I wasn't sure whether to post this here, or on law, or on politics. But I eventually landed here since this SE seemed like the most middle of the road option.
My question concerns rape and how we respond to it.
It began with this question on politics: Why do some criticize Kasich's advice to a female college student?
This lead to several answers of varying quality. Most of them contained a common thread of feminist critique of Kasick's advice towards the young female college student to avoid parties where alcohol was being consumed. The critique was that Kasich was victim blaming rather than addressing the root cause of rape. The root cause being drunk college-aged men in this instance.
The thread stopped short of actually analyzing the question further than this.
It seems to me that what lies at the heart of this critique is a question of acceptable risk. I will outline how I arrived at that statement.
It seems obvious to me given the current evidence that rapes occur more frequently at college gatherings where drugs or alcohol are consumed.
This risk is unbalanced across genders because women are more likely to be the victims of rape at these gatherings than men.
Allowing the situation to continue as is without addressing it will likely lead to more rapes and the eventual voluntary self-removal of women from these spaces.
I think most people would agree with that outline, or at least the first two sentences of it.
I would reject a supposition of feminist theory that assumes that male and female sexuality are equally inclined towards rape and other physically aggressive sexual behavior. I go onto accept that a person's sexual inclination is something outside of their control. After that I arrive here.
There are some measures we can change that will lower rape at college gatherings with alcohol. However, we will either be unable or will find it morally reprehensible to enact the measures that will eliminate rape at college gatherings with alcohol. This elevated risk will still fall disproportionately on young women.
And my thesis statement that
a common thread of these discussions is a question of acceptable risk
is now (hopefully) apparent.
I've never studied philosophy, but are there any tools for determining what the proper recourse should be if we accept what I've outlined here?
What measures are open to us to limit these types of rape given different philosophical perspectives?
If answers could include a brief summary of their base assumptions and approach, then that would be most helpful.