Why is rape or even just sex worse than death?

[Freechoice]

this anal about sex.

That thing you did there, I see it

From the victims perspective, death is the end of everything.

Assuming it is actually the end of everything. There could be something worse waiting for you.

 

[Unsilenced]

It's kind of a weird thing, but basically I think it comes down to this: Killing is an unavoidable and sometimes necessary action that even reasonably well-intentioned person could have to engage in. Rape... not so much.

Death also is something we all have to face. We've all had to face something along the lines of realizing that Spot was not, in fact, on a farm upstate. We are all going to die someday. We all have to have accepted death.

Hopefully we never have to accept rape.

 

[Lunar Templar]

a LOT of things are worse then death. after all, you don't suffer when your dead now do you

 

[Altorin]

well, for starters, it's not, at least I don't think it is. Killing a person is a more reprehensible act then raping them. But some will argue against that stance, and whatever, i don't want to argue. They're both horrible. Rape leaves a living victim who will have to live with the act for the rest of their lives, murder just leaves a hole. Murder more hurts the people who are close to your victim, less the victim - you're just robbing the victim of potential, rather then potentially ruining their lives. Although still, having said that, my personal belief is that Killing is worse. It's the ultimate bad thing you can do to a person, just turning off their future and emotionally destroying all the people they love. That's worse then Rape, which is more a personal destruction thing - close friends and family will hurt, but nowhere near as bad as the victim, and not as long. Murder just has a larger effect.

You mean in games though? forgive me, this is the off-topic forum. In pop culture in general, it's because we idolize soldiers. Our greatest stories as human beings are our stories of war and conquest, and war and conquest involves a lot of killing. It would be silly to, on one hand say "support our troops" and in the other say "death is universally wrong". You can believe either, but earnestly believing both is a little incongruous. We have a generally conservative government that's roots are in religious dogma. It's no Iran, but it still has echoes - religious conservatives of almost all religions tend to see extramarital sex as wrong, and rape to be reprehensible (to differing degrees and with different opinions of the victim). But all religious texts and lessons, even the ones they teach children, are steeped with death.

Games have a special case though, because no matter what they are today, they were sold to americans in the 80s as toys. Before then, there were more games of a pornographic nature - Adult Game Designers were making Adult Atari Games for Adults. Nintendo had control over their software, so that never happened on the NES. America (and western culture in general) still see games as glorified toys. In the beginning, actual "death" didn't happen very much, and when it did, it tended to draw you out of the experience rather then pull you in. Mega Man shooting Bad guys, slowly, over time, became Duke Nukem jumpnig around in his pink shirt, then BJ Blaskowitz blowing away away Nazis in Wolfenstein 3d.

But for CERTAIN, there's no reason to mix real life death/rape with game death/rape.

That's what the idiots like Jack Thompson do.

 

[gigastar]

From the victims perspective, death is the end of everything.

Assuming it is actually the end of everything. There could be something worse waiting for you.

The only thing that we can say for sure will happen after death is what you believe happens after death.

Applying only to the mind of course, not the body.

Just believe something that seems good for you, or what you think you deserve.

 

[Right Hook]

What gives?

That's a good question, my initial thought is that we've become so dissociated with death that we don't even see it realistically, we are numb to it. However rape is a fear that we can more easily wrap our heads around, we have less trouble empathizing because not only is the target still experiencing emotion, there is a greater sense of "it could have been me." Also murder happens all the time, most people could see themselves as capable of murder if the situation absolutely called for it but when does a situation ever call for you to rape someone? People detest the idea because they themselves aren't capable of it or maybe because they are worried that they could be.

This is just my initial thought, it's a good question.

 

[trifectagirl]

I would rather be raped than killed. And in watching a movie I honestly wouldn't respond with that much horror to either rape or murder scenes unless I'm emotionally attached to the characters/the characters are well developed. Now if right in front of me, in real life, I saw someone murdering even a stranger I think that would be way more traumatizing than watching someone get raped. If I was watching someone get raped I'd want to help the person more than think "god that's horrible!" whereas if I was watching someone get murdered, I'd probably run away in fear that I would be next.

