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Thanks
for your note. I don't think
that it is so much "male stereotypes
of women that affect the probability
of men to rape"--but rather
stereotypes of men that affect
their probability to rape. For
instance, most people who study
rape conclusively say that the
biggest motivating factor is
power--and it is about proving
your power, using your power
or more appropriately abusing
your power. Therefore, I think
that rape is more about men
feeling like they have to prove
their masculinity and, therefore,
doing whatever it takes to enforce
that.
It's
also about male privilege. For
instance, in the case of Mike
Tyson--his entire life he was
told by everyone around him
that he could do whatever he
wanted and it didn't matter--he
was the best and, therefore,
there were no limitations on
his life. Therefore, when he
raped that teenager what he
was doing was living up to that
prescription for him. I am not
letting him off of the hook--because
at a certain point you have
to have your own sense of judgement
and your own ability to say
no, but he was basically doing
what he thought he could because
he had been told that he could
do anything.
Anyway, I say that all as a
way of saying that I hope you
reconsider the angle of your
paper. Of course, the opposite
of male power is female weakness
and that certainly is a part
of it, but it's a matter of
where you put the perogative--and
it should be on men.
Good luck.
—Amy
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