Musings Of An Indie WriterTuesday, November 15, 2005
“Not An Invitation”
Sondra K. leads us to this bit of...something from the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women (LACAAW). Please peruse the pictures and ponder them for a moment.
Your Curmudgeon can't think of any poses or states of undress more provocative than nine of the twelve. Complete nudity could not outdo them. But their captions are identical to the photos of the little girl, the new bride, and the old woman clutching a cane:
Since rape is, by definition, sexual penetration against the will of the penetrated, there can be no such thing as "an invitation to rape me." The idea is internally contradictory, regardless of what pose, what clothes, or what facial expression is proposed for candidacy. So your Curmudgeon will begin by replying: Stipulated. But, then, what are they?
They're come-hithers. They incite erotic desire and suggest a willingness to collaborate in slaking it. A woman who advertises in such a fashion, but who has no sincere interest in sex, is a fraud and worse. If she takes pleasure in enraging a man's lust and then frustrating it, she's as cruel as her sex can get.
No, the women in those photos are not inviting rape. They're inviting contempt.
The LACAAW's motives are impossible to know, of course. However, the subtext of its nominally "public-spirited" message is that women can dress, pose, talk and act as provocatively as they please without suffering an unwanted consequence. While this must be the case for sound legal reasons, is it an appropriate thought to put in the minds of young women? Especially considering how cruel some women are capable of being without encouragement.
Perhaps the LACAAW thinks only men's eyes will be drawn to these campaign posters, that only men will absorb whatever message they convey. Your Curmudgeon's known a few people that stupid, but it's more than a little frightening to think of them gathered into a commission and given a substantial propaganda budget.
