In a World Where Women Fight for Safety, ‘Roosh V’ Promotes Rape

Controversial American writer Daryush Valizadeh is being condemned for his opinions on the legalisation of rape.

Daryush Valizadeh aka ‘Roosh V’. (Photo Courtesy: Youtube/The Quint)

American writer Daryush Valizadeh aka ‘Roosh V’ is a controversial ‘pick-up artist’ who believes that ‘rape should be legalised on private property’. Roosh V organised a global level ‘men’s only meet’ in 43 countries. He created this event, scheduled to take place on 6 February 2016, so like-minded men could meet up and find their ‘male space’.

One of Roosh V’s February 2015 blog posts titled How to Stop Rape, received backlash for advocating legalising rape in order to force women to take responsibility for their security and events ‘that are easily preventable’.

By attempting to teach men not to rape, what we have actually done is teach women not to care about being raped, not to protect themselves from easily preventable acts, and not to take responsibility for their actions.

However, he took to Twitter to deny the allegations, saying his piece was meant to be a satire.

Roosh V writes on topics such as How to Pick-up Women and Stop Asking for Permission. He is also a self-published author of books such as Bang: The Pickup Bible That Helps You Get More Lays and Bang Iceland.

She’s Seeking Attention

Roosh V releases a series of blogs and in one of them he rants about how a ‘woman who publicly announces that she was raped’, is a liar.

We can no longer take a woman’s word for it and believe that she was raped just because she said so. In all likelihood, if she’s trying to broadcast her rape to as many people as she possibly can, she was not raped. 

Identifying Fellow ‘Tribesmen’

The controversial, simultaneous global event that has everyone on the edge of their seats has specific guidelines to attend it. He put out directions on his blog.

To identify your fellow tribesmen, ask the following question to a man you suspect is there for the meetup: “Do you know where I can find a pet shop?” If you are asked this question, answer in the affirmative: “Yes, it’s right here.” You can then introduce yourself and get details about where to proceed at 8:20. If you ask someone for the pet shop and they appear confused or actually try to direct you to a real pet shop, they’re not there for the meetup.

Event Cancelled

However, due to this event being condemned by many, his website now announces that the event is cancelled.

I can no longer guarantee the safety or privacy of the men who want to attend on February 6, especially since most of the meetups can not be made private in time. While I can’t stop men who want to continue meeting in private groups, there will be no official Return Of Kings meetups. The listing page has been scrubbed of all locations. I apologize to all the supporters who are let down by my decision.

We wonder if he sees the irony of lamenting his inability to guarantee the safety of his ‘male tribesmen’ when he consistently writes posts that put the onus of the safety of women on the women themselves.

With over 19 thousand followers on Twitter, 18 thousand-odd ‘likes’ on Facebook and his very own Wikipedia page, Roosh V, it is safe to say, has a fan following.

A comment on his blog. (Photo: Screengrab from his blog)

But he also has a lot of haters on social media.

Dozens of counter-protests were planned at the locations where the men were scheduled to meet. Politicians in the US, UK, Australia and Canada also publicly condemned the blogger. Infuriated, people from all over the globe created Facebook events to gather a group of people to protest these private male-only gatherings.

A group of Vancouver men and women are planning on having a face-off with the attendees of his now allegedly cancelled event.

(Photo: Facebook Screengrab)

(Photo: Facebook Screengrab)

Rape is NOT a Joke

While dealing with issues like terrorism, global warming and the constant struggle for gender equality, it’s a given that everyone needs a sense of humour to handle it all. But, Roosh V seems to take it a step beyond anything that even resembles a joke.

Sexual consent is the buzzword that’s more or less on everyone’s lips today, thanks to the high rates of reported sexual crimes across the globe. It’s straightforward for some and seemingly ambiguous for others. But writing a so-called satire piece on How to Stop Rape does not add a perspective. It ridicules the fight for security and the efforts of men and women alike across the globe to end sexual crimes.

Take India for example, rapists are allowed to walk free after receiving five-slaps or, better yet, marrying the victim. On at least one occasion, the rapist was pardoned after he touched the victim’s feet as an apology.

In India, rape isn’t the joke, the punishment for the crime is. In a world like that, nobody can afford a Roosh V running rampant.