Where Serena Williams is right about rape

By Selwyn Duke

If you want to know why lies seem increasingly common, it's because we persecute people for honesty.

A good example is the recent statements tennis star Serena Williams made about the Steubenville rape case. Commenting on the matter in a Rolling Stone interview, the Wimbledon champion opined:

Do you think it was fair, what they [the assailants] got? They did something stupid, but I don't know. I'm not blaming the girl, but if you're a 16-year-old and you're drunk like that, your parents should teach you – don't take drinks from other people. She's 16, why was she that drunk where she doesn't remember? It could have been much worse. She's lucky. Obviously I don't know, maybe she wasn't a virgin, but she shouldn't have put herself in that position, unless they slipped her something, then that's different.

Now, where Williams went wrong was in questioning the fairness of the sentence. The two assailants, high-school football players Trent Mays and Ma'lik Richmond, received, respectively, two years and one year in juvenile detention for the extreme sexual abuse of a 16-year-old girl, abuse punctuated by disgusting, evil attitudes and commentary. In my view, they got off easy. But isn't Williams correct in saying that the girl also made it easy?

Before anyone thinks such opinions are the result of some kind of tennis-induced dementia (I have quite a history in the game myself), let me place this in perspective. If I'm falling-down drunk and walk through a dangerous neighborhood at 2 AM, wearing gold jewelry and flashing cash, and I get knocked over the head and robbed, will anyone shrink from stating that I imperiled myself via poor decisions?

This isn't synonymous with saying I asked for it any more than a person with a poor lifestyle asks for a heart attack. But just like the eating of too much saturated fat, my drunkenness would be a risk factor.

So correct me if I'm wrong, but there's still something called "acting stupidly." And unless there has been a late addendum to the Bible, God has not yet granted man a special dispensation from the consequences of it.

The point is that warnings and wise counsel parents used to routinely give young girls – "Dress modestly," "Don't go to a man's home alone," etc. – are now frowned upon in the name of political correctness. Instead, we instill them with the notion that the sexes are the same and, by golly, if something isn't dangerous for a guy, there's no reason why you should have to "modify your behavior" in that department. Equality! Interestingly, though, we don't apply this thinking to less politically incorrect crimes.

For instance, just consider this passage from WiseGeek on how to avoid being mugged:

Because muggings tend to follow certain patterns, people can avoid victimhood by traveling smart. Try to avoid being alone on the street or on public transit between 8:00 PM and 2:00 AM. Travel with a group after dark, and stick to well lighted areas where there are other people around. Make sure that your valuables are hidden and secured, as well. Keep things like cell phones, cameras, and personal music players out of sight and out of temptation.

Wow, a lot of behavior modifications recommended there. And could you imagine if you told women that to decrease the chances of rape they should make sure their "valuables are hidden" and "out of sight and out of temptation"? I mean, it's almost as if they're saying it's your fault if you get mugged.

This brings us to the real War on Women: the ones waging it here are actually those who, in the name of a twisted leftist agenda, seek to suppress information that would help women more safely negotiate life. So, young people, I'll tell you what you need to hear:

1. Good things don't happen when you get falling-down drunk. And if you have to drink to have fun, you have a problem.

2. Girls, don't think you can keep up with the guys in the drinking department. Heavier people can metabolize more of any substance; consequently, an amount of alcohol that a man 50 pounds heavier than you can "hold" may be enough to cause you serious impairment.

3. Girls, also know that if you get inebriated, your chances of being raped will be greater. And the increase in probability is directly proportional to your degree of drunkenness. This is simply an inescapable truth.

In fact, in those dark ages decades ago, when people entertained notions of right and wrong, getting drunk was known as an "occasion of sin." And you were obligated to avoid such things because they are situations in which you're more likely to do wrong – or have wrong done against you. But we've evolved beyond such talk now, and I'm sure leftists certainly don't want to hear it. After all, they're heavily invested (at least emotionally) in the rape- center business.

© Selwyn Duke