Uuhm. No

[la_vie_noire]

So Okazu Blog (a blog I personally like and normally thank it exists) talks about the case of this guy who got detained because his manga was considered "child porn," which is bad. But here they make a really stupid, senseless and offensive analogy. With sexual assault towards women.

Manga Self-Defense 101.

Let me digress for a moment into an analogy. If we hear of a woman who has been attacked, we are outraged. However, if evidence came to light that she was wearing provocative clothing, walking alone in an abandoned, poorly lit area, late at night, there are people who would become less sympathetic. In the same way, we are outraged to hear that a person's laptop or mail was searched and they were charged with a crime by virtue of artistic expression. When facts come to light that some of the material does in fact include virtual/drawn/imaginary child porn some people will feel less sympathetic to the person charged. In both cases, there is a tendency to think "Well, then they weren't very bright. They didn't take precautions. They didn't do the things a person should do to stay safe" or "Eww, that person's a creep - they deserve it."

The point of today's article is not to argue with that perfectly human tendency to scapegoat. I do not in any way agree with it, but it is human. A woman should never be blamed for being attacked. No one should be prosecuted for reading a comic book. But we can and should discuss the ramifications to our own behavior this case will bring. In the same way that, because it is not a perfect world, women need to take precautions against people who do not respect their persons, it behooves all of us in the manga and comics industry to take precautions for ourselves.

Emphasis mine. Of course I don't need to comment about this, right? I can't even point how flawed and not appropriate this analogy is. (And I don't know what they mean with "precautions women need to take," but just to say this is really usual and these well-intentioned people lecturing about sexual assault never seem to think about sex workers, and vulnerable groups. For some reason it's always about "what middle-classed cis women have to do to protect themselves.")

Comments

[keeva]

it would sure be nice if people could just think "wow do i really need to make a rape analogy?" at least a half dozen times before they write something like this :(

[parlance]

Yes, this.

[la_vie_noire]

Exactly.

[bell]

Gross D:

[la_vie_noire]

I know. :/

[buria_q]

can you please cut for triggers?

[la_vie_noire]

Yeah, sorry about that!