Zero Tolerance
I read an interesting article by Laurie Penny in The New Statesman the other day (see link below) and although I disagreed strongly with some of her observations, I was struck by the clarity, passion and faultless logic of this particular paragraph:
"So let me be clear: sexual violence is never, ever acceptable. Not for cultural reasons. Not for religious reasons. Not because the perpetrators are really angry and disenfranchised. There can be no quarter for systemic misogyny. And if we’re serious about that, there’s not a country or culture on earth that won’t have to take a long, hard look at itself."
In other words, rape and sexual violence towards women (or men for that matter) can never be justified or excused and zero tolerance is the default setting, no matter what the circumstances.
Yet when it comes to acts of terrorism, some commentators seem prepared to distinguish and empathise with the behaviour of 'jihadi' murderers who commit even more violent and dreadful crimes in the name of their religion.
As they say, it's a funny old world where progressive people on the left of politics have zero tolerance for rape and sexual violence, yet have a more 'enlightened' or understanding attitude to the motivations claimed by cold-blooded Islamist killers.
GETTY IMAGES.
After Cologne, we can't let the bigots steal feminism
Why can't we always take sexual assault as seriously as we do when migrants and Muslims are involved as perpetrators?
