Technology Diary – 10/31

Posted by on Nov 5, 2013 in Technology Diary, Year of the Flood | One Comment

I was a bit surprised reading about Toby’s encounter with Mugi the Muscle in “Year of the Flood.” Once again, Toby is sexually assaulted, however this time it’s within the God’s Gardener’s territory. Mugi jumped on her and groped her, yet Pilar normalized the act by saying it happened to everyone. She also said it brought out the Australopithecus in him, essentially arguing that rape is internalized in our genes. While this angered me, it reminded me of another controversy. In this case, it’s an indiegogo fundraiser for AR Wear’s clothing line.

AR Wear is well-intentioned. They want women to have a first line of safety in the case that they get raped or sexually assaulted. But this article points out the dangers with their product line. “When things go wrong,” is a phrase usually reserved when a condom breaks during CONSENSUAL intercourse, not during sexual assault. This clothing line definitely would not have been of help for Toby for when she was assaulted. Why don’t we just teach people NOT TO RAPE? Just a little food for thought.

1 Comment

  1. jgarnick
    November 16, 2013

    I completely agree with your reaction to the normalizing of rape. At first reading, I found myself disgusted with Atwood, but with more thought I realized that this was part of Atwood’s literary genius. Because her book depicts a dystopia, everything she rights about should be taken as a warning of what a potential future may hold and a strong messag to the reader to change our actions to prevent hitory from taking this dark turn. I have read no other dystopic novel that includes the extreme objectification and abuse of women as a potential future societal ill. This is why I think Year of the Flood is indeed a feminist novel.

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