Pigeon-holed

Echidne is in excellent form in a post from yesterday looking at the way that individuals, society, and the media discuss sexuality -- especially the way that the language reveals underlying assumptions and biases about how men and women should/do approach sex.

Then there is the darker side of the issues, the side where we talk about an "easy target" in the context of the terrible events in Aruba. Where death enters the discussion and somehow we still prattle about sex and whether the woman or her parents were to blame for her lack of knowledge on how to avoid a psychopath. As if death is a likely outcome of casual sex, something that every woman should be trained to avoid. Now contrast this with what I mentioned above: the idea of men as the more sexual beings. Do you see the societal influences here? Do you see how women are expected to bend and adjust and protect themselves even against psychopaths?

Worth reading the whole thing, as it unpacks a lot of common metaphors and reminds us of issues we tend to overlook in these days of so many political dismays...