Telling rapists to stop rape

I have mixed feelings about this ad.

On the one hand, I like the larger message it’s trying to get across (potential rape victims don’t need to stop rape—rapists need to stop raping), since there is altogether too much victim-blaming that happens (in the media, in the courts, etc.), especially around rape.

On the other hand, as cheeky and witty as this list sounds on the surface, these tips are either useless (if only a joke) or sociologically troubling in a different way (if taken seriously) because they make it sound as if rapists don’t know they’re raping (it’s just a miscommunication or a misunderstanding).

The goal of rapists isn’t to stop rape, so telling them how to do it makes no sense, just as the goal of a bank robber isn’t to stop robberies, so giving the robbers tips on how to stop robberies makes no sense.

3 comments

  1. I agree with you that the tips are completely useless, but this advert is clearly not aimed at actual rapists. To point out that it isn’t useful to those people is to miss the point.
    Personally from my reading of it (though my reading of things is often wrong) it’s just a comic attempt to tear down the all to common argument that rapists themselves aren’t entirely at fault, aimed at neither victims or rapists, but at the general public.

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