Stigmatization of sex supports rape

In many conservative sub-cultures in America people are taught that sex is a bad thing, a gift of Satan, and other things. This is first of all damaging to people, because it makes it difficult to develop the emotions that are needed and knowledge of how to deal with sexual attraction which is completely natural. People need to learn how to use a condom, what other forms of birth control are, how to effectively express emotions, and this is conditioned. If someone always grows up in a situation with strong gender roles, and never gets exposed to ideas outside of their sub-culture on different gender roles it is very difficult to break out of those roles. Thing like appreciating beauty, (like the Rachmaninoff Sonata I am listening to as I write this which is a little piece of heaven) can be hurt in a macho culture, and reinforces damaging gender roles. Teaching women that they will be housewives from the time they are born closes doors to science and engineering that is equally damaging as it is to men who are taught to not appreciate beauty.

I am fairly certain in my hypothesis, and I would like to see more scientific research on this question focusing in on how the people were raised and if they lived in a good home, if they were exposed to high-quality sexual education and the ability to find themselves without necessarily being held in any particular gender role. The ability to see people of all genders as equals and growing up in a loving community might have an effect in the amount of violence perpetrated. Teaching people to treat others with respect is the core of the issue I think because all a victim needs to do is say no and the rapist needs to respect that decision. Indeed, research from my second reference supports this belief.

So, what can we do? First of all, we need to respect all people equally regardless of their gender. This is the first and largest step at fighting rape culture and making a world where all people can be treated equally. Stigmitizing sex makes it less understood and harder for people from those sub-cultures to fully understand what sex is, which is very sad, and makes it so rape is more likely to be considered appropriate at some level. We need people to understand what sex is, how it works, and what people can do to have safe sex.

The best thing about this is that there are communities and cultures that already do this, and it works extremely well.

References:

Population Council, June 2004. Web. 5 May 2014. .

"A Longitudinal Study of Rape Attitude Correlates among College Men."UNT Digital Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2014. .

Inspiration:
http://www.policymic.com/articles/88277/23-ways-feminism-has-made-the-world-a-better-place-for-men which I completely agree with.

http://www.policymic.com/articles/69789/the-truth-behind-what-causes-rape

An Open Letter to Joss Whedon

Dear Joss Whedon,

Today I was thinking about Firefly, and like many browncoats felt sad and angry at Fox for ending it so early. I am also perplexed that you chose to bring Dollhouse to people through the same people who killed Firefly, News corporation (aka Fox). I have an idea for how you should bring your next great idea to people around the world.

Youtube. Youtube now offers movies to people I found out today, and their ads can make substantial revenue if it gets enough views. Having your name on something will get many views for certain. By allowing people to watch your shows whenever they want as much as they want they will have to sit through the ads (if the show is 40 minutes long, 4 ads, one at the beginning and 3 placed at cliffhangers) which while it will be a little annoying will make sure that you and the actors who make the show will get paid well. Today people can just download it to their TIVO and while that is a great invention, you get paid only once. By making the show a pay per view many people don't want to pay a frequently obscene price (over $100 for a season of Doctor Who on DVD for example) once will have no incentive to go find it pirated somewhere else, because it will always be available. Movie studios and writers/directors like yourself lose a large amount of money to piracy every year and this is due to the very extreme prices that many fans of the shows can't afford to pay, and it is made so inconvenient to get access to the show that it isn't worth attempting to get legal access and to risk incarceration (because the odds are that the individuals who pirate a show here and there won't be caught). Right now the incentive to pirate is very high. This will eliminate that drain on revenues.

I think this is a real win-win for studios and creators around the world. I am certain I am not the first person to say it, but by taking the power away from corporations like News Corp. to deny content to people creators will be rewarded, everyone will be happier.