So This Would Be "Compassionate Conservatism"?

Over at Richard Evans' blog, we find him posting as follows about an alleged sexual assault in Ottawa:

What kind of man allows himself to be sexually assaulted by another man? In public, with no weapons involved? Are we really turning into a nation of wimps where no one fights back anymore?

Waitasec, here. First of all, I can imagine a dozen different situations where you can be overpowered - no matter how muscle-bound you are. Second, just because someone is assaulted doesn't make them - as Richard puts it - a "Girly-Man".

In fact, Richard's use of that epithet is an example of precisely why so few sexual assaults against men are actually reported. Our society still has such a hang-up about the very possibility that a male might be sexually assaulted that people like Richard seem to think that reporting the assault is a sign of weakness on the part of the victim.

The real fact here is that aside from the victim and the assailant, the only other people who have a clue what happened are the police (and only by the statement of the victim at this point) Also, the victim's actions - or lack of them - are utterly irrelevant here. A crime has been committed, and to the credit of the victim, they had the personal fortitude to report it - in spite of the ignorant denouncements of people like Mr. Evans.

Frankly, the assumption that the victim "didn't do anything" (or "enough") to defend themselves in this case is as vile and repugnant to me as the classic "she was dressed provocatively" defense you used to hear in rape cases.

Rape is rape. I don't give a damn about the gender of the victim (or the perpetrator for that matter) - it's a crime and deserves to be punished. We should be focusing on the rapist, not persecuting the victim.