“Teach men not to rape.” You hear this advice a lot on college campuses now. Its proponents argue that sexual assault could be prevented if only men understood that rape is bad. Well, here’s the thing:
We already do.
Men know that rape is wrong (or at least the men in our culture, anyway), which is why the overwhelming majority of us don’t engage in it. Those who do aren’t raping out of ignorance–they rape because they can get away with it. And the reality is, speeches about “toxic masculinity” won’t change that. What will?
Lead, copper, and brass.
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A firearm can compensate for physical disparities: unlike most weapons, the efficacy of a gun depends on its user’s skill, not her size or strength. With proper training and practice, a woman can become deadlier than the strongest man. Research by economist John Lott bears this out: he found that women who defended themselves with a firearm had much higher rates of survival than those who didn’t. And specific examples aren’t difficult to find.
A woman in North Carolina managed to reach her gun after an intruder tied her up with electrical cords. A woman in Texas shot a convicted sex offender after he broke into her home. A Missouri woman shot an alleged rapist who did the same. And in Oklahoma, this woman shot two attackers, one of whom was armed with a large knife:
It’s hard to imagine how else these women could have defended themselves without firearms, and their cases aren’t unique, as you can find hundreds of other women who did the same. However, some feminists don’t want you following their example: when Miss USA pageant winner Nia Sanchez told women to “learn how to protect themselves,” she was accused of “victim-blaming” and furthering “rape culture.” Whether they think telling people to lock their vehicles promotes auto theft culture remains unclear.
The problem isn’t that rapists don’t know that what they’re doing is wrong–it’s that they don’t care. So while it’s great to condemn sexual assault and stress the need for consent, that isn’t going to stop a determined predator.
Hollow-points will.
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