Feminists

OK guys - I am wading in - and thought my post may not be popular I ask you to hear me out.

First off, I think you are misunderstanding the NRA guy due to some semantic issues.

He isn't saying "the woman is at fault." He is saying (quite pragmatically), that when you are being attacked, crying out "Damn this evil patriarchy!" won't help you. When he says, "the burden of stopping the attack is on the woman", he doesn't mean it in the "burden of proof" sense; he just means that the attacker isn't going to stop his own crappy self - either the woman finds a way to stop him, or she gets victimized. Make sense? The burden - the crushing horrible work, the unwanted job - falls on her. And he's right.


Now, a proposal about women and guns.

Men are much stronger than women,, mostly. A man attacks a woman knowing he can win the fight. Think how much confidence you have that you can pin your ten-year-old. That's the confidence a man has when he picks a woman to attack.

What if women fixed things so men were no longer confident?

What if lots of women started carrying guns?

I think what WOULDNT work is to wait until a man is grabbing you - if you draw your gun then, he'll twist it out of your hands.

So a better way is this: Any woman who feels threatened (say there's a guy walking behind you in the park) calls out loud and clear and confidently, "I have a gun, and if you come any closer, I'm going to have to shoot you before you can put your hands on me. You're bigger than I am, so I'll have no choice. I can't let you get close."

Most of the time, these incidents will end peacefully. The attacker (if he's an attacker) will gape and fade away and think twice before he attacks another "easy mark" (maybe she's packing too? Bitches are gettin' nuts!). An innocent guy will be frightened of being shot at and will stutter and put his hands up, and you can talk things out and go your separate ways.

Once in a while, the guy will move in on you and you'll yell, "Back off; last chance!" and if he keeps coming, you'll shoot him. (Which will feel terrible. I'm not a cowboy.) If he turns out to be a known rapist, you saved yourself and made the evening news and rapists everywhere will sit up and take notice. (Bitches are getting REALLY nuts!) If he turns out to be innocent, well, too bad of course. But for fuck's sake, sisters - how many women are killed by men, have been killed by men, will continue to be killed by men? How about we accept that no prince is going to save us, but we can save ourselves?

If this were a widespread movement, men would stop seeing women as the easy meal we have always been. And there would be far fewer stranger-in-the-park type attacks. I believe this.

I know this trend would not stop date-rape and marital rape and roofie-rape. But ladies, wouldn't it feel good? I am so freakn tired of being little and helpless and trying to stay out of harm's way because I'm the "weaker sex" and males everywhere attack females everywhere and we can never win the fight. I'm just tired. And yet it's my choice to stay helpless. A concealed-carry permit is legal and within my grasp.


(Confession - I have never fired a gun except a couple times at a range. I'm not a gun person and I doubt I'll change. But I'd love to see a next generation of women take their protection into their own hands and even the playing field. Maybe we'll still die, but at least we'll have fought.)