What if rape weren't illegal?

Brainstorming...


I was wondering... (I blame the Tyler Perry movies) what if rape weren't illegal? Do you think that it would be like an everyday thing? Sometimes I believe that people don't really know the real damage behind rape and don't see the severity of it. I am convince that it would just be something women and children would just have to deal with. (because of being physically weaker) 


Think about it. How many wives tonight are just to tired, sick, or for whatever reason (it doesn't matter) don't want to have sex. Husband knows that he can't make her so he leaves it alone..... But would he leave it alone if he knew there wouldn't be any repercussions? Or would he just take what he wants?


Statistics:

Approximately 2/3 of rapes were committed by someone known to the victim.
73% of sexual assaults were perpetrated by a non-stranger.
38% of rapists are a friend or acquaintance.
28% are an intimate.
7% are a relative.

These statistics are bad enough. What if there weren't any fear or being caught?


 Here's another one. Women goes out to the club. Dances has fun. Man ask if she would like to be his booty call for tonight. Women declines. Man is visible upset (they always are) but walks away.... But would he walk away if he knew there would be no punishment if he just threw her on the ground and took what he wanted?


Statistics:

1 out of every 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime (14.8% completed rape; 2.8% attempted rape).

17.7 million American women have been victims of attempted or completed rape.

9 of every 10 rape victims were female in 2003.

While about 80% of all victims are white, minorities are somewhat more likely to be attacked.

If one out of every 6 women have been attacked by a rapist imagine how much larger that number would be if it weren't illegal.

I don't even want to think about how many poor defenseless babies would get raped by men and women.

Statistics:

15% of sexual assault and rape victims are under age 12.

93% of juvenile sexual assault victims know their attacker.

• 34.2% of attackers were family members.
• 58.7% were acquaintances.
• Only 7% of the perpetrators were strangers to the victim.

I wonder how many people are actually against rape or they just say so because they don't want to get shunned. You know you seen people get real upset when they don't get what they want. People wan't sex a lot. What would happen if they could just take it? You already hear people defend touching a girls booty because "she shouldn't have been wearing that" or "it just looked so good i had to touch it" or "i saw some other guys doing it so i figured why not". If people already have a sense of ownership over stuff that they think looks too sexy what would stop them from going all the way? And for the last excuse "I saw other guys doing it so i figured why not" would that same excuse be used for rape? Would it become like a game? Like grabbing butts in high school did? (People seemed to ignore the fact that is sexual assault)

In the end I believe the streets would be turned into never ending battlefields people carrying weapons and scared to go anywhere with anyone they didn't trust with their lives. Kind of reminds me of what is going on it certain countries in Africa and what women have to go through while at war in the military. In both cases rape rates are extremely high and there are little to no repercussions.

Statistics:

In 2003, a survey of female veterans found that 30 percent said they were raped in the military.

 A 2004 study of veterans who were seeking help for post-traumatic stress disorder found that 71 percent of the women said they were sexually assaulted or raped while serving.

 

And a 1995 study of female veterans of the Gulf and earlier wars, found that 90 percent had been sexually harassed.

-Samone

Top 10 craziest Tea Party quotes of all time « SpeakEasy

Top 10 craziest Tea Party quotes of all time « SpeakEasy

So...... um.... yeah....

A Manifesto from the Privileged White Guys Who Are Disgusted With the Angry, Privileged, and Not Too Subtly Racist White Guys

A Manifesto from the Privileged White Guys Who Are Disgusted With the Angry, Privileged, and Not Too Subtly Racist White Guys

LOLz This the anti-Tea Party perspective. Told from the mouth of a white American. Its kinda funny. Watch the video it's hilarious.

Death Clouds

This is pointed towards all the inconsiderate smokers of the world.

KEEP YOUR DEATH CLOUDS TO YOURSELF! PLEASE AND THANK YOU.

It is fine and dandy that you have made the decision to become addicted to nicotine. If you want to expose your lungs to over 60 known cancer causing chemicals and 4,000 other chemicals (including formaldehyde and ammonia) with every breath, then so be it. BUT please be considerate.

