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Behold Manliness

zuzu

Jessica brings us this quote from Harvey Mansfield’s book Manliness:

“To resist rape a woman needs more than martial arts and more than the police; she needs a certain ladylike modesty enabling her to take offense at unwanted encroachment.”

Because sluts can’t be raped, duh.

Scott has more.

28 thoughts on Behold Manliness

  1. My jaw. Is on. The floor.

    I want to laugh but I can’t because he’s putting this dretch out to the masses who may very well eat it up.

  2. No, no; he’s saying that only sluts get raped. If you’re not Asking For It with your lack of ladylike modesty, you’ll be safe.

    Going to wash my hands with very strong soap and very hot water. They feel filthy after typing that.

  3. Hey, everyone knows that a rapist can be rebuffed with a firm but lady-like “No” and a soft rap on the nose with a newspaper.

  4. Ladylike modesty??

    Hell, I ALWAYS take offense to unwanted encroachment, and it very seldom involves being ladylike. It usually involves foul language.

  5. I focus on the words “to resist rape”. Like resisting temptation. Like it’s cake. As in it’s something the woman has control over stopping by not “giving in”. And here I thought a woman resisting is the definition of rape.

  6. What the hell is a “lady” to these people, anyway? I’m willing to bet it’s someone who is white, middle-to-upper class, someone who simpers, wears pastel cardigans, and doesn’t work.

    Everyone else need not apply. Everyone else, as a matter of fact, is most likely “asking for it.”

    Not that a pastel cardigan can ever prevent rape, for that matter.

  7. Really, I’d say this quote is probably the #1 stupidest thing ever said about rape and a top ten contender for purely stupid on any topic. In English, anyway. His whole book is pretty much entirely retarded, but this really takes the cake.

  8. I was fortunate enough to be a Harvard undergrad, and thus unfortunate enough to be subjected to Harvey’s hobby–namely, lecturing undergrads on things like pre-marital sex. (I gather the gist of his little talks is, generally speaking, that women ruin everything by playing “a man’s game” and giving out “free samples.” A different professor I happen to like and respect a great deal once told me he shares the view somewhat, but then again he doesn’t publish books on the subject.)

    Natalia, you’re quite right–According to ol’ Harvey, a lady (aside from “resisting” rape by being appropriately modest) doesn’t work, and is nice to her husband. (See the New York Times Magazine interview from this spring for more gems, like where he says Margaret Thatcher was “quite feminine” at home with her hubby.)

    A few of us tried to get then visiting prof. Judith Halberstam to debate Mansfield while she was here, but her reaction in class was along the lines of “Huh? Who is this guy? Does anybody seriously pay him any attention?”

  11. My objections (ladylike and not) didn’t do anything to “dissaude” any of the males that raped me, .

    Sometimes I think if I’d been a bit more VIOLENT in my objections, that might have stopped them not just from raping me but also from ever taking another BREATH…

  13. That is the most offensive thing I’ve heard or read this week. It’ll be hard to top. WELL DONE MANSFIELD.

  14. Well, I always knew my white kit gloves and ability to flawlessly set a table must be good for something! Perhaps, in the event of a sexual assault, one should pelt the attacker with a finger bowl, or perhaps a hardcover copy of the Amy Vanderbilt Complete Guide to Etiquette. Which is quite heavy, you know. (and also hilarious, should you ever come across it in a used bookstore). I also hear that women who refuse to wear white after labor day are far less likely to be raped. It’s a fact!

  15. I wonder if this “ladylike modesty” is even remotely relevant to some people’s insistence that I “tone down” my language in my writing, lest someone try to stalk me for being told to fuck off instead of merely asked to leave.

  16. Wait, if “a certain ladylike modesty” is the one and only way for a person to “take offense at unwanted encroachment”, wouldn’t it then logically follow that any man who is not ladylike must have no problem with anyone forcing them to engage is whatever sexual activity they feel like?

    I mean, show me where this syllogism breaks down:

    Major premise: Only “ladylike” individuals can object to unwanted sexual advances.

    Minor premise: Harvey Mansfield is emphatically not ladylike.

    Conclusion: Harvey Mansfield would have no objection to being buggered by a man dressed in a gorilla suit in the middle of Times Square.

  17. Is say this buffon on the Colbert Report not long ago. He displayed a pretty lukewarm intellect in my opinion. Even Stephen didn’t have the heart to really work him over.

