The underlying cause of rape

by Loris 74 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse

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  funkyderek

  Having said that, there is no evidence that rape IS an advantagous behaviour to the rapist in evolutionary terms.

  Not as a primary strategy certainly. But for someone who otherwise has little or no chance of breeding, it necessarily improves his chances of reproducing. Out of all the men in history who were unable to get consensual sex from a fertile adult female, the only ones who passed their genes on were those who raped.

  Among the general population, any male who was willing to commit this crime and able to do so without getting caught would have a significant reproductive advantage over those who were not. Depending on the environment and the culture, the advantages may have outweighed the risks.
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  zen nudist

  It looks like we are left with a situation where logically power and sexual attractiveness are both influential in rape, but where sex doesn't seem to be the main factor, but rather a secondary factor where someone attractive is selected for rape by a rapist, although the motivations for that rape are beyond the attractiveness of the victim and are more to do with internal factors in the rapist.

  consider this possibility. Evolution always has a stable core, the 80% of the bell curve... the fringe or 10% on each side pops up somewhat randomly from the stable core and has no evolutionary advantages in normal living times....however, they persist because there are upheavals and drastic changes which kills off the large part of the stable 80% and leaves the fringe which can survive brutal situations by being vicious and savage...when the crisis is over they are once again viewed as less than saviors and either disposed of or hidden for the protection of the rest.
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  Abaddon

  zen: I don't know if you know the terminology; the E.volutionary S.table S.tategy I mention above is essentially what you are describing; there can be other strategies but they would tend to fluctute; it's one of the chapters in the Selfish Gene.
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  undercover

  I don't want to hi-jack the thread, but I have a question:

  Who was at fault when Dinah was raped?

  The WTS likes to use that story as an illustration as to why JWs should avoid bad associates. Because she associated with non-believers and didn't follow a wise course she got into a bad situation and was raped. To listen to the JWs tell it, she was at fault for getting raped. If she hadn't gone out with those people, if she stayed home with her family, etc, etc she would never have been in the situation to begin with, therefore she is to blame for what happened to her. That's what happens when you don't follow direction. That's what happens when you associate with the wrong people.

  So going back to the very first post which quoted an old WT and how it places blame on a woman for getting raped, and seeing how they still use the Dinah story to scare their people, I see no change in their way of thinking on the subject.
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  zen nudist

  Who was at fault when Dinah was raped?

  who is at fault when someone gets robbed in a bad neighborhood?

  The theif of course.

  however there is no doubt about the fact that the risk is greater and so are the odds of being robbed if one goes into a bad neighborhood knowing that it is such.... taking risks however does not make one a criminal, perhaps just unwise in hindsight.

  I do not know of a single person who would ever hold a robbery victim guilty of being robbed.... however I can easily see how someone could say he was asking for it by walking down the street flashing gold and jewelry in a dangerous neighborhood and how a lot of people would not give too much sympathy...but they would still not say he deserved it... or would they?