Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

I actually have two new recipes to share, but I felt like being opinionated tonight instead.  (I know, I know, that sounds nothing like me, right?) The recipes will come, I promise.  In the meantime, I keep seeing articles and opinions on Facebook about the new ‘date rape drug detector nail polish,’ and (shockingly) I have some thoughts on the subject I can’t help sharing.

1)  Can we just thank the guys who invented the nail polish?  They had an idea they thought might help and they did what I can only presume are cool scientific things in order to bring it to pass.  It’s a good invention, not a bad invention.  Let’s just thank them.  Buy the nail polish if you want to; don’t if you don’t.  Can’t we just leave it at that?

2)Yes, I think there are many appalling things about how rape is treated in this country.  I agree that writing about star athletes whose “lives fell apart” is ridiculous.  How about “kids with potential who threw it away because they felt that their personal desires took precedence over someone else’s”?  How about “violent criminals who had a community fooled”?  Isn’t that–essentially–what they are?

3)While I’m not disagreeing with the idea of a “rape culture,” I also think it’s a term that fails to fully communicate all aspects of the problem of rape in our society.  It’s hard to hear people espouse the idea of casual sex while agreeing that rape is always a violent and violating crime.  I agree that rape is always a violent and violating crime; I don’t agree that sex can actually be as casual as our society prefers to think it is.  I just think we disassociate the consequences from the act.

4)UNTIL we have successfully taught every man and boy (and, I suppose, woman and girl; I’m sure there’s a small percentage of those, too) that rape is a criminal, despicable act with severe consequences, WHAT, I ask you, is wrong with ALSO encouraging women to make safe decisions?  I lock my door because I know theft exists.  I teach my children to be careful of strangers because I know predators exist.  Ignoring the potential victims to try and prevent perpetrators isn’t going to solve the problem, either.

5)Until many, many more people in our society are outraged over the flagrant objectification of women in the media–Carl’s Jr., I ‘m talking about you–we are not going to eradicate rape.  When we encourage people to see women as sexual objects, how can we be surprised that there are people who treat them as such?  Let’s portray men and women as sexual beings, not sexual objects.  In order to do that, we need to see both men and women as PEOPLE first.  With brains and emotions.  (In order to portray them that way, you generally have to have them do more than some scantily clad cavorting while onscreen.)

6)And on that note, every photoshopped model in a magazine should just have a big, red PHOTOSHOPPED stamp on it.  How is it not false advertising to Photoshop away a woman’s rib cage?

That concludes my opinionated blog post for the week.  Tune in next time for peach streussel muffins!