South African rapist: 'Forgive me'

[ManDuh]

I thought you all might find this interesting.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8115219.stm

I've never understood what is supposedly so "macho" and "manly" about raping someone. While I think it's great this guy is at least feeling the need to attempt to make amends for what he did, I don't think he's quite getting it. Saying that young men rape because it's the "manly" thing to do sounds a little bit like a cop-out to me. Then again, I really don't know anything about South African culture, so if anyone that does could shine a little light on it...

[neil]

I don't know anything about South African men either but i have travelled quite a bit and i would say that men are pretty much the same the world over. Which is to say that men are pretty unstable wherever you go. Rape is about power and men are about being alpha. I am a male and i'm not very happy about it. Someone famous once said that men are just a finger's breadth away from being mad. Look at all the wars. America has been at war virtually for 400 years. I think you are puzzled because men don't expose their alpha nature to women as shamelessly as they do to other men.

[Moni]

I think "macho' is not quite the best word for it..but it describes the general reason: patriarchy. It's all about power and control which is associated with being manly. And that is the big cop-out! It's not necessarily that men are unbalanced...although I often think both sexes are unbalanced, just in different ways. One of the people who commented said that it has to do with how boys are raised. I really believe that because it's true that parents just let "boy be boys" but I don't think that's acceptable.

At least the dude feels remorse for what he did. Maybe he doesn't quite get it, but I like that he's at least trying to promote an anti-rape agenda. The 1-in-4 statistic applies in the US, too. Gah! We all need to raise our children in a healthy way. Ok enough rambling. Good find, Manduh!