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[malasadas.livejournal.com]

Comments

[enders-shadow.livejournal.com]

I find that to be a dubious proposition. I suspect that even among the so-called, insane, there is a logic at work.

It seems odd and simply false to claim that rapists motivation lies beyond rationality. Let's take a banal example.

Frat boy slips GHB into a girls drink and rapes her. His motivation might be complex, or it might be simple: he is a shitty person who will take what he wants, by any means necessary, ignoring the wants and wills of others.

I'm not unfamiliar with the concept that rape isn't about sex, but I have never agreed with that. It is about sex, and about how sex can be used in relation to power and other such concepts.

I'm unsure how you could arrive at the conclusion that their motivations is beyond rationality. Could you help me understand your reasoning better?

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

Could you help me understand your reasoning better?

I could try.

All of the complex nuances of our human behavior are well-observed, and many of these observations well-documented. That doesn't mean we can take these observations and declare absolutely that our behavior is rational, because it is not. Rape, sex; these are but a few actions that are motivated from beyond our rational minds. What about the desire to kiss? Hug? Shake hands? Simply be in the same room with someone and gab, yak, gossip? The weird need we have to enjoy the company of others while we consume nutrient?

That frat boy, for example. I would disagree that he is simply "a shitty person who will take what he wants, by any means necessary, ignoring the wants and wills of others." That might be a component, but it fails because it inserts a pat narrative on his behavior that defies continued examination.

For example, by no means does being a shitty person encompasses his drive to go to such lengths, to create such machinations, just to rape a woman while she is unconscious. If it were, it would be painful to take that simple explanation and apply it to a rapist who wants his victims awake and aware, or to wonder why grown men are so attracted to the underage targets of their desires. All are shitty people, agreed; but what gets them aimed at their particular targets remains outside of rational narrative.

You probably noticed that I am lately somewhat obsessed by human behavior and how recent research has revealed how little we know about what drives out outward actions. This is but one such example.