Asking for It

Asking For It from Kate Harding is, for rational people, a disturbing book. There is not a lot of new information here but the stories we have all heard are here brought together and the common threads that contribute to a rape culture become much more evident.

Rape culture is not just about the numbers, though they are staggering. It isn't just about repeat rapists, though there are more of them than we will likely ever know. Rape culture includes the acceptance of ideas like "I was just a little assertive, I didn't rape her" when in fact she never said yes and never stopped trying to stop him. It is the unwillingness, displayed repeatedly and all across the United States (the country I am most familiar with), on the part of law enforcement and the judicial system to treat rapists as "real criminals." This is done often by claiming a lenient sentence is only fair because the rapist has a potentially bright future, even though he raped a fellow human being and that human being will serve a life sentence as a result. It is evident in the kinds of jokes that will be accepted and the fact that an admitted sexual predator can be elected President. This is now a rape culture from the top down.

I would recommend this book to everyone. Even those who disagree with the idea. If you disagree then read this and refute in your mind every bit of evidence that is presented. I know you won't be able to do so honestly and hopefully at some point the information you learned here will resurface in your life and you will see that there is a lot we all need to do so that every person can feel safe in their own society.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via Netgalley.