Sex and Society

Reading the article by Lois Pineau, I found myself thinking that these cases involving date rape are usually not fair and very difficult to prove. I already assumed this, but my beliefs were confirmed. In class today, I found the biggest problem within these cases may not necessarily draw from law, but the perspective of society around these issues of date rape and other forms of aggravated sexual assault. It seems that we are a society that is ignorant to the fact of recreational sex especially within informative media. Today if something is not exposed through ABC, Fox, or CNN I feel little is done to culturally progress the nation, no matter how many group minorities are trying to address change on the issue. Thus, progress is slow in terms of development of our culture when it comes to rape and other mainstream issues that usually remain ignorant to the larger public. It is rather paradoxical because so much of our entertainment media seems to endulge itself in the form of sexual humor, sexual issues, and other ways of conveying sexuality, so it is not necessarily a taboo in the movie theatre, yet it remains so in the kitchens and living rooms of America (where sex is probably happening anyway). If one in six women by the age of 18 are being involved in some form of sexual harassment or assault I feel it is time to bring ideas not only to females in preventing rape and other sexual atrocities, but to men too. This is stemming from the fact that men, it seems, are usually the aggressors and do not take into account a female's cognitive process, but only their own in the given moment. This awareness of not only the self, but also the potential partner could hopefully, in time, progress into a more understanding culture that does not necessarily see a woman as what they are, but as who they are, which could then be extended to how we could view everyone as an equal individual.