  18. *I saw this buffon, sorry

    I can’t even really bring myself to comment on the sheer absurdity of his statement. The idea that acting in a more flowerlike, scandalized fashion is a better defense against sexual assault than things like law-enforcement or physical preparedness, is just patently batshit.

    You know, when I was younger I used to go to great lengths to rationalize or reinterperate the statements of people like this. It was mostly to perserve my own illusions about life — you know, the idea that well-dressed academics can’t possibly have shit for brains. Age, maturity, and experience eventually taught me that life would not fit into my pre-conceptions no matter how hard I slammed my head into the fridge door.

    So, here’s my bright side arguement. If you think Harvey is a complete loss, I say cherish him as a publicly visible fuckwit who can be used as an educational aid/cautionary tale.

    Now where’s my meds?

  19. You know those emergency eye washes they have in chemistry classrooms? I need one next to my computer for when I read stuff like that.

  20. Medicine Man, we could be content to only use good ole Harv as a “publicly visible fuckwit who can be used as an educational aid/cautionary tale,” except that he teaches every single undergraduate government concentrator at Harvard College (which constitute nearly 1/9 of the student body — the second largest major, I do believe.) And being Harvard what it is, these folks have an unusually strong chance of leading our countries/businesses/institutions at some point down the line, so what they’re exposed to could be pretty critical.

    Like mk, I also had the pleasure of being graced by Mr. Mansfield’s thoughts as a Harvard undergrad. I even got to see him live as a guest lecturer in my government class, where the following q&a session took place:

    HM: “Teaching gentlemenliness (i.e. men opening doors for women) will make men stop raping women.”

    ME: “But wouldn’t this training cost money? And thus wouldn’t a large portion of men not be able to afford it, and then still be prone to violence?”

    HM: “Sure, schools for gentlemenliness would cost money. And, yes, some men wouldn’t be able to afford them and still be prone to violence. But they would be of lower socio-economic classes anyway, and there’s so much violence in lower classes that we can’t get too tied up in domestic issues.”

    —

    It’s important to keep in mind, as well, that Mansfield contended back in the 60s, when Harvard started to admit students of color at increasing rates, that grading standards dropped immensely because the black kids were too stupid to keep up. (I’ll be the first to admit that there’s grade inflation, but I have a host of guesses as to why, and none of them involve skin color.)

  21. Hey, Buffon‘s sisters are tough athletes who would hopefully kick the hell arse out of invitations to a ladylike throw-pillow-and-rape party. Perhaps ‘buffoon’ would be more appropriate? 😉

    And zuzu, I’m sorry if I’m linking to something I found over here in the first place, but have you guys read Martha Nussbaum’s review of this, er, treatise? It’s long and involved and an order of magnitude smarter than Harvey Mansfield’s Handbook Of Stupid.

  22. I agree with Mr. Mansfield. I personally would express my outraged modesty in the form of a well-placed and ladylike knee to the groin.

  23. “..ladylike modesty enabling her to take offense at unwanted encroachment.”

    So…all one has to do is fake a Brit accent and say prudishly:

    “Suh, I take offense at your unwanted encroachment! Begone, knave!”

    Besides, everyone knows sluts LOVED to be raped, right?

  24. “Suh, I take offense at your unwanted encroachment! Begone, knave!”

    I think then you’re supposed to lightly smack his shoulder with your fan.

  25. Come on, folks, anyone with *real* ladylike modesty wears a chastity belt whose key is in the possession of either her father or her husband, so rape is a non-issue!

  26. In fact, maybe we should extend this principle to other violent crimes!

    The next time you’re mugged, just tell the mugger, “Sir, my masculine modesty enables me to take offense at your unwanted encroachment on my wallet.”

  27. Something I just thought of this morning:

    If his book is about manliness, then why the hell is it instructing on ladylike behavior?

  28. Something I just thought of this morning:

    If his book is about manliness, then why the hell is it instructing on ladylike behavior?

    See, this is really where he gives himself away. “Manliness” is less about the wonderfulness of being born a man, and more about preserving the patriarchal system so women can be controlled. Why else would he devote (poorly researched) chapters to how women are fucking everything up for the men by asking for equality?

    And it also serves as a friendly reminder that the patriarchy defines their roles for men as well as women….to our all our detriments.

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