If we know what combination of events cause a person to behave in a certain way, we can take steps to minimise the probability of such things happening. For instance, as I alluded to above, I firmly believe that a proper programme of sex and relationship education beginning in primary school would do more good than harm -- and that more harm than good comes for want of such. Kids think the concept of their parents having sex is icky, parents think the concept of their kids having sex is icky, yet we all carry on pretending that it doesn't happen or something and getting all surprised when yes, actually, it does happen. How many of you have never had a baby scare? I said relationship education as well. Learning that there are good and bad relationships, and sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between liking something and not liking it. About imbalances of power and how to know when someone is taking advantage of a position of power they hold over you -- or if it's you taking advantage of power over them. And that there's no shame in having fun for one, and indeed sometimes it's even preferrable.
The fact that most people manage to muddle through somehow in spite of having such a totally f^(ked-up attitude to sex is no reason to carry on that way. So, as a start, I propose ground-up reform of sex education. Bring up a generation of kids without sexual hang-ups, who will become a generation of well-adjusted adults with a healthy attitude towards puberty, masturbation, sex, contraception, relationships, pregnancy, abortion, informed consent, sexuality, gender and all such matters; and in turn will go on to raise their own children the same way, with frank discussions rather than sniggers and taboos.
Central to all this is understanding the need for informed consent and why rape is bad. There are basically three types of people: Those who would never rape, those who will always rape, those who are more likely to be rapists knowing why rape is bad, and those who are less likely to rape if they understand why rape is bad. It is my contention that the fourth group outnumber the third; and so, by not discussing openly why rape is bad, we are allowing more of them to become rapists than we are preventing from the third group by suppressing such discussion.
The worst that can happen is that I am wrong, and the experiment will have to be abandoned if and only if, but in any case as soon as, it becomes clear that it is doing more harm than good. Even then, we will have additional data that we can use to our advantage.
