[matt_]

No. I'm not.

I'm advocating that telling a rape victim that she could have/should have done more to defend herself is stupid and disgusting.

I'm fucking thrilled if your wife has the capacity to do that. That's great. I really fucking hope she does.

Thinking that every woman can do that, or that it would be possible in every situation (or even most) is absurd.

[cobrausn]

Of course it's not possible to arm every potential rape victim and say "now it's on you!". But it's either something you choose to do, or something you don't.

You don't tell them what they should have done to prevent it. But when someone does prevent it, do you tell them they shouldn't have had the ability to?

[philwelch]

Not every discussion of self-defense is an exercise in blaming the victim. Hopefully, it's an exercise in stopping people from becoming victims in the first place.

And I think you're selling women short in terms of what they're capable of. Casting women as helpless victims isn't helpful either.