In the words of Wu- Tang Clan secondhand smoke "Ain't nothing to f*ck with!" Please don't underestimate the dangers of secondhand smoke.

Most people know that cigerette smoke is bad for you. Yet on an every day basis I am forced to walk through someones death cloud.  I did not make the decision to slowly kill myself, YOU DID. Why is it that you insist on putting ME in harm's way?

Why are you smoking while walking down a crowding sidewalk?
Why are you smoking while standing in the doorway of a public building?
Why are you ignoring the "NO SMOKING" sign?
Why are you ignoring the "NO SMOKING WITHIN 25 FEET" sign?
Why are you smoking around children?


Is it because you want us all to die with you? Is it because you are too selfish to care about other people's health? Do you think you look sexy? (nu uh boo boo...) Or are you just not informed on the risks of secondhand smoke?

I really don't understand. Somebody please shed some light....

-Ariel Samone

So I finally Looked up the Tea Party

I went to the website www.TeaParty.org I just wanted to see what their basic beliefs and stuff. Since they are all over the radio and newspapers and I would like to know what going on lol. From the look of their website it seems like they are the kind of folks who fly confederate flags in their yards because its part of their history...... (I wonder if some Nazi descendents proudly display swastikas? *another blog entirely*) But anyways I found this list:

Illegal Aliens Are Here illegally.
Pro-Domestic Employment Is Indispensable.
Stronger Military Is Essential.
Special Interests Eliminated.
Gun Ownership Is Sacred.
Government Must Be Downsized.
National Budget Must Be Balanced.
Deficit Spending Will End.
Bail-out And Stimulus Plans Are Illegal.
Reduce Personal Income Taxes A Must.
Reduce Business Income Taxes Is Mandatory.
Political Offices Available To Average Citizens.
Intrusive Government Stopped.
English As Core Language Is Required.
Traditional Family Values Are Encouraged.

Common Sense Constitutional
Conservative Self-Governance


This list seems to be very PC compared to the stuff that I hear about tea party-ers. Although I don't agree with a lot of the things on the list I don't understand why this way of thinking is anything new. It just seems really conservative.


Next I attempted to read about the Tea Party Founder...... it was off putting because of the amount of praise the website gives for him and his father being in the military (also another blog entirely *eye roll*) Here is a quote:


"As for me, I am old fashioned, I believe it is not foolish to pledge my life, liberty and sacred honor to the greatest nation that ever was or ever will be. The nation of the people, by the people and for the people, to that I shall strive to carry forward the mantle of the Tea Party keeping alive the voice of freedom."

Dale Robertson, President and Founder — Tea Party

All I have to say to that right now is :-/. I guess he has successfully been brainwashed.... He entered the marines and did nuclear test..... :-/ .........

Those thangs go kaboom and then people die....And this is your founder.....and you follow his beliefs........idk..... I'm not judging but uh...............
........................................................no thank you................................................................


Why is it that they felt the need to point out the things that I highlighted on the list? Don't those apply to every party? Are they insinuating something? Are these the people that get upset when they see an option for a different language on the debit card machine? (why does that bother them so much?)


I have not made a definite decision about how I feel about this party. (Nor have I any other party... maybe I'll do the others next) But if first impressions are everything........then they most definately lost points....


