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Women being attacked near Tufts
By adamg on Thu, 04/26/2007 - 9:29pm
One woman grabbed and groped while waiting for a bus shortly before 6 a.m. today. This follows at least three other attacks near the Tufts campus in recent days. Police are looking for a heavyset Hispanic man, about 5'5".
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Comments
Attacks on women
Being a women in this society is like being at war. Except there is never a ceasefire. Women must protect themselves 24/7. When we hear of an assault, we say to ourselves, thank god it wasn't me or anyone I know. But then one day it is. Living like this is probably unimaginable for men, but that's the way it is. We must all work to change this terrible scenario.
Violence against women
...is a problem, but I don't think there's any need to portray women as walking victims/targets. I prefer to think of myself as more empowered than that. This isn't in any way to minimize people's painful experiences or present myself as invincible, but just that it's a flaw when we decide to feed into the societal idea that we're helpless victims. We're not. We can speak up any time we witness sexism and take it upon ourselves to portray women as strong and empowered. There's a difference between being sensible and living life as a victim-waiting-to-happen.
It also needs to be mentioned that sexual assaults by a stranger account for about 2% of reported sexual assaults nationwide, and "blitz" attacks (when someone is grabbed randomly without any prior interaction) account for about 10% of assaults by strangers. This guy is harming women and needs to be stopped, but this is hardly a common occurrence. I wish people were as vocal about sexual assault and sexual harassment by known offenders, since we're all much more likely to encounter it.
http://1smootshort.blogspot.com
Violence against women
The rapist needs to be put to death by the state - plain and simple. I honestly cant understand why women, and indeed everyone who feels threatened in our society, isnt out campaigning RIGHT NOW to their elected representatives to institute mandatory death sentences for people who commit aggravated rape and murder of innocents. These people (if they can be called people) *will* reoffend when they get released from their 10 year prison terms - and given the average human lifespan, and assuming they commit only one rape every time they're released, that's 5-6 women each of them rape during the course of their "careers". Those women can be saved by removing these scumbags from the population permanently.
If you just give the rapists life-sentences you end up causing a horrible tax burden on the population, not to mention the possibility that some sissy liberal politician will pardon them at some point. So think about this logically, rationally and clearly - and then write to your representative and demand mandatory death penalties for certain extreme crimes. I dont care if the death is painless, if its through torture or if they just shove them into a volcano - the main thing is that these people should be dealt with in the *only* way certain to stop them offending again.
...
> These people (if they can be called people) *will* reoffend when
> they get released
Source?
Kryptonite
I bike through that area of Boston Ave every workday that weather and health permit. The description and photos are increasingly refined - he is now said to be 5'8 to 5'9.
I think I'm going to move my lock bracket to the front (it has been an effective asshole deterrent in the past) and keep the cel phone on the hip so I can say something if I see something.
That's a good idea, SwirlyGrrl,
especially if you end up biking at night, or even sundown. Back in the mid to late 1970's, I went to school on the Fenway, which, although one of the prettiest areas in Boston proper, had an extremely high crime rate, and one had to be careful, even during the day, when they went walking or running in that general area.
Neighborhood is Irrelevant
I used to bike home from work on Mission Hill. My joke was that I didn't bring my husband so I was safe. Hah. I currently bike through some of the more project-dense areas of Charlestown, even at night, with no problems so far.
I have biked through Dudley Square, Roxbury from there to other places and never had a hassle. I have, however, been verbally harassed in areas of Cambridge that are rather posh, as well as suburban areas where the entitlement index nudges the hubris limit.
The area of Medford in question isn't exactly seedy - solid, working class to crunchy academic, well inhabited, well patrolled. It does have a lot of grad students and off-campus students from Tufts.
Rapists are woman-hating terrorists, and terrorists don't respect dark, light, or income level of the neighborhood. Rape is a hate crime and not in the least limited to "bad" areas of town. Verbal abuse and threats of attack lurk everywhere women dare show their faces and act like free human beings.
