LOL. The NRA is on line one wishing to speak with you....

I'd say that was pretty articulate considering English is not your first language.

Re your point "it's the same thing" - I agree. Rape can be torture for the rest of the victims life. Whilst some recover on some level, it can effectively murder from the perspective of "taking someone's life".

Murder is far worse than rape because rape leaves victims with the opportunity to recover, murder is not inclined to do that.

Some individual experiences may evidence rape is worse, but that cannot take away the truth that many do recover to varying degrees depending on the individual and or circumstances.

Also i cannot help wondering if what society teaches people about rape doesn't actually make things far worse for that person if it happens? Not that we should make light of rape, but when people go around saying it would have been better to have been murdered, or all these other very bad outcomes.... that will stick in peoples minds, so if it happened to them, then they will be far more worse affected than would otherwise have been the case because the power of suggestion on the human mind is well known that it can be quite strong.

The final issue is that of the law. In Australia I have heard people argue that the penalty for rape should be made more sever without any consideration for the deterrent of murder. In other words, if a criminal commits rape and then have to decide if they will murder their victim or not, if the penalty for rape is too high already then it diminishes or destroys the deterrent for committing murder. In the end I think if most people were asked if they would like to get their loved one back alive after being raped, they would say 'YES'..... i know i would!

Edit: if you want a real deterrent for rape, it is quite simple in my opinion - castration!

Your lack of empathy may be due to violent media though, which are more and more widespread and therefore accessible.
When someone dies, well, he doesn't have to live with that, which is not the case with your other example.

I droped this video in the previous topic discussing this subiect and I'll drop it here again:
Jimquisitnio - Murder vs. Rape
Can't find flaw in the logic behind it.
Yes, I can imagine cases where killing is justified. Can't imagine cases where rape is justified.

It isn't just "videogamers" who I feel are desensitized to killing. There are tons of people who never touch video games that can shrug off ultra violence (which is why I used Rambo as an example) but will be highly disturbed at a rape scene.

If you want to compare a more realistic murder that shows fear and terror and compare it to a rape scene, I still don't think it matters much. Look how popular the Saw and Hostel movies where. Lots of people love gory horror movies (me included). Put a rape scene in one of those movies and I bet money suddenly everyone gets uncomfortable.

Every time a shock movie comes out (A Serbian Film), or a movie that does include a rape scene comes out (The Last House on the Left, or even Evil Dead), what has people talking about it? The rape. We don't see things like that as much as we see people getting gunned down, stabbed, blown up, set on fire, run over, etc.

I simply feel that, if you think rape is on the same level as murder, or maybe even feel killing is worse, you are in the minority. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm right. In the end though it doesn't really matter. Both are acts of violence.

Edit: And I want to make it clear that, just because I think people are desensitized, doesn't mean I think we'll all go out and pull a Postal Dude on society. Being desensitized isn't the same as being mentally ill.

We simply see stuff like this a lot more I feel.

My opinion on the matter is, that while murder is often an act of wrath (though in the case of Rambo, it was self defense as well as wrath), rape is always an act of lust. What I'm saying, is that while both are horrible crimes, rape is something that could ALWAYS, without exception, be avoided if the person doing the act wasn't a horny piece of shit. People gunning each other down are, again in the case of Rambo, rivals and it's all about survival. Rambo has to kill those soldiers, lest he be killed himself. Rape victims are always innocent people, who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. There isn't any "good", in lack of a better word, in raping another being. That person will probably be severely scarred for life, while the rapist never suffers consequences as hard as the murderer (say, in terms of jailtime). When you murder someone outside of war, yes it is bad and unjustified. But at the very least, there are some occasions where murder is indeed justified. Rape is never justified.

That's why I think rape is the worse crime of the two. That's just my opinion, though.

Perhaps I should have compared The first Rambo movie instead (First Blood), as in that movie, the guy is killing cops :P

People judge acts based on their reason more than anything. That's why someone who kills another by accident, at the heat of the moment or with planning are all judged very differently, even though the result is the same.

Same with rape, it is a sexual act, but one which is forced, and that's the difference. That's what needs to be established in a trial. Also most people would react differently if it was a woman forcing herself on a man. We all judge based on biases.

One aspect is what we're trained to think. From youth we're taught that self defence is fine, and we extend that to war, where the other side is obviously out to kill us so it's okay to kill them. On the other hand we're taught early on that our body is our own, and that affects our feeling about rape.

Media might have some desensitising effect, but I think it's more a reflection of our society than a determining factor.

I think some of it also has to do with the nature of the crimes. Killing is bad, yes, but everyone is going to die anyway. Killing someone deprives them of their time and all of the stuff they would do with that time, but they were eventually going to die somehow or other. Because death is such a constant, there are social constructs like wills and funerals and life insurance based around it. Even if you've never knew anyone who got murdered, you almost definitely know people who've died, or at the very least had pets die. Death is a thing everyone learns to deal with.

Rape, though... that's not a constant. Being sexually violated against their will is not a journey everyone has to make. Rape is also fortunately rare enough that most people don't know someone who's been raped, but that also means that most people don't really know how to deal with rape or rape victims. There aren't social constructs to deal with rape the same way there are to deal with death. Rape victims can get therapy and go to support groups, but for the most part they're on their own trying to deal with something that your everyday person doesn't understand. It's pretty messy.

One in four women have had non-consensual sex at some point. Stats on male rape victims are more sketchy because of the stigma of seeking help, but regardless, everybody knows someone who's been forced into sexual acts. Rape, as mentioned above, is most often not a knife to your throat in a dark alley -- the perpetrator is likely someone you know and may have trusted. After having been physically violated, your basic safety feels as if it's been ripped away too and you start to doubt yourself: 'What could I have done differently? Did I bring this on myself?'

Of course we would because as you are outside of the trauma you would think that if you put your energy to it you can help them back to a decent life but in my opinion that's selfish, it's like they are assuming because you love someone you can tackle any issue and I hate that kind of thinking even if it's important.

That's acceptable IMO but I wonder what kind of outcry that would cause? It woud likely bring more issues, maybe even more complicated ones.

Technically, murder is a higher crime than rape because life itself holds the highest regard but personally I view rape as a more despicable crime because rape is excusable in exactly 0% of all cases whereas first degree murder can be up to debate if the target is an evil dictator and a citizen (not an undercover military combatant) plans and follows through with killing that person, legally an act of first degree murder but morally and ethically open for debate.

edit: TV viewers seem to have the same view as videogamers in that regard, just imagine if Dexter was a serial rapist instead of a serial killer, the series probably wouldn't be quite so popular.

Please do not characterize the evidence.

A dude is shown killing people. Killing people is not necessarily evil. You, being in, er, Timor-Leste, can contextualize the scene as Rambo the good guy performing a completely justified and necessary killing of Russians the bad guys. The scene will make a completely different impression on anyone who contextualizes the scene differently. A Russian will see his or her compatriots being killed, a person who had been injured might be upset by the blood, etc.

On the other hand, a sex scene where one person expresses an absence of consent to sex is usually understood to be a depiction of actual rape, not, say, a couple engaged in consensual roleplaying. Rape is evil, and most people will be repulsed by it.