The Truth About Rape

One of the great things about blogging is the ability to tackle explicit subjects shunned in even the most modern mainstream media. As a former police officer, as well as a husband, brother and father, I have something very explicit, but very important, to say to women who have been raped.

This is taboo to discuss, but so be it: Many women fail to report rape because they feel complicit in the crime. The reason? During the rape her body reacted sexually – the vagina produced the usual secretions to ease penetration, the clitoris was stimulated and maybe she even achieved orgasm.

Let’s set the record straight: your body reacted on a purely physical level, and the production of vaginal secretions and related signs of sexual arousal does NOT mean that you liked it, really wanted it or asked for it. And it most definitely does not mean that you encouraged your own rape. Ever.

In the City of God, St. Augustine crafts his own consolatio, an attempt to assuage the suffering of women raped in the sack of Rome. He wrote that women raped in Rome’s fall do not lose their chastity which is a virtue in the soul and does not depend on how others use the body. Even if the body responded mechanically, that does not matter if the soul withheld consent.

Rape is not a crime against a vagina; it is a crime against a person. That crime is not defined by the normal anatomical reactions of masses of nerve endings or other physiological reactions to the sex act. Rape is an assault against a person’s will and dignity; against their will, because the act did not involve a choice on their part, and against their dignity because the act treated them as an object, not a person.

Now you know.

Friends don't let friends do stained glass....

Personally, I blame Vatican 2....

Shaidle v. Kinsella

Well for those who follow such things, the internet is chalk full of pi**ing matches between bloggers. When two heavyweights decide to go at it, it actually gets a little…entertaining. Which brings is to the current battle between two Catholic bloggers – Warren Kinsella and Kathy Shaidle.

I feel particularly complelled to comment because:

1. I read and like both blogs
2. I am not myself any kind of significant blogging presence, and if either of them links to this I’ll get more hits in one hour than I usually get in a year, and
3. I feel like it.

The bottom line is that Kathy doesn’t think Warren is a particularly good writer and ego alone shouldn’t qualify him for a writing a gig at the Post. She also thinks him thin-skinned and a liberal hack. Warren thinks Kathy is a gnome and her blogging goes a bit too far in dissing the Religion of Peace (my interpretation). Both have also insulted each other’s physical appearance.

I’ve never met either of them, but I think I would like them if I did, because:

• As someone who’s not a professional writer, I can enjoy both styles without assessing relative literary merit;
• I like Warren’s family nature - his dedication to his family, his respect for his obviously amazing Dad, his time at the rink and so on. I’m a Dad and a son, so I get it. And I prayed the Rosary for his father.
• I like Kathy’s public commitment to her man, and her struggles with befuddled church hierarchy to achieve more formal recognition for what is obviously an amazing pairing; trust me, this Arnie fellow is a lucky guy. A woman with passion…it’s all any man really wants, and who cares if the boots don’t fit? (couldn’t find the link, but avid Relapsed Catholic readers know what I mean.)
• Both are political warriors, and not particularly fond of taking prisoners.
• Both write what they mean and mean what they write. Like you can find that in the MSM anymore. Not since Steyn left anyway.

So what do you say guys, Pax?

Dumbest Quote by a University Professor. Ever.

Gagged over this quote by Toronto law professor and author Kent Roach in this morning's Star:

"Some of it may be this failure of imagination or empathy for many Canadians to put themselves in Omar Khadr's shoes. Some of it may be the unpopularity of the family in general and I think some of it is probably related to the fact that he's alleged to have killed an American medic," Roach said yesterday.

Gee, ya think? You need a law degree to figure this stuff out?

Sorry, "professor", but I hardly regard it to be a personal character failing that I can’t put myself in the shoes of a raving fanatic lobbing hand grenades at an ally’s soldiers in a criminal foreign insurgency. And I won’t be crying a river if all of his ilk meet their end with a short drop and sudden stop.

Intervening on behalf of these jokers would only confirm what many of us already suspect – that aside from being an occasional get-out-of-a-hellhole-free card, Canadian citizenship is as about as valuable as Canadian Tire money.