By the end I was praying that Mars would get repeatedly nuked, then sowed with salt, then nuked again.
And unfortunately what's happening today, with this kind of very sanctimonious and sermonizing talk about sex that's coming out of the rape counselors and so on, people do not realize, with all their good intentions, how oppressive this is to sex, what a disaster this is to the mind, what a disaster this is to the spirit, to allow the rape counselors to take over the cultural stage. Now the work that they do is good, and it's wonderful that they're there. But we cannot have this scenario being projected of male rapaciousness and brutality and female victimage. We have got to make women realize they are responsible, that sexuality is something that belongs to them. They have an enormous power in their sexuality. It's up to them to use it correctly and to be wise about where they go and what they do. And I'm accused of being "anti-woman" because of this attitude? Because I'm bringing common sense back to the rape discourse?
Today these women want the freedom that we won, but they don't want to acknowledge the risk. The minute you meet a man, the minute you go out wiht a man, the minute you go to a bar to have a drink, there is a risk. You have to accept that part of the sizzle of sex come from the danger of sex. You can be overpowered. (Ahhh ... )
I mean, wake up to reality. This is male sex. There's an attraction between the sexes that we're not totally in control of. The idea that we can regulate it by passing campus grivance committee rules is madness. My kind of feminism stresses personal responsibility. I've never been raped but I've been very vigilant -- I'm constantly reading the signals.
Sex, Art and American Culture, Camille Paglia
as originally posted on : Animal House: Dartmouth Porn Shocker
"And how about that infamous line "Nine times out of ten, if a girl gets raped, it's her fault." What the hell was he thinking??"
I always took that as a satirical comment on then-prevalent attitudes. Hell, I took the whole book as pure satire. But I could be wrong; it's been a long time since I read it.
Don't mistake the words that an author puts into a character's mouth for his actual opinion on the subject. In The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, the Lunar society lynches rapists on the spot.
As I recall, the "rape" quote when read in context is more a warning for women to take charge by not getting into situations that would devolve into rape. One of RAH's recurring themes is that if a woman (or any human) demands respect, she'll get it. But, if she consents to disrespect, she abdicates control.