Fox News Panel: Rape Victims Need To Take ‘Personal Responsibility’ For Drinking Too Much

[big_dog]

A Fox News panel on Wednesday agreed that women needed to take “personal responsibility” for avoiding rape by not drinking too much. During an interview on the Diane Rehm Show last week, former George Washington University President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg argued that women should be “trained not to drink in excess” so they could “be in a position to punch the guys in the nose if they misbehave.”

Trachtenberg later insisted that he was not “trying to shift blame” to the victim. On Thursday’s edition of Outnumbered, Fox News host Jedediah Bila asked guest host Lou Dobbs if there was anything controversial about what Trachtenberg had said.
“I don’t think so,” Dobbs said. “As a father of two sons, two daughters, I will tell you, the last thing you want is any child — a boy, a girl, it doesn’t matter — to be defenseless. And if you don’t teach your kids and pray that they learn to never, ever take on additional vulnerability to everyday life in this society, why should there be anything controversial about it?”

“Losing control of oneself, exposing oneself and creating tremendous vulnerability is, to me, a disastrous choice for anyone to make,” he added. Co-host Harris Faulkner agreed that “personal responsibility” was “very important in all of this.” “No one is blaming the woman,” she explained. “It’s not like back in the day when they would blame us for what we had on. I don’t really see it that way. But I think if you’re going to watch out for a predator, you want to be able to do it in a sober eyes-wide-open manner. And you can’t do that if you’ve been drinking.”

“To put yourself in a vulnerable position, and to be drinking on top of that, it’s the opposite of good sense.”
At that point, co-host Liz Claman reminded the panel that the discussion had left out the man’s role in preventing rape.
“This professor left out two words: also guys,” she noted. “Guys shouldn’t be drinking so much that they lose control or their ability to focus… You don’t manage your message through gender, that’s the stupidest thing in the world. Guys lose control too.”
Co-host Andrea Tantaros recalled that her college “put all the guys in some kind of box, already guilty.” “You see a lot of girls getting assaulted and raped when they’re drunk,” she continued. “But [Trachtenberg] could have also added a number of pointers, which is, don’t walk home by yourself." http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/09/03/fox-news-panel-rape-victims-need-to-take-personal-responsibility-for-drinking-too-much/

[appleannie1]

1. And of course the man could not possibly be to blame.

[SummerSnow]

3. Of course not. A woman who is drunk, or walking home alone is always at fault

because men can't control their hormones. Sorry for walking down the street alone, sorry for having a bit much too drink my fault not yours.

[appleannie1]

5. Just like it is the woman's fault when a man uses her for a punching bag. If she had not

pissed him off by burning his dinner while changing the baby and letting the dog out while doing the laundry, he would not have HAD to beat her.

[LynneSin]

10. or if she dressings provacatively, or if she doesn't go to church, or if...

she uses bad language, or if she isn't married after the age of 18 or if she even thinks of flirting with anyone ever or if blah blah blah blah.

Let's make it simple- we should teach men that 'NO means NO' - end of discussion.

[appleannie1]

19. That is what I taught my sons.

[leftstreet]

16. Why not just arm drunk women?

That would probably 'reduce the risk of becoming a victim'

Plus it would be good for liquor and gun sales

[SummerSnow]

2. .....

[kiawah]

4. I basically told my daughter the exact same thing before she went to college....

I told her not to lose control of herself and not allow herself to get in a bad situation.

Any person, both men and women, need to exercise common sense and learn to protect themselves.

[wilt the stilt]

8. my father taught me

no means no. any guy who has to have SEX with a drunk women is a loser.

[KitSileya]

22. A guy who has to have "sex" with a drunk woman

is a rapist.

[Tikki]

11. Can't go to a social function because someone might slip a mood altering drug into food or drink.

Can't go to the corner store alone because that is an open invitation to follow her home.
Can't meet with the Professor or TA alone in a room because some say...
Can't go swimming at the school pool or workout at the school gym...unless you are wearing a track suit in both cases.

Of course students shouldn't drink until they pass out..most don't, but if it should happen do we
want the ...'well, she did pass out and all' squad waiting for those moments when they come upon just that
situation or should we teach young men to respect themselves and others and not to rape...

Not raping seems like common sense to me...


Tikki

[AverageJoe90]

6. Consuming too much drink is never a good idea, but.....

It is NOT a woman's fault if she gets raped whether while drunk, or completely. Ever. No, the blame for the rape lies squarely on the man who chose to take advantage of her in the first place.

Heaven forbid that this is 2014..... And this, ladies and gentlemen, is yet another reason I've become a feminist.

[rocktivity]

7. Rocktivity: Rapists Need To Take 'Personal Responsiblity'

Period.


rocktivity

[LynneSin]

9. When do we train men that when they see a drunk girl that they not have sex with them?

Really?

Do we just skip that message or we just tell men that if they are horny they should just go find some drunk women and it's all ok

[etherealtruth]

14. + infinity

[athenasatanjesus]

13. Fox news viewers should take responsibility for being the victims of mental rape.

Don't smash yourself in the head repeatedly with a giant mallet before choosing which station to watch.

[alp227]

15. Diane Rehm is herself a rape victim.

She should've shouted down the GWU prez after the remarks.

[Whiskeytide]

17. I think the problem is that we have somehow...

... conflated the concept of common sense - i.e., don't drink to the point of losing control of your faculties - with the notion that doing so somehow absolves someone else of THEIR responsibility for taking advantage of you. That's what this panel seems to have done. "She drank too much at a party, what did she think was going to happen..." WTF?

EVERY teenager should be taught that its not a good idea to drink yourself into unconsciousness because (A) there are assholes out there who will take advantage of you, and (B through N) (insert a dozen other good, health and safety related reasons to avoid this behavior) ...

AND, everyone should also be taught - just as emphatically - that no means no, and unconscious is the same as "no", and don't be the asshole in the above paragraph.

Why does one concept have to cancel out or negate the other in the tiny, narrow minds of the right wing commentatorazzi? Why can't both be legitimate and worthwhile on their own?

[appleannie1]

20. What really gets me is that the women on that network dress exactly the way they say women

should NOT dress if they don't want raped. I honestly believe they are told to wear their skirts clear up to their butts because that is what draws the old men in the first place. It keeps the rating up among their evil minded base. It is sort of like the choir preaching.

[Laelth]

23. No, no, and no.

Every person in a civilized society has the right to not be violated, regardless of their location and/or level of intoxication.

The kind of thought expressed in the OP is abhorrent.

-Laelth

[Ghost in the Machine]

24. They say that rape is about power, not sex, so what do you think will happen to a woman who follows

this stupid advice and punches her rapist in the nose?? We're going to have a lot more seriously harmed, or killed, rape victims because the rapist got enraged and had to PROVE how much more power they had.

Fathers (and mothers) need to talk to their boys starting at a young age and teach them that it is NEVER acceptable to force a woman to have sex, nor is it acceptable for them to take advantage of a woman who is too drunk to know what she's doing and especially wrong to have sex (rape) a woman who is passed out drunk. NO means NO, period. We *do* need to teach our daughters to be aware of their surroundings and to try to always have a friend with them. I don't mean that to sound sexist, but it is a fact of life. There are predators out there who would think nothing of attacking a very drunk, or passed out, female. They *should* have the *right* to get their party on as much as they want to, without have to worry about some scumbag taking advantage of them.

As for rapists... just as I've ALWAYS said on here... they need to be castrated with a dull, rusty butter knife... they'll never rape again, will they??

Just my 2 cents worth....

Ghost