It's also true, however, that, in the vast majority of rape
cases (roughly 70-80 some odd percent of the time), that the rapist is known to the victim to some degree or other, in some way, be it as a friend, acquaintance, or even a family member, or, often enough, it's now called date-rape, when a guy rapes his girlfriend. The rapist can be an acquaintance, such as a teacher, or even that cute guy in Chemistry 1A or whatever. Rape is not generally a sex crime, but a violent crime, in which the rapist uses violence and power to dominate his victim, and the sex is used as a means of degradation of the victim. Many people, even now, get too hung up on the sexual aspect of this particular crime to realize this. Moreover, it's often true that the closer the relationship has previously been between the rapist/victime prior to the rape, the more brutal the attack.
All of the above being said, there are three types of rapists:
A) The power rapist, which most rapists are, in which the rapist exerts just enough power to dominate and control his victim.
B) The angry rapist, where the rapist not only exerts power and domination over his victim, but also inflicts actual physical injuries, either in the form of bruises, and/or internal injuries, on the victim.
C) The sadistic rapist: This is a less common, but even grislier occurrence (all rapes are grisly and horrific), in which the rapist not only inflicts physical injury, but may well also inflict other, more devious injuries such as genetalia mutation, and even death. The Boston Strangler, the Hillside Strangler, and Richard Speck, all fell into this last category.
It's also true, however, that, sometimes, although not most of the time, a rapist will stalk his victim for days, weeks, or even months, observing her comings/goings, and general movement patterns before moving in to strike.
While it's true that the last two aspects of rape mentioned are rarer, the vast majority of women get raped by men known to them in some way or other, which makes it all the more difficult to deal with, because many women are reluctant to report the rape, as well as to prosecute. It's also true that rape victims often encounter insensitivity on the part of counselors at rape centers, law enforcement people, or on the part of the courts. Hopefully, this is starting to change, although not fast enough.
98%, actually
The stat that RAINN is using right now is that 98% of reported sexual assaults involve a known perpetrator. And we know that assaults by strangers are reported at a much higher rate.
http://1smootshort.blogspot.com
98%--wow. Didn't know it was that high.
It's also true, however, that sometimes a person who's known to the victim will actually set it up so that the victim is "attacked by an unknown assailant". For instance, I read/heard about a divorced woman who was raped one night in her bed by an unknown assailant who'd climbed in through her bedroom window. Here's the clincher: It turned out that the woman's ex-husband had set it up.
Lifetime movies don't reflect reality
I'm sure that sort of thing has happened, but it sure as hell is not any kind of common occurrence. We really need to be teaching people to recognize and address sexism and sexual harassment -- not to beware of ex-husbands who arrange for unknown assailants to climb through their bedroom window.
http://1smootshort.blogspot.com
While I agree that lifetime movies don't reflect reality,
this was a real- life occurrence that I was told about by a client of mine(I'm also a piano tuner), who, in addition to owning a small piano business, teaches self-defense, and who had this woman in one of his classes.
I do agree wholeheartedly that this kind of set up is a rare occurrence, but does happen on occasion, and that it's important to teach people awareness about sexism, sexual harassment, how to recognize it, and to address it.
It's also true that the woman had no way of knowing that her ex-husband was going set her up for sexual assault--the set-up was unbeknownst to her.
You're also right about place not being relevant.
When I was at my 20th-year high school reunion a number of years ago, this guy from my class, who I later learned had become an alcoholic, began coming onto me, when I was conversing at the reunion with another guy from my class(who was decent, b tw). The drunken guy came, tried to sort of slobber all over me, and I just pushed him away--keeping my distance. Later, he began making innuendos at me, inviting me to go swimming with him in the swimming pool of the hotel where the reunion was taking place. I told him--no thanks, I wasn't in the mood for swimming and I had no bathing suit. He said that he'd lend me a T-Shirt. I said no, and he got progressively blunter, accusing me of not liking sex. I quickly reviled him and walked away. Unfortunately, years later, to my knowledge, this guy's still a mess. Heh.