First of all, I do lament the rather arrogant language that some of the posters have used here -- MerelyMortalMale being the first example that comes to mind. He does have points worth discussing, but his language is so aggressive that I can only sigh. It's easy to understand stereotyping of men when one looks at this kind of language. Speaking for myself, I most defintely do not want to encourage this kind of 'communication', regardless of possible good points. Everybody, even victims, has a duty towards others who may be, after all, innocent of any responsibility in any traumas for others.

On rape laws: yes, their historical base was ownership (but note that not only the women, but also children and other relatives, even male, were included). Ancient societies would punish both the victim and the perpatrator. But note that already in the 13th century English common law made rape a crime for which the rapist is punished, not the victim. There were a lot of problems for victims attempting to persecute rapists (the 'utmost resistance doctrine', the need of 'corroborating physical evidence' or a witness, etc...), and I don't want to justify or belittle that. But notice also that the punishment for the rapist was death.

I don't think it's an exaggeration to claim that, even in olden times, men did often empathize with women -- mothers, wives, daughters -- often enough for the idea that rape was a violent crime to come through. For one example of such an attitude, I'd mention the chapter in Saint Augustine's The City of God in which he defended female Christian slaves who tried to defend themselves against advances from their owners. He claimed that their attempts to defend their chastity made them martyrs, and worthy of admiration.

I also know many people -- men and women -- who have been raped by family members -- men and women --. I have also done quite a lot of voluntary work in rape prevention (actually, I answered phone calls from victims) for several years when I was in grad school. I am also myself a rape victim. You might therefore expect me to fully sympathize with your viewpoint: it's a much bigger problem that anyone really wants to admit, there are real victims out there suffering... And, to a large extent, I do. So where do I differ?

Rape is a crime of humans against humans. Statistically, the (overwhelmingly) most often case is men raping women. So we stereotypize the roles and make it a crime of men against women. But it is not. Just like murder, for which I think statistics would say the typical perpetrator is an African-American male from the lower social classes, but which should not be thought of as a 'Black' crime, mostly by 'poor Black trash.'

By accentuating the typical perpetrators -- the uncles, fathers, brothers and cousins you mention -- you are certainly statistically correct. But by not mentioning the -- overwhelmingly more numerous -- uncles, fathers, brothers and cousins who, as you said yourself, love their female relatives and do not rape nor approve of raping in any way, you help strengthen stereotypes: man as bad wolf, woman as little red riding hood. These stereotypes then affect good men and boys like Canuk Bob or his son (and, I promise, myself :-). We feel a little bit constrained, forced to become defensive, rather than wanting to participate.

In other words, hOtrOd is right when he says that a message like: "Hey guys, why don't you tell your sons how you feel about rape and rapists, because I know you think it's wrong" would have been much better than "Stop just letting women fight to change the world for the better, get off your whiny asses and let EVERYONE know that men find rape unacceptable. And yeah, that means letting your wife get some sleep when she begs 'not tonight'." The men (and women) for which the latter is really appropriate -- especially the last part -- are not the ones you're interested in motivating to participate. Quite the opposite.

Spankathon, I know that you're trying to send out a good message. Stackey-dackey 'translated' your words (which she called forceful) and it became quite obvious. But I think we can agree that you don't attract flies with vinegar. Quotes like "the sex to which most rapists belog", "the men reading Broadsheet are mostly trolls" are not going to help the awareness raising you're trying to achieve.

I understand that your 'forceful' words come from bad experiences. But as a rape victim and as someone who was involved in helping rape victims, I did feel somewhat saddened and, well, even offended by them. You could have framed your message better. If you show more obvious respect for the good men out there, just like you showed respect for the good women, then we can all together try to do something against this crime called rape.

I second all the positive reactions above -- the Matt video was simply a fantastic idea, resulting in a video that, with so little structure, manages to show bring so much emotion out. I had never seen it before, and am not ashamed of saying I also started crying spontaneously. How wonderful to see someone who can say so much with a silly bad dance...