(NOT a Hate Crime? - it was a long one)

I don't know that I'm opposed to a view, but more so, a practice. In so far as the law is concerned, no matter what views I hold, I balk at suggesting that anything should be gender specific. Basically, I will not support a law that will not serve to protect me, and could in fact do me harm. Whether or not I believe rape further oppresses women in this society is beside the point... on the books, rape should be rape, no matter the sex or gender of the victim. Calling rape "sexual assault" is (in my opinion) detestable. Rape is (almost) never about sex, and calling it "sexual assault" completely softens the blow of one of the most deplorable crimes on the record.

At the heart of this, I thought, is whether or not it makes sense that rape be called a hate crime against women. I do not think that it should be called a hate crime in and of itself, anymore than I think that all murders or assaults should be called hate crimes. The "hate crime" part is seperate from the actual rape. Not all rapes are hate crimes against women, so counting them as such would be inaccurate.

Of course, crimes against women further oppress women! If a woman is mugged, that would be the same thing, right? Not all muggings happen to women though, and so we can't automatically dub muggings as hate crimes. It may be necessary to pass (at least temporary) laws that protect minorities and serve to change the societal climate, but I think that this needs to be done with care. Sweeping generalizations like "a man can't be raped" don't belong in the legal system. I'm not against charging people with a "hate crime" along with charging them with the already established crime that's on the books, I just don't think that we should define something like "rape" as gender specific. If a (person who calls herself or is identified as being a) woman is raped, I think that the rapist should be charged with and punished for committing both rape and for committing an act which adds to the oppression of women... as two seperate crimes not just the rape. Rape does not in and of itself oppress women, because not only women are raped, and not only non-women rape.

It's possible that I am simply uneducated in the actual definition of the word "rape" according to the law, and as well, the particulars about "hate crimes" and how they are applied to criminals, but I don't think that I've been unclear in my response to this voiced opinion. If I was, allow me to try to sum up my viewpoint...

Should they have counted the number of rapes (in with the "hate crime" statistics)? NO.
Should they have included (some of the raped) women? YES.

Rape is always a hate crime? NO
Women are oppressed minorities? YES


(to clarify: I don't think that women are technically a minority, if we're talking about numbers... but none the less.... in my opinion, they are an oppressed group.)