-Ariel Samone

Burning House

This is a great read. Leave the Burning House: a letter to single black women

by Arlene Fenton

LEAVE THE BURNING HOUSE
 If you woke up in the middle of the night, choking to the smell of smoke, and opened your eyes only to see that your curtains, walls, ceiling and dressing table were engulfed in fiery, white hot flame -- as your lungs burned as you gasped for air -- what would you do?
 What if your partner who was lying in bed with you looked you straight in your face and said: “What flames?  What smoke?  The problem is not that bad. Go back to sleep.” …  all the while you clearly smell your hair getting singed by the overwhelming heat of the tongues of flames that were disintegrating  your headboard… What would you do?
 If your mama called you on the phone and was saying, “It’s all your fault.  You should have turned that space heater off like I told you to.  You made your bed, now lie in it!”  while you watched the flames creeping up your bed linens, what would you do?
 If the television (now smoking, flickering on and off, and throwing sparks of electricity) had the latest “expert” on,  teaching that someone in your position should take that half-drunk glass of water on the bedside table and try to put the housefire out with it… what would you do?
 If every self-help book on your shelf told you to feel free to play with the fire, enjoy the fire – but just protect yourself by wearing flame-retardant nightgowns in the process… what would you do?
 IF THE ENTIRE WORLD stood outside your window and told you to sit tight and be strong while your pajamas ignited with white and blue-hot flames, while you watched in horror as your skin began to melt like chocolate ice cream on a blistering hot Florida day… what would you do?
 You would do what any sane, self-preserving person would do:
 YOU WOULD LEAVE THE DAMN BURNING HOUSE.
 And yet – maybe you wouldn’t.
 Black women all across this country are in a situation that is every bit as dire and urgent as trying to live in a burning house, but we allow ourselves to be consumed and destroyed by it on a regular basis.
 We aren’t crazy.  We are naïve.  We aren’t stupid.  We are incredulous:  we simply cannot process the incredible, unfathomable, mind-blowing reality that THE ENTIRE WORLD IS LYING TO US about what we are seeing and experiencing.   It’s too mentally overwhelming to face the awesome, hideous, truth: we are headed for annihilation and the world is enjoying the show.
 Mothers and daughters, sisters and aunts – black women of every hue and shade,  are being relegated to ‘untouchable’ status – slated to become complete social pariahs, presented as the ugly, unloveable, jealous, bitter step sisters to the gleaming white Cinderellas of other races  – and as a result, black women are  the most un-partnered,  the most abandoned, the most violently oppressed demographic on earth. 
 Yet if you howl in pain from the consuming fire, even other black women will tell you to shut up.  No, you aren’t seeing things.  You are being lied to by the entire world.
 Black women – you must understand that in order to live, you must stop asking for permission to survive, because consent will not be given.  You must take your survival by force.
 The first step in survival is to halt sexual access to your body from men who do not care about you.  Understand this universal truth: a man who does not commit to you does not care about you, period – he only cares about what he can get from you. It's hard to comprehend, because this smiling, easygoing person couldn't possibly be so heartless, right?  But the ugly reality is that while you fantasize about the possibilities of your future together, he is not thinking the same way at all...  your humanity and life experience are of no consequence to him.  In his eyes, you are a temporary scratch for an itch that he can not relieve himself.  Being nice to you is his insurance that he receives it.
 Hear me clearly: men can and do have regular sex with women they have no intention of providing for, caring for, or participating in any kind of relationship with – heck,  they are willing to have sex with women that they don’t even like.  These men use your need for companionship as an emotional battle axe against you, in order to gain access to your body.  The children that result are simply collateral damage.
 Out of wedlock child-rearing is the burning house that I was referring to earlier.   The poverty, the emotional pain, the exhaustion, the devastated self worth, the abandonment issues, the lack of protection from violence, the lack of supervision, the lack of parental teaching that results from the  72% out of wedlock childbirth is what is lighting on fire and cremating every  valuable asset that black women have.   Even our incredible triumphs have a cloying stench -- like the smell of the smoke of a burning house.
 In the black community, there are many, many, many men who will set you on fire, blame you for letting them set it, and walk away while you go down in flames.    Then they will complain if government forces them to spit on you to relieve the pain.
 Giving men like this sexual access to your body will not change the fact that they will never, ever care about you.  That, my dear, is a great, unspoken, universal truth.
 If you live around, make friends with, and are surrounded by  fire-starting pyromaniacs, you will eventually get burned.  This is why you must get up and LEAVE.
 Look around you – if 50% of the women around you are unpartnered and struggling to raise kids alone, GET OUT. Leave that neighborhood, church, or social group.  YOU ARE IN A BURNING HOUSE. 
 If your man won’t call you “girlfriend,”  if you have not met his mother, if he only calls you after 11:00PM, GET OUT. YOU ARE IN A BURNING HOUSE.
 If your man ‘hates dating,’  doesn’t want to clarify what your relationship is, but wants all the sexual rights and privileges of a husband, GET OUT. YOU ARE IN A BURNING HOUSE.
 If you have been engaged for 5 years, but there is no wedding date, no ring, no attempt to acquire a home, no savings plan set up to take care of a family, GET OUT. YOU ARE IN A BURNING HOUSE.
 If you are a young teenager and the male suddenly befriending you is more than 3 years older than you, GET OUT. YOU ARE IN A BURNING HOUSE.
 If you know that your man is having sex with other women or men, or if you aren’t even comfortable asking him if he is,GET OUT. YOU ARE IN A BURNING HOUSE.
 If a man considers you ‘high maintenance’ because you want to be treated as well as he would treat a white, latina, or asian woman, GET OUT. YOU ARE IN A BURNING HOUSE.
 If a man treats you nice but wants bareback sex as repayment for being with a ‘good man’, GET OUT. YOU ARE IN A BURNING HOUSE.
 If the people you hang out with glorify “no strings attached” sex, “friends with benefits” lifestyles, GET OUT.  YOU ARE IN A BURNING HOUSE.
 STOP ASKING FOR PERMISSION TO SURVIVE.  GET OUT.
 You are not alone. You are not crazy.  You are in a burning house and the lack of oxygen has previously clouded your judgment.  Your only hope for survival is to ignore what everyone else is saying, and GET OUT.
 This post was written in participation with the "No Wedding, No Womb" campaign.  For more articles like this, go tohttp://www.noweddingnowomb.com/
 Also, this post draws inspiration from conversations with BWE blogger, Halima Anderson

