Outraged

Today's Guardian has an article about Joanna Bourke, and her new book about the history of rape:

'Bourke, who describes herself as a "socialist feminist", is clear that legal reform is needed, but also believes "that men should step up to the plate. Women are told how to fight back, to get good locks for our doors, to be sensible. It has become our responsibility to make sure 'they' don't do something to 'us'. And when you know that a lot of rapes are committed by husbands, boyfriends and acquaintances - well, it's outrageous. I can't work out why people aren't more outraged. But this epidemic of sexual violence doesn't do men any favours either. Not normalising it, not naturalising it, making it seem abhorrent - that's one of the ways forward."'

This is what always makes me angry as well - in the feminist blogosphere, we are all (rightly) outraged. In wider society, it's not seen as that big of a deal. If it were, the conviction rate for rapists wouldn't be so low, and judges wouldn't be able to get away with blaming 12 year olds for their own rapes.