NuTrek "Starfleet Academy" - The Delta Anomaly

[Christopher]

Not having read the novel, is there any reason to think that the rape gangs only go after women? It might be a bit of a stretch to have a non-misogynistic society use sex as a weapon against people generally, but ...

Not at all. Rape is not about sex, it's about power and control. It's about violating and humiliating other people, and sex is used as its vector because of how deeply personal and invasive it is. Rapists target people they consider weak and vulnerable, people they want to hurt, rather than people they consider sexually attractive. In real life, in the present, it's not just women who get raped, but men, children of both sexes, the elderly and disabled of both sexes, anyone who's vulnerable and can be dominated. The sexual component is not the end in itself, just the means to the end of exerting power and causing suffering. So even without misogyny, it's still possible that people inclined to violence and cruelty would choose to use sexual assault as a means of degrading and hurting others.

 

[JarodRussell]

Not having read the novel, is there any reason to think that the rape gangs only go after women? It might be a bit of a stretch to have a non-misogynistic society use sex as a weapon against people generally, but ...

Not at all. Rape is not about sex, it's about power and control. It's about violating and humiliating other people, and sex is used as its vector because of how deeply personal and invasive it is. Rapists target people they consider weak and vulnerable, people they want to hurt, rather than people they consider sexually attractive. In real life, in the present, it's not just women who get raped, but men, children of both sexes, the elderly and disabled of both sexes, anyone who's vulnerable and can be dominated. The sexual component is not the end in itself, just the means to the end of exerting power and causing suffering. So even without misogyny, it's still possible that people inclined to violence and cruelty would choose to use sexual assault as a means of degrading and hurting others.

That must say "Rape is not only about sex." and "Some rapists target people they consider weak and vulnerable, people they want to hurt, rather than people they consider sexually attractive".