Feminist rantings. You have been warned.
Sep. 19th, 2005 08:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mari4212
In religion class today, we were talking about images of daughters. And
the one we spent the most time on was Dinah. If you're not familiar
with the biblical tale, she was a daughter of Jacob who went out to
visit the women living nearby, and was raped by Shechem. He then fell
in love with her and asked her father for her hand in marriage. Jacob
agreed, on the condition that he and his people had to be circumsized.
While the men were all recovering, two of Jacob's sons killed them all
to revenge the insult against Dinah and their family.
We ended up talking about how several of the midrash basically blamed Dinah, saying that if she hadn't gone out of her tent, it wouldn't have happened, tying this story back into the idea of modesty. And then one of the girls in the class brought up the idea that it was like wearing provocative clothes, that if you went too far you were asking for it. She also mentioned something about prostitutes probably not minding getting raped.
I was stunned. I'm now calm enough to be able to think about it rationally, but still. Just, no. I thought we were beyond the blame the victim mode of thought here. A woman does not ask to be raped. It is a crime, a horrible violation of her, and no one deserves it. It is an act of violence, and its root is not sexual, but agression and a desire for power over someone.
Luckily, everyone else in the class was quick to correct her, and the teacher asked her if she was sure she meant to say what she was implying. In her defense, I don't think she meant it, but still. How can anyone seriously say something like that?
We ended up talking about how several of the midrash basically blamed Dinah, saying that if she hadn't gone out of her tent, it wouldn't have happened, tying this story back into the idea of modesty. And then one of the girls in the class brought up the idea that it was like wearing provocative clothes, that if you went too far you were asking for it. She also mentioned something about prostitutes probably not minding getting raped.
I was stunned. I'm now calm enough to be able to think about it rationally, but still. Just, no. I thought we were beyond the blame the victim mode of thought here. A woman does not ask to be raped. It is a crime, a horrible violation of her, and no one deserves it. It is an act of violence, and its root is not sexual, but agression and a desire for power over someone.
Luckily, everyone else in the class was quick to correct her, and the teacher asked her if she was sure she meant to say what she was implying. In her defense, I don't think she meant it, but still. How can anyone seriously say something like that?
