stairwell of my academic building as she told me this, watching her shakily smoke a cigarette with shiny, wet eyes. I felt very large and full of rage, and I asked her if she reported him. "No."
I asked her if she wanted me to do something. And we both knew what I meant. And I confess that I would have done anything she asked me to do in that moment, regardless of the way it would end my life. Because we both knew that for her, there could be no justice. She waited a long moment before answering. "No."
3)
The third friend is someone I met during my college years, but outside of school. She lives in a dangerous section of town, and asked a co-worker to walk her home that night. When they arrived at her house, he immediately came on strong and told her he liked her, he wanted her... even though she was dating someone and had been for several months. The man tried to kiss her. She pushed him away. He forced her to the ground. He pulled down her pants and underwear and unzipped his jeans. She begged and pleaded him not to do it. He held his penis pressed against her, externally, for 15 minutes, as she desperately tried to convince him not to do it. Eventually, she resorted to saying, "Just not here. I'll sleep with you another time just not like this. Please, just leave and call me tomorrow."
And finally, he let her up. He left. She called me the next day, ten minutes after she called the police to report him. I stayed on the phone with her until they arrived.
Because there was no penetration, there was minimal evidence. She knew this, and knew she wouldn't get any justice in the end, but she reported him anyway. Meanwhile, he was still there every day at her job. She had to face that man every day, knowing that he would never be convicted of assaulting her.
So, in their experience, on that last point "beth" is right. No one jumped out of the bushes. Perhaps they could have made more sense of the trauma they endured if it was random, I don't know. With all of the women above, they never discussed what happened again.
In conclusion, this comment made me angry, angrier than I've been in a long time. It made me so angry that I couldn't sleep, couldn't breathe, couldn't think anything other than the thoughts I've expressed above. Ignorance is everywhere. "Beth" is a fool. The fight is far from over.
Rape is a crime. A rape kit should not be a political tool, only a tool for collecting evidence to help the sacred few who dare to report their experiences as crimes. And they are sacred. Millions of women have suffered, and so have thousands of men, and to imply that rape is simply a "health issue" is a vile, damning indication of where our society stands today.