IWF: More to love
I just ran across this piece from beloved anti-feminists the Independent Women's Forum, which rags on feminist groups for their supposed failure to speak out against stalking.
I wish the feminist establishment would make protecting women from stalkers one of their pet causes (and be as realistic as Gavin de Becker), especially now that the Internet has made stalking so much easier. But they sometimes dislike acknowledging that young attractive women are the main targets. "Eight-month-old babies and 80-year-old women get raped," is the approved feminist line. This is true, they do; but these situations are freakishly horrible rather than horribly common.
What?? The Violence Against Women Act, which includes provisions to combat stalking, has been supported by every major women's rights organization, including NOW, the Feminist Majority Foundation and Legal Momentum.
And where is the IWF now that VAWA is up for reauthorization? They certainly aren't speaking up for stalking victims. Nah, they'd rather we just let the legislation expire.
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Anyone who thinks VAWA only protects women has never read VAWA. Anyone who thinks VAWA should not be renewed has never read VAWA. It protects women and CHILDREN!!! Isn't that what the entire pro-life, Christian fundamentalist crowd is about? Oh yeah! That's right, they only care about children before they are born (as it is said in my juvenile law clinic).
I don't know a single REAL feminist who is not for renewing VAWA.
I don't know any feminists who deny that young women are especially singled out for sexual abuse. But to claim that the rape of elderly women is especially rare is naive. If I recall correctly, stranger rape of very old women by very young men is especially common and in fact, crime experts usually say that the older the victim, the younger the assailant in a good rule of thumb. Ditto the sexual abuse of children.
She's conflating a whole bunch of different kinds of sexual assault. Young women are most likely to get stalked and raped by someone they know, I'm sure. It's because your life is more chaotic when you're younger--more partying, men are less likely to have learned self-control, etc.