@onevoice,
Hi, onevoice, welcome to A2K.
I appreciate the information about yourself you have shared with us, and I thank you for doing so because it helps to broaden an understanding of rape and how it can occur and reoccur throughout one's lifetime in different situations. That doesn't mean you go looking for abuse or abusers, or that you want these experiences, or that you are a hopeless victim--I don't think that any of those things are true.
I started this thread over 5 years ago, and it has covered quite a bit of territory and factual information during that time--including prolonged discussion of actual state rape laws, and their exact wording, about which there was considerable ignorance, particularly on the part of Hawkeye and BillRM, who, unfortunately, still remain quite ignorant about the exact sexual assault laws, and definitions, in their own home states. None-the-less they both tend to view any application of these laws as an abuse of men, even though these same laws protect male victims of sexual assault. They are both apologists for rapists when they aren't being outright rape deniers.
And, while Hawkeye and BillRM are not at all typical of the majority of posters who have responded in this thread, particularly the other male posters, who were considerably less biased and more open-minded and empathetic than those two, they are, unfortunately, among the few who have continued to remain active on this essentially now defunct thread, mainly so they can continue to bash and discredit rape victims one way or another, while they continue to try to promote their own anti-female self-serving agenda.
Hawkeye, as you might have already guessed, has an absolute paranoid obsession about some murky government/"feminist" conspiracy he thinks gives "feminists" power to exercise enormous control over "sex law" and all sexual assault research and treatment, despite the fact he can never name any specific "feminists" who are wielding all this power, or how they acquired it, or how they might differ from any other women in positions of influence. And, of course, he must ignore the fact that the sexual assault laws were all put in place by predominantly male state legislatures. So much for Hawkeye's regard for "truth".
So, you have come rather late to this party and consequently found mainly the left-over dregs after all of the most interesting and intelligent guests have departed and the most savory food has been eaten. I have no doubt you could rekindle an interesting discussion here, but only if you ignore Hawkeye and BillRM, and a few others who drop in occasionally, since their goal will be to derail you and discredit you, and not to actually listen to you so they could learn something about the first-hand experience of rape and the modus of rapists.
In the 5 years since I started this thread, one major change in the broader culture has been that more attention is being paid to the voices of rape/sexual assault survivors--they, and their complaints, are taken more seriously, and they are afforded more credibility, and we are seeing that in our courts and on our campuses, and in the military, and even in the accusations leveled against Bill Cosby. A tide seems to have turned in this regard, and because that empowers women, and may make it more difficult for rapists to operate with impunity, it's very threatening to anyone (like Hawkeye. for instance) whose sense of masculinity rests on "conquests" of females--a freely knowingly consenting female isn't much of a "conquest", she's truly a partner
Hawkeye wants males to continue enjoying the "conquests" but without suffering any consequences, and what better way to do that, and insure that, than by continually impugning the credibility of females who assert they were sexually assaulted? That's why it's so important that the tide has turned and survivors are being heard. That's what will help to curb sexual assaults.
I hope you'll remain at A2K and join some other threads as well.
