22223: Racine: Re: 22220: Beckett: Response to posts on rape (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Racine125@aol.com

> If rape is a social fact in Haiti,
> then we can think about why that might be so. But I would strongly
> urge us not to slip into the language of suggesting that it
> is an
> inherent part of Haitian culture.

Rape is most certainly an inherent part of Haitian culture, that is precisely what I am saying!  Men in this country are acculturated to rape women and beat women.  The root of the problem has nothing to do with slavery.  It has to do with sexism, agression against women, and the habit of viewing women as property.

And this phenomenon is certainly not limited to rural, majority class Haitans.  I remember one very highly placed Haitian intellectual who told me his sex education consisted of his father explaining to him, "First you get the girl alone, then you take her."

This does not mean that Haitian men are *genetically* more prone to rape than any other men, there is a difference between a person's genetic background and their cultural training.

I'd like to thank the women, and the men, on this list who have privately emailed me thanking me for my courage - but I don't feel especially brave, it's just the facts.

Sincerely,

Mambo Racine