HARRISBURG — A group calling themselves “Return of the Kings” that has come under fire for a message that some say advocates for rape has canceled a series of meetings scheduled around the nation after public backlash.
An announcement was posted on their website earlier tonight canceling meetings scheduled for various locations on February 6. A previous posting listed meeting places in both Harrisburg and Philadelphia.
The post states:
“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.”
The group was the target of intense online criticism for what some call a message that promotes rape culture and sexual violence. That push back stems from a blog post from February of last year titled “How To Stop Rape” in which the author states that the issue with many rapes is that the woman is “not responsible for her actions.”
The post states in part: “I thought about this problem and am sure I have the solution: make rape legal if done on private property. I propose that we make the violent taking of a woman not punishable by law when done off public grounds.”
The author states that if rape was legal on private property, women would “protect her body in the same manner that she protects her purse and smartphone. If rape becomes legal, a girl will not enter an impaired state of mind where she can’t resist being dragged off to a bedroom with a man who she is unsure of.”
The crux of the argument made in the post seems to be that if women were to fear rape at all times, they would never spend time alone with a man who they weren’t willing to have sex with, and thus rape would be eliminated because, in the author’s view, women would no longer be in compromising situations.
The author has since taken to Twitter, where he states the post was satire and that he and his supporters do not advocate for legalizing rape.
The website offers a “top 35” list for newcomers, which includes articles like: “This Accidental Experiment Shows The Superiority of Patriarchy”, “Women Should Not Be Allowed To Vote” and “The Intellectual Inferiority Of Women” as well as “Why White Knights Voluntarily Enslave Themselves To Women.”
Meet-up had been scheduled all across the U.S. including Utah, where our sister station FOX13 spoke to several Utahns about their take on the group, see the video below for their interviews:
