Friday, June 29, 2007

IT’S ONLY NAUGHTY THE FIRST TIME

28 June 2007
Sunny Thursday (32 Degree Celsius)
Afternoon @ 1940 (Washington DC Time)
Listen: California by Savage Garden
Mood: *Duh Day*

Today pretty bored, yup, to the point of boring myself to death, I deicide (against any judgement haha) that I should continue my long lost composition of sex, always my favourite topic. But I do know of one chap who pretends he doesn’t, but that’s another story… Beside, the weather is B.E.A.Utiful HOT (think 33 degree). Cow, I can go on forever but need to exercise some self control, if not, instead of a 2 page blog, you will be reading a book, but more of that later.

I have a long time back touched on the Man’s origin, its roots and now, let focus on a more controversial topic, that of Rape. First, a Disclaimer, not that I am fucking rich, sitting on good pension or portfolio, though that might make some sense in my later years but for the sake of being socially responsibility (read ball-less). Seriously if you ask me, there are a lot of pretty disturbing humans just roaming around, and if you take everything I wrote at face value, and actually use it against better moral call, then assuredly I say; it would be FUNNY if that is a joke.

Moving on, Rape as define, is a crime where the victim is forced into sexual activity, in particular, sexual penetration against its will. I prefer gender neutrality instead of specific, as we now know; both male & females are equal opportunists as well as victims. The following are gist of the evolutionary theories and not any attempts to justify such acts. So if you do engage in it and stupidly got caught, don’t quote me. Moreover, I wouldn’t save your ass unless of course you are Kate Beckinsale or Peanutz, haha. Moreover, nowadays many scholars (of both genders) have generally agreed and opposed the underlying notions that our forebears’ actions have any consequence on our relationship. Ah, that’s comforting to know…

To explain this interesting phenomenon, let’s do a little bit of history; the act of rape itself, which until late Middle Ages, only carry a fine which is paid to the victim’s father for the “damage” goods. But Rape, whether in the course of war or history have far reaching records; from the Bible to more recent atrocities such as Nanking massacre and in various war crime tribunals. Generally, there are about 4 classes of rapists; Power Assertive, Power Reassurance, Anger-Retaliation and Anger-Excitation. Though most are self explanatory, emphasis are on Emotional Excitation perpetrators. They are deem to be the most dangerous as studies have profile them to be charismatic, charming, usually in seat of power and of course these in a way clouded their reality, have funny fantasies and really think they are entitled to it and even able to get away with such acts.

We are however, not alone in this activity. One is the realisation that many human activities, not all of them savoury, happen for exactly the same reasons as in other species. For example, rapes and murder are also widespread in the animal kingdom. All have their own evolutionary logic. No one argues that they are anything other than evolutionarily driven in species other than man. Yet it would be extraordinary if they were not so driven in man, because it would mean that natural selection had somehow contrived to wipe out their genetic underpinnings, only for them to re-emerge as culturally determined phenomena. So what is stopping us? Self control and Guilt. Hmm, fuck the Guilt thingy.

Some studies indicate (though controversial) that it is an attempt by the male of the species to increase his reproductive fitness when he is lacking in ability to persuade the female by non-violent means (Thornhill & Thornhill, 1993). Of course, such argument is flaw in so many aspects; similarly, victim-blaming adhere along the same rationale. It is argued some sociological models suggest that it may be genetically-inbuilt for a certain proportion of men and women to act in ways which would tend to raise the chances of rape occurring, for instance, wearing of sexy clothes, and may even be a biological feature. But studies as we all know, are better left for further investigation (usually flawed).

Studies of animal behaviour conveniently refer to the top male in a group as the “alpha”. Such dominant animals keep the others under control and father a large proportion, if not all of the group's offspring. One of the curiosities of modern life is that voters tend to elect alpha males to high office, and then affect surprise when they behave like alphas outside politics, like Clinton for example. But in the days when alphas had to fight rather than scheme their way to the top, they tended to enjoy the sexual spoils more openly such as Genghis Khan, a man reported to have had about 500 wives and concubines, not to mention the sexual opportunities that come with conquest. Hence, the notion of evolutionary trait sticks on and under very unique circumstances it would seems.

Psychologists have also determined that rape fantasies are relatively common across populations. A common assumption that people aroused by rape fantasies must be more likely than others to commit the actual act, or that women with rape fantasies actually want to become victims of violent sexual assault. This does not correspond with observed scientific evidence, however; while rapists usually fantasise about rape, so do normal, psychologically healthy people like you and me for instance.

A proportion of violent sexual assaults end with the death or serious injury of the victim. Other consequences can include pregnancy or STDs. Because of the sexual nature of rape crimes, the most common effect of rape on victims is serious psychological traumas. This is especially true in societies such as Pakistan with its strong sexual customs (honour killing) and taboos. For example, a woman (and especially a virgin) who is raped may be deemed by society to be "damaged": she may suffer isolation, be prohibited to marry, be divorced if she was married, or even killed. She may also feel "dirty", as if the crime was her fault, which in many case, isn’t. The rape victims’ reactions are very similar to those that would be experienced by a survivor of any other traumatising experience, and sometimes result in a diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Such theories as we have just seen have far reaching effects. Now the blame is hanging between the victim and perpetrator. Who is at fault and whose fault? Though women can also cry wolf after a particular bad episode of sex or man would argued the sexual consent.

To end, this short conversation says it all:

Boy (to girl): We can enjoy the sex together or
Boy: I can hurt you real bad and I still get to enjoy the sex

A penny for your thoughts?



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