Asking For It

Asking For It. Every seven minutes someone in America commits a rape and no matter who it is there's probably a community eager to make excuses for that person.

"In Asking for It, Kate Harding combines in-depth research with an in-your-face voice to make the case that twenty-first-century America supports rapists more effectively than victims. Drawing on real-world examples of what feminists call 'rape culture' – from politicos' revealing gaffes to institutional failures in higher education and the military – Harding offers ideas and suggestions for how we, as a society, can take sexual violence much more seriously without compromising the rights of the accused." (From the back cover.)

This is a must-read, in my opinion.

Although many of us are (somewhat) aware of a lot of what she covers in this book, I doubt we realize just how prevalent rape culture is in our society.

Certainly, not nearly enough is being done to remedy the situation, although some progress has been made.

Kate Harding reminds us of this in her 2015 book, Asking for It.

Nearly half of rapes are never reported. Even fewer lead to a felony conviction. She says victims wonder what the point is in reporting uncorroborated sexual violence. They'll be suspected of lying, and there's little chance of bringing their rapist to justice.

She divides her book into three parts:

PART I: SLUT SHAMING, VICTIM BLAMING, AND RAPE MYTHS

PART II: LAW AND ORDER

PART III: THE CULTURE OF RAPE

It's especially disturbing to know that so many people in positions of power think as they do.

For example, Missouri's representative Todd Akin's astoundingly stupid statement in August of 2012. "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has a way of shutting that whole thing down."

It's hard to imagine any adult could be ignorant enough to believe rape could not cause pregnancy. And it's frightening to have such a person in a position of power.

And then there was Richard Mourdock, the Republican senate candidate from Indiana. He said, "I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen."

I, for one, want nothing to do with a God such as that.

Asking for It has loads of good information. Information we need to keep in mind when choosing our candidates.

Highly recommended.

Available from Amazon

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