Who Is Responsible?

I just had a conversation with a friend who is in a "Gender and Society" Business Writing class. (I know--it just makes you want to say, "huh?") Apparently the class is one part writing (in the six or seven weeks of the semester they've covered the important topics of cover letters and thank-you's) and three parts bickering about how poorly society, mainly American society, treats women.

As a note, my friend is female, and she is absolutely fed up with the class. One of the "class discussion" topics of late was whether or not a woman in a miniskirt and a neckline down to her navel bore any responsibility for her rape. The general consensus was that, no, the woman wasn't responsible. Nor was she responsible if she was drunk and walking down a dark alley at night.

Now, that's somewhat flippant of me to say, let's look at the issue a little closer. First of all, rape is committed by someone against someone. The one committing the rape is fully responsible for all his actions. Ultimately, he bears all legal consequences for his actions. But is there any blame that can be attached to the woman?

This is where the argument gets tricky, and where most people simply want to duck their heads and mumble, "Of course she's isn't *muttermuttermutter*..." The reason for this sheep-like response is because it isn't at all politically correct to attach any blame to a victim, and the reason it isn't politically correct is because it appears hurtful to the one who has already been cruelly wounded. There's certainly understanding to be had there, especially since rape victims often carry a deep sense of not only shame, but guilty, for their violation.

But simply because something is painful doesn't make it false. That's a fallacy we fall for too often these days. So let's consider the situation. A woman dresses provocatively and enters a dangerous situation. It could be a party at the local fraternity, where there will be alcohol in excess, possibly some drugs, and of those maybe some of the date-rape variety. Or it could be the proverbial dark alley in Manhattan. It doesn't matter. The potential rapist sees her, identifies her as a potential victim, starts scoping out the situation. He concocts a plan in his head on how to rape her, and then goes through with it.

Okay, so far everything seems to agree with the lack of culpability on part of the woman. However, there's a catch, and this falls back on solidarity, and the partial responsibility of the community for the sins of the individual. First, there is such a thing as the profile of a victim. If you examine rapists and other sex offenders, you'll find that there's a type of person, a list of descriptions, that makes a person more vulnerable than others.

Now, one of the things about dressing provocatively is that it is meant to arouse sexual desire. A woman might try to couch it in simply "looking attractive", but the reality is that flaunting the body in a sexual fashion is meant to boost the woman's ego when men start drooling over her. Never mind that such an attitude merely reduces the woman into a sex object (a living centerfold, as it were), and thus the attraction is hardly genuine, or even the sort the woman wants.

Next, people insist that rape is about "power", but that's a rather broad statement, almost empty of meaning until it is put into context. In general, rape is about making the rapist feel better through sexual means. Sometimes the sexual aspects of rape are almost incidental--such as the desire to degrade a woman through the violation of intimacy--but other times rape is very, very sexual. Date rape, for example, is about the victory of "scoring" with a girl, either by getting her too drunk to say either "yes" or "no" to sex, or by using a date rape drug so that's she unconscious at the time of the violation.

I make this distinction because there are some profiles that one cannot help. Sometimes a rapist is simply turned on by, say, little boys, regardless of dress or situation. But other aspects one can help. And this is where responsibility comes into play.

When a woman dress provocatively, or flirts outrageously, or anything that is sexually arousing, she tempts. Now, our modern society views behaving in such a fashion a good thing, a harmless thing, and thus nothing the woman should be blamed for. However, temptations exist for one purpose alone: to weaken the will. We pray "...and lead us not into temptation..." (or more literally "...put us not to the test...") because we know that temptation weakens the will, makes us more readily accept sinful behavior.

Thus a woman is culpable for as much temptation she provided. Granted, this culpability is by far less than the terrible crime committed against her, but that crime does not expunge her own guilt in the matter. She made herself temptation, she weakened wills around her, and thus pulled down a mountain on her head.

So yes, there is some responsibility on the part of the woman for her rape. But now the caution. That responsibility varies from situation to situation. Sometimes actions for which she would be held culpable in one circumstance is completely irrelevant to another circumstance. Dressing provocatively means little if the rapist attacks her simply because she's a woman who wandered nearby. On the other hand, if the rapist picked her out specifically because she was dressed provocatively (as more tends to be the case), then she bears some small blame for making herself a temptation.

For those who think is incredibly unfair, misogynistic, bigoted, or whatnot, you need to stop and think. Our actions affect others. Our behaviors can lead others to sin (lead, not force, mind you), or at least make others more susceptible to sin. Thus we bear some partial blame for those sins. That is part of being the social creatures we are. That is part of not living in a void.