Why do we live in a world where people sympathize and side with rapists?

[FemtoCat]

The very idea some people want to sympathize with Soviet rapist hordes

I realize that asking this question these days is really inconsiderate and impolite, but do you have any reliable evidence that there were, actually, "soviet rape hordes"? Of course there should've been some war crimes, it was the greatest war in history, after all, but all the references to mass rapes i was able to find for some weird, unexplained reason date back to the early 90s and later years, aka the time where there were no way to substantiate these claims with hard evidence.
Isn't it weird that even during the most heated parts of the Cold War, when the memory of these alleged events was still fresh, nobody ever mentioned these horrible deeds? I mean, there were lots and lots of people running away from eastern germany to the west, and those people told numerous horrific stories about their life under the communist regime (most of them true, sadly), yet none of them told about those events you are referring to for some weird reason?

[Yukaphile]

DELETED

[FemtoCat]

Lots of survivors have come forward. I have a ton of links related to this if you want.

During 30s and 90s in Germany and Russia respecively quite a lot of people had come forward, describing truly horrible and blood-chilling stories about the Evil Jews Who Have Ruined/Stole/Raped Everything. My favourite one is the story about killing christian newborns and drinking their blood, BTW.
If i google hard enough, i think i will be able to give you a ton of links about that as well.
As a bonus, i am willing to send you a paper bag to throw up into while you are reading these as a bonus, just PM me your shipping address.
In other word, collective smearing is a game that people were playing from the beginning of time, and without evidence that is all it is - smearing.

You are correct in assuming that a diary written in East Germany in the 1950s in the Cold War being used against the USSR could have been propaganda.

You horribly misunderstood my argument here
The fact that something is propaganda doesnt necessarily mean that it is false. In fact (as much as i hate to admit it), quite a lot of western propaganda of that era was true.
So this is the question i am asking you: if Red Army truly can be described as "Soviet Rapist Hordes", then how come nobody thought of using that against USSR during the years of cold war?

The former wife of German Chancellor Helmut Kohl was raped as a 12-year-old girl along with her mother, and then she was thrown out the window.

Let me get that straight: your "rape horde" accusation is based on the word of a politician?
A politician whos primary political rival was known to have extensive ties with Russia?
Oh, and also on the analysis of the book that was published around the same time this political rivalry was in full swing?
Seriously?!

[clearspira]

The answer is Rape Culture.

In a lot of ways, society normalizes rape and pushes the burden on the victim to not get raped. It's nothing as gross or simple as "Rape is good!" (well, not normally...I've seen some alt-righters..)

Let's start with the classic mental image of the rapist, as a violent stranger attacking a woman in a dark ally. Most rapists are somebody you know, an uncle, an ex-boyfriend, a teacher. Rapists aren't slavering, easily-recognizable monsters. They know how to order the correct wine. They actively cultivate support among the community, invest in local businesses, and work up-front to be known as a Pillar of the Community, a Decent Guy or Gal, somebody you should defend, so that when it comes down to he said she said, they have all this weight of Reputation and Respectability to bring down on their victims.

Society paints rapists as slavering monsters because then it's easier to pretend that they aren't people we know and love, work and do business with, every day. It's easier to pretend that Dave, who got me this job, or Mary who covered my shift and comforted me when I got dumped, would never do something horrible like that, because they aren't some drooling creep in the shadowed streets.

When I was a little kid, in preschool, I ran around trying to kiss girls and they ran away from me (obviously). When I was reprimanded for it, I said "but I thought they wanted to be kissed". I'm really glad now that my teacher didn't just say "oh boys will be boys" or think it was cute, because that's how it starts.

Young men are taught that "no" doesn't really mean "no". Children are taught that consent isn't really important and that their bodies aren't exclusively their own. "No, you have to hug Aunt Mildred or you're Bad."

There's a lot more I could go into, but that's the start of it. It's an interlocking, overwhelming social narrative that says "No, it doesn't happen that way, that doesn't count".

I was with you until you claimed that young men are TAUGHT that no doesn't mean no and children are TAUGHT that consent isn't important. Taught by whom? Because I want to know just how bad your parents/teachers/government/workplace is if they are teaching you that.
And what was that about a link between rape and hugging an aunt? WTF?

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

The answer is Rape Culture.

In a lot of ways, society normalizes rape and pushes the burden on the victim to not get raped. It's nothing as gross or simple as "Rape is good!" (well, not normally...I've seen some alt-righters..)

Let's start with the classic mental image of the rapist, as a violent stranger attacking a woman in a dark ally. Most rapists are somebody you know, an uncle, an ex-boyfriend, a teacher. Rapists aren't slavering, easily-recognizable monsters. They know how to order the correct wine. They actively cultivate support among the community, invest in local businesses, and work up-front to be known as a Pillar of the Community, a Decent Guy or Gal, somebody you should defend, so that when it comes down to he said she said, they have all this weight of Reputation and Respectability to bring down on their victims.

Society paints rapists as slavering monsters because then it's easier to pretend that they aren't people we know and love, work and do business with, every day. It's easier to pretend that Dave, who got me this job, or Mary who covered my shift and comforted me when I got dumped, would never do something horrible like that, because they aren't some drooling creep in the shadowed streets.

When I was a little kid, in preschool, I ran around trying to kiss girls and they ran away from me (obviously). When I was reprimanded for it, I said "but I thought they wanted to be kissed". I'm really glad now that my teacher didn't just say "oh boys will be boys" or think it was cute, because that's how it starts.

Young men are taught that "no" doesn't really mean "no". Children are taught that consent isn't really important and that their bodies aren't exclusively their own. "No, you have to hug Aunt Mildred or you're Bad."

There's a lot more I could go into, but that's the start of it. It's an interlocking, overwhelming social narrative that says "No, it doesn't happen that way, that doesn't count".

I was with you until you claimed that young men are TAUGHT that no doesn't mean no and children are TAUGHT that consent isn't important. Taught by whom? Because I want to know just how bad your parents/teachers/government/workplace is if they are teaching you that.
And what was that about a link between rape and hugging an aunt? WTF?

Not explicitly taught, as in "consent isn't important". It's a subtle cultural-nuance thing. It's like when a little boy tries to kiss a girl who doesn't want to be kissed, we think its cute. Taught through action and inaction. Taught when romantic narratives suggest that if a guy gets rejected, he just needs to try harder and try again.

The aunt mildred thing is showing the principle of consent vs lack of bodily autonomy on a much smaller scale. Children are taught if they don't want to hug somebody, it's rude, that the social appearance or expectations on them are more important than their comfort around touching people. Not all talk about consent is outright rape-related.