Men on Rape

Why is it men feel qualified expressively to enter into a conversation on rape, especially when their comments are negative toward women? Most men I've known personally are sympathetic on the subject, but there are those who, when they have nothing nice to say, should probably just keep their mouths shut. However, it is my opinion that many of those who don't keep their negative comments to themselves are, in the first place, probably dealing with some personal baggage of their own. And yes, men carry around excess baggage from the past, as well as women, and some may be carrying around more than their female counterpart. May it be they experienced some kind of sexual assault from childhood themself or they may have been  perpetrator at some point in their life.

On the other hand, some men may just be arrogant, chavenistic and ignorant beings. For instance, I subscribe to Arianna Huffington of Huffington Post on Facebook and yesterday there was an article about rape on college campuses. And several young women opened up about having been raped and one of them made the very factual statement that no matter how careful you are, no matter what you do to prevent it, there are no 100 percent guarentees. I followed up with these other young women how I too am a rape survivor among other bad experiences in my life and that my life has always been an open book because I felt if I helped one other person by sharing my experiences then I've done a good deed. But I also said, my best advice is a relationship with God because He can help us through anything. This man followed up with the comment that when any of us have a PhD then we could come back and talk. Hmmm! I thought what's a PhD got to do with being a victim, we're not entitled to an opinion of our own?

So, men if you can't be sympathetic, then it is best to not say anything unless you've walked a mile in the victim's shoes.