“the propriety of rape”

Women inescapably need godly masculine protection against ungodly masculine harassment; women who refuse protection from their fathers and husbands must seek it from the police. But women who genuinely insist on ‘no masculine protection’ are really women who tacitly agree on the propriety of rape.
Douglas Wilson

18 Comments

  1. I feel physically ill.

    Her Hand in Marriage is one of the Wilson books I have read in full, and I thought it was oh so gracious and wonderful at the time.

    How hateful it is though. I must agree with Wilson’s definition of femininity or forfeit my right to object to rape? I think not.

  2. The implication is that the only thing stopping men from raping women is other men protecting women. Because men can’t restrain themselves? What world does he live in?

    1. When it was convenient Doug *claimed* to believe in the propriety of ROPE (at least in terms of what child rapists *deserve*). But then Sitler and Wight seemed so worthy of Uncle Dougie’s tenderness somehow. And predators don’t necessarily just randomly stumble into arenas where they will have more opportunities, more vulnerable targets.

  3. Surely DW’s church is very aware of this site by now. Why is there anyone left there? It must be the total mind control by fear.
    We attended a church a few years ago that was a Wilson/Harris following church. The 23 year old son of the Pastor molested an 11 year old girl and later we found out he had been a molester of younger children and animals (by his own admission in court documents) and it had been keep very secret. I remember people being told not to gossip and I also remember some members refusing to hear a bad report about an elders son so they kept their heads in the sand while this same young man manipulated his was into continuing to hurting the poor family in other ways. The pain he caused and the way the church poorly handled it, still causes pain to this day. The power these type of churches hold is NOT biblical and seeking the truth is not Gossip. I have learned from this experience never to fully believe anyone in leadership and to seek out the facts for the safety of my own family and others to scared to do so for themselves. I have yet to see any church handle sexual sin Biblically . If Moscow would, they would start by removing their own pastor ASAP.

  4. It’s unbelievable that this man, and this book in particular, dictated the social lives and relationships of my social group as a teenager. Thankfully, nearly every one of them is now disgusted by Wilson. Unfortunately, most of those who aren’t are women.

    Many of those who are no longer Wilsonians are no longer Christians at all either. His theology does more than bite back, it kills.

  5. What if the woman packs heat? But I guess the gun would be masculine because it looks like…well, you know how Sludgie thinks. – d

    1. What if the woman being attacked has an advanced black belt in martial arts, and kicks the would be rapist’s butt all over the place? Without the need for help from a , in DW’s world, obviously naturally superior, preferably bearded (and what is it with all the beards in his cult, anyway?) male? I rather imagine that our local sociopathic Pastor does not believe that women have any business mastering the martial arts. I’m sure the guy thoroughly disapproves of such activity. Probably falls into his category of “unattractive harpies”. Or something similar. Has anyone mentioned that he’s really weird?

  6. Is this a Christian pastor writing or a Islamic iman?!? From my understanding of the Middle East, this DW quote could be used to justify how Muslim rape victims are frequently punished by beatings, etc., as if being sexually assaulted wasn’t enough. The “She didn’t have her male family member with her, so she deserved to be raped and now we must punish her for being a loose woman,” type of thinking.

    1. Ahhhhh thank you Ulysses! “Mendacious”, yes. Maybe I also saw “Mad Mullah” somewhere, maybe not. Sludge inspires a slew of appropriate epithets, does he not? And I *am* fond of alliteration.

    2. There is literature from Vision Forum (Wilson’s buddy Doug Phillips’ defunct organization) that blames Dinah for her rape because she left the protection of her house and went out on her own.

    3. Bill Gothard (known molester of young women, possible rapist) made the same argument. In his language, she left the “umbrella of protection” provided by her father.

    4. The “perks” of this sort of theology is not only does it allow you to oppress and control women, but when something DOES happen in the home you can blame the father for not providing adequate protection Re: Sitler/Wight :\

  7. Cicero, and it also works both ways for the Patriarchalists. Because if the girl is sexually abused by her brother (Duggars anyone?), it can always point back to how she was being seductive or tempting. Really, this aberrant theology always gets the rapist off of the hook through mitigating circumstances.

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