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Generic Confusion

When you leave, my blog just fades to grey
Nu ma nu ma iei, nu ma nu ma nu ma iei


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Monday, September 19, 2011

Bad behavior

Geordie Tait, long-time player of Magic: the Gathering and writer about the same, posted a long article about the gender attitudes of some gamers, touching on the reaction to Finkelgate. There's a bit too much feminist... stuff. There's one comment he makes that demands a response. He talks about fear, quoting a book which states that a woman's worst fear from a romantic encounter is being raped and murdered. He continues:

Now, pumpkin, pretend you're a man. What's your greatest fear in a romantic situation?

Give up? More than anything, we fear being laughed at and made to feel humiliated by the opposite sex.


That is wrong. What a man fears most is the evening's mutual yeses are followed by her regret and self-doubt. She convinces herself that despite saying yes, she didn't really consent to the night's activities, and so she files a charge of rape against the man. A false charge of rape. A classic he said, she said situation. It will be investigated. It will be news. The man knows he did nothing wrong, and he knows he shouldn't be convicted, but for months, his life becomes a living hell. And when he's exonerated? He has thousands of dollars of legal bills. And his name is forever listed as an accused rapist. His exoneration isn't going in the police blotter. And her name? It's probably not even in the article, given the standards of most newspapers.

It's even worse for college students, and not just because of the lower levels of maturity of both men and women of that age. Such a charge could bring the man before an Honor Board, where basic rights such as the right to legal representation and the right to face one's accuser are not present. And the man may be judged by a person with prejudices like "A woman would never lie about being raped" and "All men are potential rapists."

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