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Trivializing sexual assault is extremely poor form.

Yakimoto 11y ago
Continue to trivialize it more by using it to beat everyone around [including randoms on the internet] with your smugness.
- rm_-rf_slash 11y ago
  I suspect you missed the parent comment before it got flagged.
kbenson 11y ago
I feel for both sides of this argument. Trvializing something traumatizing that people feel strongly about is not good, but I'm not sure using it in this context is exactly trivializing. The commenter could have said "banks still kill us with fees us six ways from Sunday" and most people would not say they were trivializing murder. Also, I'm not sure when sexual assault became worse than murder, but at some point in the past it did. You can't use rape/sexual assault as hyperbole in many places where you could easily use kill/murder etc. Maybe that's because there are survivors to read/hear the communication and be affected by it (although there are plenty of people affected by loss of a loved one through murder). In any case, I think this disproportionate response with regard to talking about sexual assault when compared to talking about items of a similar or worse level, such as murder, leads to people being confused by what appears to be inconsistent responses on crimes of this caliber. So, with all that said, I don't think it's all that hard to understand why some people don't understand the problem of using "rape" as slang to mean "taken advantage of" or "coerced" when "murder", "kill", and "dead" are often used with no problem to mean "mad at", "should expect a rough time" or "be careful". Unless you are willing to either additionally condemn all uses of that type of speech, or define why it's very different, reducing the use of "rape" as used here to "trivializing sexual assault" is both inconsistent and unfair.
- rm_-rf_slash 11y ago
  In case you missed the flagged comment, my case was with the way that comment was presented, in which the parent commenter's request was dismissed as political correctness without any consideration to context. Therefore, trivializing.
  - kbenson 11y ago
    I saw it, but I took your comment "trivializing sexual assault" as also applying towards your reasoning for the statement "I also resent your use of 'rape' in that context." and my comment was meant to address both.
    - rm_-rf_slash 11y ago
      Right. I just think rape is talked about too lightly, and when people do so it reflects poorly on them. Some things simply aren't appropriate to do in a public space, like nose-picking. It's not that they should be forbidden, but it won't win you many friends.
      - kbenson 11y ago
        And I understand that stance, I'm trying to point out that if you have that stance, you should also condemn talking lightly about murder (which you might), and if you don't, I think that requires justification, or a reexamination as to why rape is treated differently than murder. It's possible that it may be because of people pushing a (well intentioned) agenda. My personal view is that there is a misalignment here, and when these terms are used to describe something clearly as a metaphor then they should be treated similarly (or murder should be treated as the worse of the pair). I don't really care whether that means they are both taboo or both acceptable, but treating rape as taboo to use as a metaphor and murder as not is clearly inconsistent, given that murder is undeniably the worse crime.

Continue to trivialize it more by using it to beat everyone around [including randoms on the internet] with your smugness.

rm_-rf_slash 11y ago
I suspect you missed the parent comment before it got flagged.

kbenson 11y ago

I feel for both sides of this argument. Trvializing something traumatizing that people feel strongly about is not good, but I'm not sure using it in this context is exactly trivializing. The commenter could have said "banks still kill us with fees us six ways from Sunday" and most people would not say they were trivializing murder. Also, I'm not sure when sexual assault became worse than murder, but at some point in the past it did. You can't use rape/sexual assault as hyperbole in many places where you could easily use kill/murder etc. Maybe that's because there are survivors to read/hear the communication and be affected by it (although there are plenty of people affected by loss of a loved one through murder). In any case, I think this disproportionate response with regard to talking about sexual assault when compared to talking about items of a similar or worse level, such as murder, leads to people being confused by what appears to be inconsistent responses on crimes of this caliber. So, with all that said, I don't think it's all that hard to understand why some people don't understand the problem of using "rape" as slang to mean "taken advantage of" or "coerced" when "murder", "kill", and "dead" are often used with no problem to mean "mad at", "should expect a rough time" or "be careful". Unless you are willing to either additionally condemn all uses of that type of speech, or define why it's very different, reducing the use of "rape" as used here to "trivializing sexual assault" is both inconsistent and unfair.

rm_-rf_slash 11y ago
In case you missed the flagged comment, my case was with the way that comment was presented, in which the parent commenter's request was dismissed as political correctness without any consideration to context. Therefore, trivializing.
- kbenson 11y ago
  I saw it, but I took your comment "trivializing sexual assault" as also applying towards your reasoning for the statement "I also resent your use of 'rape' in that context." and my comment was meant to address both.
  - rm_-rf_slash 11y ago
    Right. I just think rape is talked about too lightly, and when people do so it reflects poorly on them. Some things simply aren't appropriate to do in a public space, like nose-picking. It's not that they should be forbidden, but it won't win you many friends.
    - kbenson 11y ago
      And I understand that stance, I'm trying to point out that if you have that stance, you should also condemn talking lightly about murder (which you might), and if you don't, I think that requires justification, or a reexamination as to why rape is treated differently than murder. It's possible that it may be because of people pushing a (well intentioned) agenda. My personal view is that there is a misalignment here, and when these terms are used to describe something clearly as a metaphor then they should be treated similarly (or murder should be treated as the worse of the pair). I don't really care whether that means they are both taboo or both acceptable, but treating rape as taboo to use as a metaphor and murder as not is clearly inconsistent, given that murder is undeniably the worse crime.