Yo'mumma wrote:1. Mandatory self-defense training for everyone, starting in elementary school. Yes, this would mean that a potential rapist would get the training too; but with brute physical strength meaning a lot less, committing rape would be a lot harder. From what I know, studies have shown that women who fight back against an unarmed assailant are more likely to get away without being raped; this would give more women that chance and ability to fight back.
The problem I see with "self defense training" (assuming you mean of the martial arts kind) is that if it's used that consistently, then everyone knows it (you even pointed it out). Then most martial arts schools will begin to use these attacks to typify an attacker, and then everyone who knows any martial art will pwn everyone who has done the "self defense training". But, whatever, if it seems to work, it works.
Oh... Hadn't thought of that. I'm figuring most rapists won't be skilled martial artists, but there might be exceptions.
I'm not fond of mandatory anything, but, especially if you continue it through elementary school, I can see alot of kids starting to hate it and not take notice.
Also a good point.
On the other hand, I'm much more open to schools doing an optional self-defense class for a term a year in place of the usual PE class.
Maybe require public schools to offer something like that?
2. Mandatory firearms training and gun ownership for adults. IIRC, Sweden does this. Controversial (especially among liberals like myself) but it would take care of the problem of armed assailants, which the previous one wouldn't. (Those scenes in movies where the hero goes barehanded against someone armed with a knife? Yeah, very fictional.)
Against rapists, knives are a superior option to guns. Statistically, more people survive close-range knife encounters than close-range gun encounters, both civilians and armed forces. Secondly, guns are even weaker on the ground, where most rapes occur (there are many recorded instances of police trying to fire a gun off against an assalent whilst on the ground, and failing). Thirdly, if it's mandatory, everyone can do it - which means that instead of getting raped with brute force, you'll be getting raped with a gun to your head.
Ack, you're right. Scratch that then. Maybe bring back some kind of training in knife-fighting and swordsmanship? It would be rather interesting if that made a comeback...
3. True equality: use genetic engineering to eliminate the strength difference between men and women. I'm all in favor of throwing out stupid evolutionary relics, but this is harder than it sounds; it would require untangling sexual maturation from growth, and the human endocrine system is incredibly complex and kludgy. Also, I think a lot of women (and some men, including myself) would object rather strongly to having male-type musculature.
This is impossible. Testosterone is responsible for the increased muscular structure found in males. Not only that, but there are more men than women who do weight training.
What I'm talking about is unlinking testosterone and muscular development, among other things... Basically a massive de-kludging of the human endocrine system. And yeah, it's quite impossible, at least at this stage of the game.
The reality of this situation is that if women did weight training, they'd be stronger. Not necessarily stronger than men, but there's only so strong you can get before it becomes more obsolete in unarmed combat. If a women was doing a martial art seriously, combining technique, fitness and strength, the line between her and a similarly trained man would begin to blur. This is doubly awesome true for wrestling, and if you're being raped, this is the kind of fighting you'd be doing.
There is only so strong you need to be for fighting. After that, technique and fitness is more important. (And fitness is also really important for wrestling, which is much more probable in a rape situation.)
Yeah, what I've heard from a lot of people who know martial arts is that the more you know, the less important brute strength becomes.
But I think that, at it's core, much of the difference is in what society tells us to do. 90% of women, if given the task of lifting a heavy object, will get their dads/boyfriends/husbands/next-door-neighbours husband to do it. If we all did the same work, the lines would be more blurred.
Maybe... However, as you pointed out earlier, lack of testosterone puts a rather stiff limit on muscular development in most women.
4. Le Guin was right: as above, but make everyone an androgyne with working ovotestes and a uterus. And if you think that sounds insane, I can go one better...
5. The phallus must die: as above, but replace the male penis with something that can't be so conveniently used as a torture instrument. Not sure about the... geometry of such an organ, I'd have to put some effort into figuring out what would do the trick.
You've already pointed out the ethical problems with these ones. Hooray for you!
Yeah... Massive, thorny ethical issues there. Doesn't stop me from fantasizing about such scenarios, but IRL it's never going to happen, for a number of reasons.
