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My point is that the women being sexually assaulted in Antarctica haven't been passively sitting there saying it "never crossed their mind" to protect themselves - one had to walk around for months wielding a hammer to use as a weapon against her assailant.

It's the wider system down there and the rape culture society that is creating this system not some kind of passive internaluzed helplessness. Most women field scientists are tough as nails because they have to be.

I agree with a lot of what you say. Just bear in mind if they kill/harm someone to prevent themselves being raped, they have to explain this to various authorities. And may feel they won't be believed

But our culture has made us forget that we are strong and capable, has raised us to never develop the muscles to be able to stop someone, to never tear an assailant’s skin off with our teeth, etc.

I really don't think we should be perpetuating the idea that women can rely on their strength to fight off an offender.

It has the knock-on effect of emboldening women to put themselves into situations they otherwise would not because "they know how to fight" or what have you. Then they find out just how powerful testosterone is and bad things happen.

I'm serious. As a man who gets next to no exercise, I still feel strong as hell. I still feel like I could demolish any chick who isn't hitting up the gym 5 days a week. I wouldn't, but it's scary to think about. The natural advantage that testosterone gives, coupled with males being brought up to think they need to be tough, paints a very poor picture for the "girl power" crew that wants to pretend women can reliably combat men.

Really, the best thing we can be doing is teaching people how to avoid dangerous situation altogether. It'd be nice if we could create a culture of recognizing womanizing scumbags when we see them.

I was raised in America as well.

It's not really unique to women or SA. I'm not trying to downplay the severity of it, I'm merely highlighting how most crimes are actually quite hard to prove and get justice for.

For example, most people whose cars are broken into never receive justice.

Schools should be teaching boys to respect women and not believe they have a ‘right’ to women’s bodies.

What? This has nothing to do with schooling.

Every time you see a woman get womanized, it just tells all the men that they don't need to try as hard to get with her.

Womanizers are successful because there's a significant portion of women who want to be womanized. Look at all your personal experiences for no shortage of evidence to back this up.

Women need to have higher standards and stop putting their faith in obvious scumbags if they want culture to change. Too many women expect guys to "mac" on them and assume the guys who don't aren't interested. It's rhetoric that they proudly spew to each other without realizing the damage it does.

"If he's not talking to you, you can believe he's talking to someone else!" This kind of stuff is a load of bullshit and only serves to give womanizers an edge over better people.

"It's easier to fool someone than to convince them they'd been fooled" - Mark Twain. This is true because the women who put their faith in shitty men don't want to admit they valued the wrong things or have been taken for a ride, so they just keep going. Their "friends" who are doing the same thing also don't want to admit it or change.

Before you people get mad at me for "blaming the victim," try to understand that avoiding holding women accountable for their actions contributes to idea of viewing them as helpless children.

While this argument makes sense on paper, it completely nullifies the point. Both should be taught for the following reasons:

1. You can educate people all you want, but that will not stop the people who simply never gave a flying fuck.
2. Okay, now you're back to square one, there are evil men out there that don't give a fuck about anyone and WILL abuse you given the opportunity. Thank god they received a talk about how you shouldn't hurt women when they were in 6th grade.
3. You are now still in a situation where you have to respond to violence, but since self-defence wasn't taught to you, you have to be a helpless victim of said violence.

"It is better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war."

I have a strong suspicion that if I was suddenly attacked, my brain would dump all ideas of fighting back and just freeze, which of course allows the violence to happen.

Find, and take, local self defence classes. Not necessarily martial arts classes (though they may be involved), but real world self defence. It'll be grittier, nastier and much better practice. Get used to grappling and fighting in a controlled environment, and you'll be much less likely to freeze if you need it in an emergency.

You're right that'll it'll take a long time to change at a cultural level, but that needs to start somewhere, and obe person doing it and then encouraging others could be a local catalyst.