This link is about a young BYU student being slut shamed because she was wearing a long sleeved v neck shirt and a boy were ogling her so she was causing him to sin because clearly all women are responsible for men's sexual reactions which is what is called rape culture.
Rape culture is defined as a concept which links rape and sexual violence to the culture of a society, and in which prevalent attitudes and practices normalize, excuse, tolerate, and even condone rape. ...
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_cultureMen, not women, are responsible for how they treat and mistreat women. Women can wear as much or as little as they feel like and if those men sin it is their own fault. In the Middle East in certain countries if a woman is raped is the man punished? Oh no, the woman is punished by prison or by death. Because obviously she caused him to sin and loose control.This mentality of rape culture is deadly to a woman's self-worth and self esteem and also the concept of personal responsibility of men.It just amazes me that when it comes to sex men are not at fault for their misdeeds.It is morally reprehensible to hold women responsible for the sins of men and to hold them responsible for controlling their own libido. In our rape culture in Utah women bear the responsibility for all sexuality.Rape is the only violent crime in Utah that occurs at a higher rate than the rest of the nation. One in three Utah women will experience some type of sexual assault in their lifetime and one in eight will be raped. In 2008, Utah’s reported rape rate was 63.7 per 100,000 females compared to the U.S. rate of 57.4 per 100,000 females. However, the majority of rapes (88.2%) are never reported to law enforcement, indicating that sexual violence in Utah is grossly underestimated. (Sources: Utah Department of Health and 2007 Rape in Utah Survey)Rape is the fault of the rapist not the victim. It doesn't matter what a woman was or wasn't wearing no one deserves sexual assault.If a man looks at a woman with lust in his heart he has committed adultery according to Christ. It goes back to coveting women and lusting after them, they are daughters of God not objects existing for your pleasure at your submission.I know a woman who was raped by her ex husband and when she talked to others about it she was told "A good wife submits to her husband."Sad thing is too many people don't understand that rape can occur in a marriage.It just amazes me that when so many Mormons fear Muslim extremists they wind up having the same mindset toward women as the Taliban.I've heard of BYU students who were not allowed to take a test because of the way they were dressed. Shouldn't we evaluate college students based on their intellect rather than their appearance or is that asking too much from a institution of "learning?"Part of this rape culture became painfully obvious during a lesson in young men's for me in the mid 90's. My teacher and his wife brought cupcakes and then my teacher offered one to me after he licked it. When I said I didn't want it anymore he said that's what it's like when you marry a woman who isn't a virgin.So our culture is at the point of saying if a woman has been with anyone but you it's like eating a licked cupcake but of course you can have as many temple marriages as you want if your a man.The best example of why this harmful teaching is so atrocious is Elizebeth Smart. So here's some lengthy quotes:“I remember in school in one time I had a teacher who was talking about abstinence and she said ‘Imagine you’re a stick of gum. And when you engage in sex, that’s like getting chewed. And if you do that lots of times you’re going to become an old piece of gum and who’s going to want you after that?’
“That’s terrible, nobody should ever say that. But for me I thought ‘oh my gosh, I’m that chewed up piece of gum. Nobody re-chews a piece of gum. You throw it away.’ And that’s how easy it is to feel like you no longer have worth, you no longer have value. Why would it even be worth screaming out? Why would it even made a difference, your life already has no value.”
“I felt like my soul had been crushed. I felt like I wasn’t even human anymore. How could anybody want me or love me or care about me? I felt like life had no more meaning to it.”
“It’s feelings of self-worth. It’s feelings of ‘who would ever want me now?’ I’m worthless. That is what it was for me the first time I was raped."“I was raised in a very religious household, one that taught that sex was something special that only happened between a husband and a wife who loved each other and that’s what I’d been raised, that’s what I’d always been determined to follow, that when I got married then and only then would I engage in sex. And so, for that first rape, I felt crushed –’Who could want me now?’ I felt so dirty and so filthy I understand so easily all too well why someone wouldn’t run. Because of that alone. I mean, you can imagine the most special thing being taken away from you –not that that was your only value in life –but something that de-valued you? Can you imagine going back into a society where you’re no longer valued? Where you’re no longer as good as everybody else?" - Elizabeth SmartHow can anyone who has compassion or any sense of fairness and accountability for choices as is so often touted in our culture see anything but detrimental harm and abuse in these teachings found in modesty rhetoric?Jesus said by their fruits ye shall know them. Meaning that good teachings produce good fruits and bad teachings produce bad fruits so for me these teachings are doing so much more harm than good so to me these teachings are evil rotten fruit and we need to replace them with nourishing and strengthening teachings. These fruits have kept rapes unreported, they've kept rapists free to rape again, they've scarred women for generations.To change bad fruits to good we must change these teaching and change our culture from one that excuses or even condones rape to a culture that blames the victimizer instead of the victim.