I seriously think rape has been really hyped up in our culture. I mean yes, It's terrible, and no, I do not WANT to be raped, but if I ever was, I think I could definitely move on with my life. People have such a hard time coping with life after being raped because everyone responds to it with so much horror, when I think it would be so much easier for a victim to recover if everyone would just treat them normally and expect "normal" things of them. But that goes for a lot of types of trauma, and it depends on the person.

 

[manic_depressive13]

A lot of rape is not the violent torturous kind. Most of it occurs via coercion and, while this is quite horrible in itself, I think it is made worse by the idea of "sexual purity". There are still a lot of cultures worldwide where sex before marriage is seen as abhorrent and sinful, and a woman is only worth as much as her virginity. To be raped, therefore, is not only traumatic because you have had sex forced upon you, but you then also have to deal with social perceptions, being called a slut and being devalued because you have now had sex with someone you don't want to marry, albeit non-consensually. Of course in some places they are forced to marry their rapist anyway.

I think the fact that sex is still seen as something sacred is a lot of the reason why people consider it worse than death, which is kind of fucked because I think it suggests that we consider sexual purity more important than the sanctity of life.

 

[zehydra]

Obviously, rape is not worth than death. In many cases people who are raped do not resist out of fear, often the fear of being murdered, so the idea that rape is a worse experience or that people fear rape more is obviously false.

I don't think you have the authority to make that judgement.

Actually, rape cannot be worse than death, since living is the basis of experience. That is, death cannot be a better alternative, because death is the be all end all of YOU, you know?

There is more to moral judgement than merely measurements of pain and trauma, you know.

 

[DarkRyter]

People think death is nicer because they think there's a post-death, when there's nothing to suggest so.

Rape is intensely more preferable than Death, because you know, people should like EXISTING.

 

[Erttheking]

Obviously, rape is not worth than death. In many cases people who are raped do not resist out of fear, often the fear of being murdered, so the idea that rape is a worse experience or that people fear rape more is obviously false.

I don't think you have the authority to make that judgement.

Actually, rape cannot be worse than death, since living is the basis of experience. That is, death cannot be a better alternative, because death is the be all end all of YOU, you know?

There is more to moral judgement than merely measurements of pain and trauma, you know.

Hm, nice reasoning there pal, so the guys in I have no mouth and I must scream were better off being tormented for all of eternity by a sadistic AI instead of being dead, because that would have been the end of their existence, yeah there's never any torment so great that death is a preferable alternative, that's why people never ever commit suicide...I was being sarcastic in case that was painfully obvious.

 

[AntiChri5]

The worst consequence for the victim of murder, death, is an inevitable part of life. Something we must accept is going to happen. The crime isn't that the victim died, but that the victim died prematurely. The worst consequence for the victim of rape, extreme psychological damage, is not an inevitability. You can get through life without being raped, but you can't get through life without dying.

Also, human society frequently finds a use for murder. During war, the best killers are praised as heroes. Society has yet to find such a consistent need for rapists.

 

[xPixelatedx]

Because we are a silly species and most of us don't appreciate the value of life. We see death as an alternative to many things rather then dealing with them. Having relatives who have been raped, I can safely say you can still lead a rich and fulfilling life even afterwords, if only you try.

 

[Freechoice]

From the victims perspective, death is the end of everything.

Assuming it is actually the end of everything. There could be something worse waiting for you.

The only thing that we can say for sure will happen after death is what you believe happens after death.

Applying only to the mind of course, not the body.

Just believe something that seems good for you, or what you think you deserve.

I read that twice. First time I was confused. Second time I laughed. You don't know that either.

 

[zehydra]

Obviously, rape is not worth than death. In many cases people who are raped do not resist out of fear, often the fear of being murdered, so the idea that rape is a worse experience or that people fear rape more is obviously false.

I don't think you have the authority to make that judgement.

Actually, rape cannot be worse than death, since living is the basis of experience. That is, death cannot be a better alternative, because death is the be all end all of YOU, you know?

There is more to moral judgement than merely measurements of pain and trauma, you know.

Hm, nice reasoning there pal, so the guys in I have no mouth and I must scream were better off being tormented for all of eternity by a sadistic AI instead of being dead, because that would have been the end of their existence, yeah there's never any torment so great that death is a preferable alternative, that's why people never ever commit suicide...I was being sarcastic in case that was painfully obvious.

The notion that death is any better alternative to pain/trauma is an irrational fallacy

Doesn't stop people from using that line of thinking though