Comments on: Know Your Limit . . . For Rape?

By: I Wish « Pizza Diavola

I Wish « Pizza Diavola — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 21:21:38 +0000

[...] and the victim-blaming is even more intense if the women have had so much as a drop of alcohol. The UK government even ran PSAs suggesting that being raped was the consequence of women drinking. On the other hand, pop culture [...]

By: Walking Out a Rapist : The Curvature

Walking Out a Rapist : The Curvature — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:53:34 +0000

[...] I find the full text on the poster or an image large enough to make out the small text myself. As the Home Office has received my criticism before for some pretty terrible anti-rape ads, I’d like to know the full text before I sing its praises. If you find it, please send it on! [...]

By: kristina

kristina — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 22:11:39 +0000

i always wonder about that. we (women, that is–maybe men too, i dunno) here all these statistics in the passive voice: one in four women are raped. women are more likely to be raped by someone they know. women are often drinking when they are raped. the wording of all of these statistics, which are widely known, give the impression that the rapes just hAPPEN. who does the raping? is one guy running around attacking ten women? or is there one rapist per rape-ee? when is someone more likely to turn to rape? do rapists identify themselves as such, or do they not see what they do as rape? these are far more useful questions to ask if we really want to stop rape. it’s easier, of course, to say: hey ladies. if you’re drunk, you might be raped, than it is to say: hey gents. if you’re drunk, you may not recognize someone else’s personal boundaries as easily and can ruin their lives or your own.

it’s also problematic because this ad campaign suggest that there was practically no rape before, say, prohibition ended. or in muslim countries where alcohol is not sold, or at least, not sold in places that a woman can go. sadly, however, this is not the case.

By: BettyBoondoggle

BettyBoondoggle — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 20:41:11 +0000

That poster is great. Esp since it deals directly with the “grey rape” garbage by putting the focus on the one who commits it.

By: Cara

Cara — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 19:31:09 +0000

That poster sounds great! Thanks for sharing. Though of course I know that there are people out there who “get it,” writing about this kind of crap day after day can almost make you forget. It’s good to have a reminder.

By: orangeplaid

orangeplaid — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 19:20:12 +0000

When I worked doing rape prevention education I hated, and worked really hard to combat, the idea from boys and girls that rape was a natural consequence of drinking. My favorite poster that is still in the health class said something along the lines of “if you think waking up with a hangover is bad, try waking up as a rapist” with stats that a large number of rapists drank before the assault. It’s nice to be able to put messages out there that put the responsibility on men not to rape. As opposed to the false idea that women can prevent themselves from getting raped.

By: Mickle

Mickle — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 17:41:34 +0000

Jack W., I noticed the same thing.

And the woman who was raped by the cab driver – wtf does drinking have to do with that? When they warn you to drive slowly to a public place if a cop pulls you over in the middle of the night, it sure as hell isn’t because they assume that you have been drinking.

It’s like the problem isn’t so much that alcohol impairs women’s judgement (because, apparently, as Cara points out, we have no agency) it’s that having even a single drink is some special signal to men that we are fair game. But don’t worry ladies, we aren’t blaming you if you are raped after you have a drink and we really sorry if you were offended by this campaign. Please also ignore the fact that we are actually harming women by putting forth such a stupid campaign.

By: Carl

Carl — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 21:49:10 +0000

So a couple other things about the game:

First off, when playing as the male I can’t find a way to get the girl to go home with me unless I’ve had at least 2 drinks. I’m assuming sex is something just drunk people do.

More importantly, if you are playing as the male and do decide to have more than a soda especially if you just do 2-3 shots with Danny, the girl will often slap you and turn you down for being drunk. However, if you keep talking to her, even without doing anything that might sober you up (water, smoke, whatever), eventually she will give in and you get to go back to her place.

So remember kiddies, if you are drunk and a girl turns you down, just keep trying and eventually she will have to give in to your studly charms… or some shit like that.

By: Al

Al — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 20:00:17 +0000

“And here, according to the Home Office, is why you shouldn’t binge drink: you could get into a fight, you could have sex without a condom and get an STD, you could drive and hurt yourself or someone else, you could die from mixing alcohol with drugs, you could get fat, and you could get raped.”

And God forbid someone suggest that the real way to stop rape would be for men to:

1) Sit back and take a long look at the concept of sexual entitlement and how it applies to them,
2) STOP RAPING WOMEN. That would be pretty exacting as a tool to combat rape I think.
3) Even if the above two don’t apply to you personally, as a man who exists in this culture, if you do not actively attempt to help in the cause by loudly and forcefully denouncing that behavior in other men, in my way of viewing the world, you are complicit in the crime of rape.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 08:25:24 +0000

I’m just speechless. It’s such a mindbogglingly awful campaign to begin with, but that “interactive game”…I have no words.