Germaine Greer shouldn't be speaking on issues she doesn't understand
21st March 2018
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Germaine Greer landed herself in hot water yesterday, with ill-advised comments about consent, rape and the #MeToo movement.
An interview on Radio 4, prior to an evening debate on the surrounding issues, saw her refer to the victims of Harvey Weinstein as "career rapees" and state that the #MeToo movement had not even started at all.
Greer's views on rape and consent are incredibly backwards, and show that she doesn't really understand the issues she's discussing in any way. Her interview was full of confused and muddled assertions that showed a lack of understanding about the subjects on which she was speaking. It really did feminism a disservice - it hardly looks good for us that someone seen as a leading feminist, as one of the voices for the movement, can barely form a coherent argument.
Greer complained that people's concepts of rape are confused, but didn't seem to have a decent handle on the topic herself. She said that people think rape is always a violent crime, when in fact it isn't - but actually, Greer's assertions here are just plain wrong. Many university students can attest that rape isn't always a stranger violently forcing themselves on you; in fact, it's more common that your partner wants to go further than you do and coerces you into something you're not comfortable with. That's why consent campaigns are so common on university campuses. Rape is always a violent act - it doesn't necessarily have to be a physically violent attack; if someone you trust crosses your personal boundaries, that tis a violation. It seems that Greer doesn't understand this.

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