One of the problems with much of modern liberalism is the "blank slate" assumption. The whole "science" of gender-theory or race theory, where gender and race are seen as social constructs without biological reality, are part and parcel of the "blank slate" ideology. This can be seen clearly, I think, in this post by Ampersand at Alas, a Blog.
Reading between the lines, it is ahrd for me to escape the basic conclusion that the argument here is thus:
(1) Rape is overwhelmingly committed by males.
(2) We all know that men and women are exactly the same except for their reproductive plumbing.
(3) Therefore, the fact that rape is overwhelmingly committed by males indicates a problem with the way that our culture socializes males, as if the crime were just part of the normal range of goodness and badness within humanity, both sexes would commit it equally.
Not that he doesn't make some good points. The part about rape in many cases not being about violence and power, but about sex and indifference to other people's feelings is spot-on, I feel. Some people definitely rape as a weapon; as a means of controlling people or of getting revenge (I would think that rapes of enemy women by soldiers during wartime would often have this sort of motive). But in many cases it appears pretty clear that the violence was merely a means for the rapist to get what he wanted rather than being an end into itself.
Nonetheless, I would wager that the fact that males have a greater propensity to rape (Amelia Chase notwithstanding) is almost certainly due mainly to biological differences between men and women.
I'll try to talk more on this topic later.
That is all.
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