She Brought This Upon Herself?

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She brought this upon herself?

She shouldn't have worn that.
She shouldn't have walked through a group of men.
She should have known better.

OR

She has the right to wear whatever she wants (within the law) with out getting sexually and physically assaulted.
She has the right to walk on a sidewalk with men.
She should expect men not to know any better.

In my opinion she did nothing wrong. She has the right to be as tacky as she wants to be while clubbing or working the corner... whatever she was doing. No one has the right to put their hands on anyone else without consent. Saying that  "she shouldn't have worn that" or "she should have walked around them" is cool and everything. Given the current state of violence no women, man or child should be walking alone at night.

But lets not pretend like when men see a scantily clad woman that some unknown force makes them sexually assault her. Just because she is wearing very little doesn't mean she is an all you can eat buffet and everybody can grab a bite. She could have been walking around in a bikini but it still doesn't give him or anyone the right to treat her that way.

Honestly does it matter what she is wearing? Men do stuff like that all the time. Girls are taught to always avoid packs of men. Yeah I said packs. When in groups men behave like wolves. (Not all men! Don't get all offended and such) Men get together and make sexual comments about/to women/girls who walk by.
 Something they would never do if they were with their mother or girlfriend.

"Everyone knows something is bound to happen when x, y, z= Men are animals with no higher thought processes that would allow them to control themselves and therefore must act on their baser impulses if a woman triggers them. That line of thinking is what gives men the permission and social space to continue to commit these acts.

I know that women take comfort in the idea that if they are dressed the right way (ie not wearing a provocative dress) and do the right things (not go out alone at night, avoid groups of men, cross the street, etc.) then they'll be safe. The problem is, that is a false comfort"

Inner feminist coming out? Maybe.

-Ariel Samone

Short Introduction

I have decided to take my rants and ramblings to the internet. I will be posting my thoughts, opinions, questions, videos and links and anything else I find interesting here. I’m excited that I don’t have to keep it all in my head any longer.  (Or on random status and wall post on facebook) There will be much to come. :-)

-Ariel Samone