Drinking, eh? On a Tuesday? :shakehead:
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Men put their hands on women's knees because they fancy them and wish to express the fact - however clumsily. It is not an assault and neither is it particularly traumatic. I'm not saying it's ideal, but it is ultimately pretty trivial. The point is that there has to be a hierarchy of behaviours that acknowledges the triviality of one behaviour in order that we can acknowledge the seriousness of another. To lump all transgressive acts in as suggested does serve to lessen the impact of the more serious ones while blowing the smaller ones out of all proportion.
And that, of course, is why bandying catch-all terms such as 'rape culture' or 'toxic masculinity' around is profoundly unhelpful. As p says, a man who you wish to convince to stop knee-touching is instantly going to cease listening to you when you start lumping him in with rapists or demeaning his entire sex. He will simply - rightly - dismiss you as talking hysterical nonsense.
Which would suggest that you believe that rape is fuelled by a man's desire to have sex with a particular woman- that they in some way fancy them.
Rape is not about sex, its about control. It is a man asserting his control over a woman, making her subordinate to him. This is the culture; this is the whole crux of the argument; this is why they argue that touching a knee, particularly in a power-imbalance environment, is effectively rape.
I can live with that. As below, this makes rape part of 'control culture'. Say that and you will be accused of trivialising rape, as though comparing it to touching a knee hasn't already done that.
Sorry, it has to be holocaust culture or nothing. I dont make the rules....