Feminist Germaine Greer Thinks the Punishment for Rape Should Be Lessened

She also suggested that offenders get an "r" tattooed on their hand, arm or cheek.

Germaine Greer
Germaine Greer speaks to students at The Cambridge Union on January 26, 2015 in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire. (Chris Williamson/Getty Images)
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Germaine Greer thinks that the punishment for rape should be lowered and said that society should not see it as a “spectacularly violent crime” but instead see it as more “lazy, careless and insensitive,” reports The Guardian. She also suggested that offenders get a tattoo on their hand, arm or cheek, and do 200 hours of community service. The feminist academic voiced her opinion at the Hay literary festival, saying that rape is rampant in society and the legal system cannot cope with it because it always comes down to whether or not consent was given, and victims have little more than “bits of evidence.” To fix a system that is not working, Greer said, radical change is needed.

“Most rapes don’t involve any injury whatsoever,” Greer said, according to The Guardian. “We are told that it is a sexually violent crime, an expert like Quentin Tarantino will tell us that when you use the word rape you’re talking about violence, a throwing them down… it is one of the most violent crimes in the world. Bullshit Tarantino.”

She will be publishing her full thoughts on the matter in a book, coming out in Australia in September.

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