riddle@ut-sally.UUCP (01/18/84)
As a male who is appalled by the fear with which women are forced to live in this country because of some American men's peculiar penchant for rape, I was glad to see Charisse's angry response to those who would paint rape as a mere annoyance. Nevertheless, one statement of Charisse's troubles me: >> ...and as far as the law is concerned I think castration is the >> solution to rape. >> charisse >> {allegra,ihnp4,uiucdcs}!parsec!infoswx!charisse If, as feminists and opponents of rape have been telling us for some time now, rape is a crime of violence, not of sex, and if the reforms in rape laws for which activists have been working so hard -- redefinition of the crime to include "instrumental rape" and to recognize that both men and women are (at least occasionally) raped by members of either sex -- then castration is the worst kind of "solution" to the problem. It requires neither a penis nor a pair of testicles to commit rape. All it takes is a broom handle, or perhaps a gun, and the desire to violate another human being. The solution to the problem of rape, if one exists, lies more in eliminating the desire to commit it than in eliminating the means. ---- Prentiss Riddle ("Aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada.") {ihnp4,seismo,ctvax}!ut-sally!riddle