Women aren't the only ones who need to make choices

Dear Editor,

Charles Madden used about 14 column inches in last Thursday's DE to encourage people to avoid rape by making better choices. He was obviously very angry over what his friend went through. And that's as it should be, but in his enumeration of choices he forgot to mention one choice: the choice the rapist makes.

Charlie, you used your entire column to send the message to women that they are the only ones who need to be making choices, as if violence and criminal behavior are natural disasters and not choices, as if the men who rape have no control over themselves and must be worked around like predatory animals.

People need to be making better decisions, you say, but you talk only about the decisions potential victims need to consider, as if raping people were not a bad decision, as if it were impossible for a man to consider the choice he is making. As if for a guy to get so drunk that he somehow chooses to overpower a smaller person and rape them is not worth even one paragraph in a 14 inch column.

A man who would consider raping a woman will probably not listen to a woman telling him not to do it, but he might listen to a man. You had a chance to speak your mind to men who rape and, sorry Charlie, you missed your chance.

Rose Weisburd

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