In a Rape Culture, Women Are Still to Blame

Citing a blog entry about rape and sexual assault by Damon Young at Very Smart Brothas, Racialicious editor Latoya Peterson says that some men still think women who are sexually assaulted are being let off the hook for reckless behavior. Suggested Reading Trigger Warning…All of the Shocking Testimony From Diddy’s Federal Trial 15 AI Videos…

Citing a blog entry about rape and sexual assault by Damon Young at Very Smart Brothas, Racialicious editor Latoya Peterson says that some men still think women who are sexually assaulted are being let off the hook for reckless behavior.

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... Turns out, Damon (a.k.a. The Champ) decided to create a really flip response to Zerlina Maxwellโ€™s Ebony.com piece โ€œStop Telling Women How to Not Get Raped.โ€ โ€ฆ

Damon still decided to write his piece, essentially asking this question:

โ€œBut, why canโ€™t both genders be educated on how to act responsibility around each other? Whatโ€™s stopping us from steadfastly instilling โ€œNo always means no!โ€ in the minds of all men and boys and educating women how not to put themselves in certain situations? Of course men shouldnโ€™t attempt to have sex with a woman whoโ€™s too drunk to say no, but whatโ€™s wrong with reminding women that if youโ€™re 5โ€™1 and 110 pounds, itโ€™s probably not the best idea to take eight shots of Patron while on the first, second, or thirteenth date? Yes, sober women definitely get raped too, but being sober and aware does decrease the likelihood that harm may come your way, and thatโ€™s true for each gender โ€ฆ โ€

Damonโ€™s already (somewhat) apologized and been raked over the coals by folks on his site, Twitter, and Tumblr.

First, the primary premise is flawed.

Damon seems to think that reinforcing to men that circumstances and consent are different things means that we are also letting women off the hook for reckless behavior. However, most men arenโ€™t privy to all the rape prevention tactics women employ everyday, as a matter of course. (For the purposes of this discussion, the framing will be around cisgender, heterosexual men and women, though we are not the only people impacted by this type of thinking and this type of violence.) โ€ฆ

Read Latoya Petersonโ€™s entire blog entry at Racialicious.

Latoya Peterson is a hip-hop feminist, anti-racist activist and deputy editor of Fusionโ€™s Voices section, opining on pop culture, news, video games and everything that makes life worth living.

Update: 5/5/20, 2:18 p.m. ET:ย This story has been updated to remove broken and nonexistent URLs.

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