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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Raping Asian girls worse than raping white girls because it 'harms their marriage prospects' :o

187 replies

OTheHugeManatee · 18/09/2015 09:42

Link

A judge has just ruled that a man who raped Asian under-13s should receive a longer sentence, because the victims' families were now worried about their marriage prospects. In other words, damaging these girls' property value in the marriage 'market' actually counted in terms of assessing the damage done by raping them.

I think this is horrific. Not just because virginity should have no bearing on the value of a girl or woman, but also because implicitly it seems to support the notion that underlay the belief of the Rotherham rapists that white girls were 'trash' who could be abused freely because they were already devalued. Like it's OK to rape white girls because they have no trading value.

I get that feminism coexists quite uneasily with cultural diversity, and this is a very difficult area to navigate, but really feel like this needs a feminist response.

OP posts:
stopfaffing · 18/09/2015 12:06

I've posted that article on my fb page with a message. It's bloody outrageous :(.

SevenSeconds · 18/09/2015 12:05

I would be keen to sign a petition

Wishful80smontage · 18/09/2015 11:48

Completely agree with everyone I was utterly appalled when I read about this verdict wrong on many levels. Agree that it is totally sickening.
I will support a petition and share if anyone about to set up- it would be good to capture the very well wording arguements on this thread I'm sure there would be a lot of support.

Dontloookbackinanger · 18/09/2015 11:32

Utterly sickened by this "judgment".

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 18/09/2015 11:25

OTheHugeManatee - so glad you started this thread - my jaw dropped a mile when I read this story. I too will sign any petition set up.

How dare anyone make such an insulting judgement.

antimatter · 18/09/2015 11:23

Please create petition.
All parents should sign because reasoning in this case is just wrong!

(just thinking how children of atheist Asian parents would be treated)

JeremyCorbynsStylist · 18/09/2015 11:14

Agree op: will sign any petition set up.
I too feel like taking to the streets over this - absolutely disgusting.

IrenetheQuaint · 18/09/2015 11:11

Very well said, Manatee.

grimbletart · 18/09/2015 11:09

I was raging when I saw this. Why is so-called "culture" such a sacred bloody cow? It seems to trump justice, fairness and common sense. I shudder when I hear the word - it's so often an excuse used to tolerate and appease the intolerable.

The decision manages to insult everyone - the Asian girl for "valuing" the meaningless concept of virginity and treating her as a commodity owned by her father, white girls for implicitly suggesting that rape is not such a big deal for them and white girls' parents for implicitly suggesting they wouldn't care as much about their daughters' distress as Asian parents. It also insults those Asian parents who genuinely love their daughters for themselves - not their saleability on the marriage market.

This judge has filled her Bingo card in one fell swoop.

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 18/09/2015 11:01

It is fucking outrageous. It really is. And it makes it worse that a woman judge has bought into their bullshit as well. Angry

RueDesTroisFreres · 18/09/2015 10:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

OTheHugeManatee · 18/09/2015 10:55

Perhaps we could start a petition.

All women and girls matter, as individuals and not as property. And all women and girls should be safe from rape and sexual abuse, not just the ones whose fathers want to sell them off on the marriage market.

OP posts:
antimatter · 18/09/2015 10:53

Can we protest somewhere against reasoning of this verdict?

It's so wrong!!!!

cailindana · 18/09/2015 10:48

Well said HugeManatee.

OTheHugeManatee · 18/09/2015 10:47

I think as well part of what's making me angry here is the way in which, where there is a conflict between the rights of women and the rights of another protected/minority group, somehow women's rights always seem to lose out. If there's a conflict between the right of some religious nutters to spout nasty misogynistic guff and the right of women to be treated like full human beings, religious freedom must be supported. If it's a conflict between the right of women to be described by words that accurately reflect our embodied experience and specific biology, and the right of gender-nonconforming people to not have their feelings hurt, then gender diversity must be embraced. And if there's a conflict between the right of all women to have their rape and sexual abuse recognised for the horrific violation it is, and the right of some cultures to be treated as special snowflakes because of how the women's fathers see the situation then cultural diversity must be respected. And every single time, women's rights are discounted. I'm fucking sick of it.

OP posts:
glenthebattleostrich · 18/09/2015 10:45

Exit, the child's body is only worth more if a man deems it so. So the father and the inadequateperson who the girl is effectively sold to.

Absolutely sickening that this opinion is given any credence in law.

cailindana · 18/09/2015 10:41

The flipside of course is that she's saying the non-Asian girls have no saleable value, and there's no one that really cares about their future prospects so in that case the crime against them deserves less of a punishment. The actual psychological damage to the girls is really not the determining factor - what matters is the value men place on them.

Tiredemma · 18/09/2015 10:40

quite sickening.

scallopsrgreat · 18/09/2015 10:40

I don't think it is about that Exit. I think it is the fact that men's feelings about rape are more important than the women who are raped.

Scobberlotcher · 18/09/2015 10:37

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ExitPursuedByABear · 18/09/2015 10:34

Came looking for a thread on this as I just read the story and I am appalled on so many levels.

I can sort of see what the judge was trying to say, but cannot believe that she voiced it and used it as a determining factor in her sentencing.

Once child's body is more important than anothers. Shock

SleepyForest · 18/09/2015 10:33

I agree with you Calindana. It is wrong.

cailindana · 18/09/2015 10:29

In the article it said that the sentences were longer as the asian girls' fathers were upset about their marriage prospects and this fell under the assessment of the psychological damage to the girls. WTF? So if I get punched in the face and my pimp feels that will damage my future earning as a prostitute should my attacker then get a harsher sentence?

Basically, the girls live in culture where they are sold into slavery by their fathers. In a just society, IMO, this should be seen as an abusive situation - a situation in which the girl is not given her full rights as a human being that should not be traded. However, this judge has openly endorsed the practice of selling young girls to men as life-long slaves by saying that the fathers are right and justified in feeling the girls' value as slaves has been damaged, and not only that but the attacker that damaged their saleable value should be punished more harshly.

It makes me feel sick.

EnthusiasmDisturbed · 18/09/2015 10:20

I am shocked and very saddened by this

To me it is not about who is valued more white or Asian girls but how children in care are not valued as other children the most vulnerable of all children if these girls were in care the attitude would be different

ChunkyPickle · 18/09/2015 10:18

It's dehumanising - even if I screw my brain up really hard and say that the judge is viewing this from the point of view of the girls, then she's basically reduced those girls to a racist stereotype - the asian girls future depends on them getting married and being raped has made that future uncertain, the white girls future was stuffed anyway so being raped doesn't make it any worse for them.

Horrible, unbelievable, any way you think about it.