Rape and Anarchism Questions
Howdy all! Just as a pre-warning, this post will have mentions of some heavy subjects like rape, CSA, and discussions of execution/the morality surrounding it, so if that's not something you want to read about, I would probably skip this one.
I want to start by saying I am an anarchist, a radical feminist, and I am currently getting a degree in victimology, specifically victimology surrounding how victims are treated under the current American criminal justice model. I am an activist for prison abolition and reformative justice through and through, but I am struggling with a few things morality wise. For a bit of background, I was sexually assaulted in my childhood, and I have even found it in myself to forgive and empathize with my perpetrator and their circumstances at the time. I say all of this because I am in a bit of a self-given-morality pickle, and I need some help rationalizing and maybe even coming to a solid conclusion on some of my thoughts.
My boyfriend and I were talking about a time in his past where he found himself at a party where there were a lot of underage, intoxicated women (ages 18-20, out of high school but still not "legally" supposed to be drinking). He was in a room with one of the girls he was friends with prior to the party, but she did not know any one else there except for him. Suddenly, two men, who this woman did not know, forced their way in to the room and tried to force themselves on to the intoxicated woman. My boyfriend proceeded to physically stop the two men, and when the commotion was heard by the party's host, he removed the men and by boyfriend from the room. Apparently, this was not going to stop one of the men, because even after being PHYSICALLY REMOVED from the room, he tried to force his way back into the room with the woman and BARRICADE himself in there with her. He was promptly removed entirely from the party, and my boyfriend found out months later that all three of the men at that party, the host included, were serial rapists. He cut all ties with those men years ago as soon as he was made aware of this fact, but he does know that these men are still out and doing the same things that he had to fight them for that one night.
Here is where my issue comes in. Like I said, I am 100% a proponent of rehabilitative justice, even for the most "heinous" of crimes, including things like murder and rape. I cannot bring myself to see any world where people like those three men deserve to be walking around. Since they have been exposed, they have been doxxed, lost their jobs, beat up, and I am sure much more, yet they still continue to rape women constantly. They come from wealthy families, and they gain nothing from doing these acts other than power over these women, so I cannot even try to spin this into a criminogenic capitalism lense. I am also hyper aware that the anger I feel towards these men is likely clouding my judgement and critical thinking processes, but I have been genuinely running every scenario in my mind of how these men might just need help, or they might just be a product of their environment, but I cannot find the empathy that I usually pride myself on for these men. How would a situation like this be handled under anarchism? How do I ethically handle this right now under capitalism? Literally what do I do in this situation? I cannot find anything in my brain other than anger right now, so maybe someone outside of this situation can offer some advice. Because all I can say right now is those men are lucky my boyfriend didn't know me at the time he knew them.